Mars Hill impromptu

Mars Hill Impromptu is a speech event in Stoa. The speaker receives three cultural topics, such as the song “Boyfriend” by Justin Bieber or the movie “Gone with the Wind”, and must analyze the themes within the topic and hold them up to the truths of Christianity found in the Bible.

Goal
The goal of the Mars Hill Impromptu speech is for the competitors to learn to identify universal truths underlying popular culture and use those truths to create evangelistic bridges to Christian beliefs. 

Administration Rules
A tournament may use the official Stoa list of Mars Hill topics or create their own list of topics for each round. All new topics must be available when registration opens for the tournament. For reasons of fairness, the topics used in a round must be either entirely from the official Stoa list or entirely from a new list, not a combination of the two. This ensures that all competitors in a given room will have had equal preparation time. All topics in a given round must be from the same category, not a combination of several lists.

All three judges will be given a list of the topics being used for that round. One judge in each room will be given instructions for administration and the envelope with the topics for the round. The competitors will choose 3 of the topics from this envelope, choose one as their speaking topic, and return the other two. The competitor must be careful not to return their chosen topic to the envelope.

Once the competitor has picked three topics, preparation time starts. Competitors have four minutes of preparation time. The timekeeper in the room will give vocal time signals every thirty seconds until the preparation time has expired. Even if the competitor doesn’t use all of his preparation time, he can’t add any extra time to his speaking time. 

Presentation Rules
A competitor may prepare a binder full of the summaries of the different topic, including background information, synopses, etc, but no pre-written speeches or outlines. The competitor may write on a blank note card during the preparation time, and is allowed to reference the card and topic slip during the speech.

The speech should be given with the perspective of a non-Christian audience in mind. The speaker should explain any Biblical concept or story thoroughly, in a way that a person with no knowledge of the Bible would understand. The competitor must also be mindful and keep a humble and gracious attitude toward the topic, rather than condemning.

The speaker should address the main themes, characters, plot, messages, and worldviews and relate them to truths found in the Bible. The speech should focus less on the discussion of the cultural topic itself, and instead focus on the discussion of the Biblical truths. Gratuitous vulgarity is forbidden.

No visual aids or props of any sort may be used, other than the notecard and topic slip. The speaker may not use any electronic device during preparation or presentation. The competitors may not watch any competitors who speak in the room before him, however he may watch the competitors after him.

Preparation time is 4 minutes. Speaking time limit is 6 minutes. There is no minimum time. 

2012-2013 Topics
The Stoa website published 7 categories of topics: Recent movies, Classic movies, Song lyrics, Ad campaigns, Current books, Classic books, and Plays/musicals.

The full list of individual draw topics can be found here.

Primary Judging Areas
Judges look for cohesive thoughts, thorough analysis of the topic, and the application of Christian themes. Many judges also look for how you connect with the audience, whether you’re preaching at them, or trying to establish common ground. It’s important to many judges that you draw out the ‘’good’’ in the topic, rather than just the bad. This has to do with how the speaker would be connecting to a real non-Christian person. The less bashing of the topic, the better.