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by Logan Scisco
When going over the structure of an extemporaneous speech with beginners, I am guilty of glossing over the importance of the conclusion. When teaching extemp, I place a great deal of emphasis on the introduction and point structure, since the beginning of the speech provides your best impression to the judge and your points provide your analysis for the question you are speaking on. However, conclusions should not be overlooked or simply presented as “it’s the introduction in reverse.” Conclusions do matter in extemporaneous speaking and can make the difference in difficult rounds. Therefore, this strategy piece will talk about conclusion structure and why conclusions matter in extemporaneous speaking.