So here's the rundown....

Impromptu: Participants are given a 7 minute period in which to prepare and perform a speech dealing with claims suggested by the topic, usually quotations, occassionally a word or object.

example: "I don't need to learn English, I'll never go to England" - Homer Simpson... now prepare.

Extemporaneous Speaking: Competitors are given a 30 minute time period to a response to a chosen topic, usually based on politics of some sort.

example: Should the United States bomb Iraq into oblivion?

Persuasion: Students attempt to guide the audience into changing a behavior, belief, or realizing that something is very, very bad.

example: Americans are drinking unsafe water.

Informative: Competitors attempt to introduce a topic to the audience that is either new or an innovation on an old process.

example: new uses of the apple in treating cancer

After Dinner Speaking (ADS): Students attempt to draw attention to a particular problem and use humor to encourage the audience to take a stance, do something, and hopefully laugh.

example: alien paranoia is destroying America, even Alaska and Hawaii

Rhetorical Criticism (also known as Communication Analysis): Students examine an artifact using a particular communication method and draw conclusions based on this artifact.

example: tobacco ads displaying Joe Camel (okay, so it's a little old)

(all events have a 10 minute time limit)

Prose: Interpretation of a short story, combination of stories, or a larger work cut for performance. These don't always have to be in the third person.

example: War and Peace, the abridged version

Poetry: Interpretation of a poem, or a selection of poems that center around a particular theme.

example: Shel Silverstein poems

Duo: Interpretation of a dramatic work, obviously done by two people. Either serious or humorous, usually both.

example: Agnes of God

Dramatic Interpretation (DI): Interpretation of a dramatic or humorous work performed by a single person.

example: Night Mother

Programmed Oral Interpretation (POI): A multigenre (prose, poetry, drama and media material) performance based around a central theme, individual, etc...

example: Ike Turner