1.

Competition structure

The competition is open to Year 7 to 9 students, who will give two speeches
(prepared/impromptu) at one of various regional centres.

Accredited adjudicators will sign up for nights online in the same way as for Schools
Comp & JSP. Speaking nights will take place from 4 – 6 pm.

On each occasion the aims are to have all speakers speak twice and be seen by
more than one adjudicator. The structure will be as follows:

 Students will be placed into groups of five (these will be publicised beforehand
– the order will be randomised).
 Each group of five will be allocated to a room for the first hour, and will give
their speeches in front of an adjudicator and the other students (as well as
any audience). Speeches go for 5 minutes, so there will be a natural break at
the end of the first hour.
o Adjudicator will ring a warning bell (or make some other signal) once at
4 minutes and twice at 5 minutes. Continuous ring at 5:30.
o After all speeches are finished, there will be feedback given to the
group by the adjudicator. It will be up to the adjudicator how much this
touches on individual speeches.
 In the second hour, each group of five will give their impromptu speeches in
front of a second adjudicator. Students will be given their topics five minutes
before their speech begins and will prepare on their own with no help from
others. Speeches go for 2-3 minutes.
o Adjudicator will ring a warning bell (or make some other signal) once at
2 minutes and twice at 3 minutes. Continuous ring at 3:30.
o There will be group feedback as in the previous hour.
o Each student will receive a different topic for their speech, to be
randomly selected by the adjudicator from a list provided by the office.
 After the second hour, the adjudicators will collate scores for both speeches,
and finalise their written feedback. Scoresheets will be collected by an
allocated adjudicator on the night, carbon copies distributed to schools, and
originals returned to the office ASAP.
 The allocated adjudicator will also announce the winner(s) of the regional
night. Note that students must compete in both rounds of the competition to
be eligible for finanls.

Please note that:

 If there’s only one group of five in a region, the speakers will be watched by
two adjudicators, who will average their scores for each speech.
 Regional winners will qualify for the semi-finals. We will also select a number
of wild-card speeches (based on scores) who will qualify for the semi-finals
despite not being the regional winner.
 Adjudicators will need to return scoresheets to the DAV. We will nominate one
adjudicator per region to have this responsibility. If regions are sufficiently big
we will have a DAV member act as “regional coordinator”.
 2. Outline of marking and criteria

Our marking guidelines will be as follows:

 50 points for matter (range of 25-45, average of 35)

 50 points for manner (range of 25-45, average of 35)
o Total of 100 points
 Average score 70
 Total score should range approximately from 50-90 (below 50 is
a speech which is fundamentally ineffective and insubstantial,
above 90 will have to be really incredibly good)

Overall summary of aims:

There are 4 key components to a successful speech.

 The subject matter should be persuasive in some way;

o it is not compulsory for the impromptu speech to be persuasive in
nature
 The subject matter should be well constructed;
 The delivery must be convincing and engaging;
 The words of the speech must be in Plain English.

Plain English – as per PESA – means:

Plain English is using language that makes your message easy to understand. It
involves being concise, being precise and avoiding inflated words.
1. Concision
2. Precision
3. Inflated words

Our sub-criteria are matter and manner.

Matter involves:

 Subject matter of the speech

o Does it aim to be persuasive? (that is, is it not merely descriptive?)
 Who are the speeches aimed at?
o Is it well-reasoned? (does it make a clear argument, does it make
sense, is there sufficient evidence where necessary)
o Is it engaging? (is the topic too obscure, is the context explained
clearly? Has the speaker kept the audience in mind?)
o Is there a clear sense of “message” in the speech? (does it have a
clear introduction and conclusion, is the point of the speech made
clear, is the speaker’s opinion explained well enough?)
 Structure of the speech, inasmuch as it refers to logical development of the
speech
o Does the speech make its purpose clear at the start?
 o Does the speech have a clear structure? (not necessarily “3 points” like
a debate, but not just rambling, and transitions from one section to
another made clear)
o Does the speech develop its ideas logically? (eg, does the conclusion
of the speech set out to answer the questions that the introduction set
out? Does it jump from subject to subject, or spend far too much time
on an irrelevant issue?)

Manner involves:

o Style of speaking:
o Fundamental tools of persuasiveness:
 clear speech and eye contact
 Voice
 Body language
o Does the speaker tailor his/her speaking style to their content? (That is,
do they gesture to emphasise a point (or just because they’re
nervous)? Is humour or pathos in the speech well targeted? Do they
seem happy or awkward when speaking?)
o Is the speech varied enough to hold the audience’s attention?
o Cues: notes are allowed, but shouldn’t interfere
o Props are not allowed
o Microphones and lecterns are not allowed
o Plain English – means an unaffected style, not overdramatic
o DAV doesn’t have to “obey” Plain English, but we should consider
whether the presentation is genuinely persuasive (are we made more
likely to believe the speaker, or is it just a purely dramatic
performance?)