Octofinal breaks have been posted at the 2012 NFL National Tournament. Extempers will compete in rounds seven and eight this afternoon and quarter-final breaks will be announced this evening.
All of the extempers who made the octofinal round have automatically qualified to the 2013 Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions at Northwestern University. All of the extempers who made octofinals also have earned National Points Race points and points for their respective teams in the National Team Points Race. Keep in mind, though, that only a school’s top three finishers will count for the National Team Points Race unless they manage to get more than three extempers to the final round. Based on the data that we have accumualted, International Extemp is the category that will receive the fifty point bonus this year at NFL Nationals.
Each extempers National Points Race rank is listed by their name, with NR meaning that an extemper is not ranked.
The “Saturday Six” for International and United States Extemp have been selected. These twelve extempers will compete on Saturday morning for the right to become an NFL champion in their respective extemporaneous speaking category.
In the latest edition of the Rostrum, the National Forensic League list its rules for laptop use in extemporaneous speaking. The national tournament will allow students to use laptops, but each NFL district will get to decide whether student use of laptops is appropriate at their district qualifying tournaments. Most of the rules are common sense. Instant messaging, Internet access, and cell phones are banned during prep. The rule that extempers need to be most aware of is that laptops have to be battery powered at all times. Extempers are not allowed to use external power sources. So you can forget plugging your laptop into a wall outlet and/or bringing a massive extension chord into the prep room.
Although we stay away from endorsing any political viewpoints here on Extemp Central, there is one race that is happening in a few months that I thought I would do some brief advertising for. The head forensic coach at my high school in Danville, Kentucky, Steve Meadows, is running for a seat on the NFL Board of Directors (formerly known as the National Council). While students do not get a ballot for this race, any coaches that visit this website might be interested in the credentials that Mr. Meadows brings to the table. Here are a few of them: