The SWSDI Interp camp provides competitors with the opportunity to sharpen their skills and prepare for the upcoming season while learning from top-notch coaches. Students will learn from a curriculum directed by nationally successful coaches and college speech competitors.

Curriculum subjects

The curriculum is designed to give students a balance between conceptual lessons and time to work on their event with coaches in small groups or one-on-one.  As a sample, lesson and lecture topics include:

• Designing the killer intro
• When and how it’s okay to break the rules
• Memorization strategies
• Various topic areas for Extemp: international economics, political systems, world leaders
• Character development
• Making hand gestures with a purpose

Interp literature

A common complaint of coaches is that their students come back from summer camps with overdone, off-the-shelf pieces that won’t allow them to reach their potential during the year.  The SWSDI schedule does include plenty of time for helping students search for literature in ASU’s extensive Hayden library so that many students will be able to leave camp with strong, competition-ready pieces.  However, we recognize that in the limited time available it is not realistic for instructors to find the perfect piece for dozens of students.  As such, at SWSDI we focus on teaching the skills that will elevate competitors to the next level and translate across pieces, which students can apply towards cutting and perfecting whatever performances they do.