The first semester of the season has come and gone and Extemp Question Central is happy to be part of it. After the recent tournaments at Glenbrooks and George Mason University, the National Points Race standings have seen more of a shakeup and the second half of the year looks to be even more exciting, with nationals only six months away.
This edition of The Ex Files is a special edition for the Montgomery Bell Extemp Round Robin, a prestigious tournament held in Nashville, Tennessee in early January that features sixteen of the most talented extemporaneous speaking competitors in the country. In this edition, The Ex Files had sat down with Adam Johnson, the man behind the tournament, to uncover some of the history of the tournament as well as how participants are selected. Also, MBA champion David Tannenwald has made a guest appearance and provided insight in a special MBA roundtable discussion to help those competitors attending the tournament and inspire those who may one day like to compete there. Finally, there is a special breakdown of this year’s field as well as past MBA results.
Keep in mind that the MBA Extemp Round Robin is a “second tier” tournament in the Extemp Question Central Nationals Points Race, meaning that the winner will receive 100 points. This has the possibility of creating a whirl-wind in the standings. The second half of the year will have lots of these changes, with the Extemp TOC and nationals’ providing more volatility until the first National Points Race champion is crowned.
Expect the next edition of The Ex Files to be released the week of the Barkley Forum, which will include a tournament preview, updated rankings, a recap of the MBA round robin, and further topic briefs.
The staff of The Ex Files thanks you again for your continued support and wishes everyone a very happy holiday season!
–Logan Scisco