Persuasive Speaking or After Dinner Speaking

 

Persuasive Speaking:

 

Persuasive Speeches will be judged asynchronously and will need to be recorded by students ahead of the actual tournament. The link to the video file must be submitted by Google Form by 6:00p.m. AST on February, 25, 2022.

 

Students must remember to change the permissions on the shared file to “anyone with the link can view”. Please see the separate video submission guideline for more specific instructions.

 

This speech is designed to persuade and must be on a serious topic, although this does not mean that humour and wit might not be useful at points in the speech. A problem/solution approach must be taken, i.e. speakers must identify a problem (it need not be an earth-shattering one) and propose, or at least examine, one or more solutions to it. 

 

Speeches should be prepared beforehand and should be from 7 to 13 minutes in length. Props may not be used. If notes are used, only both sides of a single 3 x 5 inch index card of notes is allowed, although competitors should bear in mind the fact that judges tend to be more impressed by speakers who do not use notes. 

 

There must be a persuasive element to the speech, although this may take a number of forms. For example, the persuasive aspect might be in convincing the audience that a problem does in fact exist, or in convincing them of the causes of the problem, or that the speaker’s proposed solution will solve the problem. There will be a time penalty of 2 points for speeches which are up to 30 seconds under 7 minutes or up to 30 seconds over 13 minutes. There will be a time penalty of 10 points for speeches under 6 minutes and 30 seconds or over 13 minutes and 30 seconds. Salutation is optional.

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After-Dinner Speaking:

 

After-Dinner speeches will be judged asynchronously and will need to be recorded by students ahead of the actual tournament. The link to the video file must be submitted by Google Form by 6:00p.m. AST on February, 25, 2022.

 

Students must remember to change the permissions on the shared file to “anyone with the link can view”. Please see the separate video submission guideline for more specific instructions.

 

An After-Dinner speech will be the kind of speech that is given after a formal dinner to an audience who has a common interest or share some aspect(s) of identity, employment or character (e.g. the left-handed society or the dental association). 

 

This category includes the kind of speech given at a convention, e.g. by the Chairman or sales manager of a firm or specialised group, reviewing the practices, policies or employees of that firm or group. The speaker must address an imaginary audience of his/her own choosing. He/she must deliver some new and relevant insights to them in a way designed to inform and entertain. An after-dinner speech must not be just a stand-up comedy routine. Although not necessarily human, both speaker and audience must be credibly capable of communication through speech: i.e. they may be vampires or aliens, for example, but they may not be animals. The only exception to this rule is that the speaker and/or audience may be animals if they are derived from books, films or plays/musicals in which they already have the power of speech - e.g. characters from ‘Animal Farm’. 

 

No props may be used. The speaker may ask the chairman to announce who is being addressed immediately before he/she delivers the speech. In that case, a brief and suitable form of words must be provided. Otherwise the speaker will identify the audience in the opening lines of the speech. 

 

Notes must be limited to both sides of one 3 x 5 inch card, and should be used as little as possible. Each competitor must speak for 6 minutes, with a grace period of 1 minute on either side. There will be a time penalty of 2 points for speeches which are up to 30 seconds under 5 minutes or up to 30 seconds over 7 minutes. There will be a time penalty of 10 points for speeches under 4 minutes and 30 seconds or over 7 minutes and 30 seconds. Salutation is optional if the chairman has identified the audience before the speech begins.

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