Orbit Activity 10

Although not everyone enters competitions, practise at designing and delivering a competition speech is very effective in the development of speakers. The competition speech is a very different type of speech from any other type of activity.

Activity 10 – Prepare and present a competition speech

Duration: 8-10 mins
Pre-requisites: Completion of Launchpad Program

Aim

To prepare and deliver a speech for a speaking competition

Objectives

To create the structure of a speech which is relevant to the topic
To design a speech, which flows coherently and addresses the adjudication criteria
To deliver the speech effectively

The Why…

The How

Specific guidelines on how to tackle this activity.

The two most important things in preparing and presenting a competition speech are (a) Adherence to the adjudication criteria, and (b) Adherence to the topic.

Adherence to the adjudication criteria is based, of course, on understanding the adjudication criteria. Information about the criteria is available from the Rostrum Secretariat at any time, or any of the members of the Rostrum Leadership Team.

It’s important to make sure the speech is built around the topic. A competition speech will normally fail if the topic is only brought in at the first or the last line.

That method is fine for a club speech but for a competition speech, the topic must be clearly woven all the way through the speech. That doesn’t mean the topic has to be overtly stated, but it needs to be obvious that the topic is being woven throughout the speech. Think of the speech as a tapestry, and the canvas on which the tapestry is built. The ‘web’ is the topic, and the words (the ‘stitches’) are added so the topic is developed out.

The adjudication criteria generally focus on:

The impact on the intellect
The impact on the emotion
Your physical delivery: Posture, gesture, eye contact.
The content

As you can see, competition speaking is not just about content. It’s also about the delivery of the content, and it’s very important to work on both.

Tips and traps

Trap: Forgetting your speech, mid-speech.

Tip: Practise, practise, practise the content and the delivery. Practise the speech in front of members if you can, but most certainly in front of a mirror or a wall.

Tip: Make sure you’ve practised your speech before the meeting, so that when you deliver it, it’s not the first time. You’ll always go through several drafts and revisions before you ‘get it right’. Don’t just memorise it, know it.

Tip: In the Launchpad program there were 3 activities that took you through the concept of drafting and editing to polish a presentation. This is really important in the competition speech, so refer to Launchpad and make sure you go through the process of editing and polishing.

Tip: Listen to other speakers and take note of how they build rapport with the audience. Can you use similar techniques?

Trap: Going over or under time.

Tip: Practise and time your speech, every time. Work out and know where you should be at the warning timer and practise going straight to this point at the warning. Or, if you’re getting to this point too early, practise speaking more slowly, using pausation, or build some more (relevant) material into the body of the speech.

Tip: Record yourself and play it back so you can see exactly what you’re doing in terms of body language, movement, pausing, eye contact, pace, volume, tone etc.

Trap: Losing your audience’s engagement.

Tip: Do some research and investigating of evidence and weave this into your speech for credibility.

Tip: Start by using a hook. A surprising fact, anecdote or rhetorical question that will get your audience engaged from the outset.

Tip: Consider ending your speech with a question to encourage audience members to think, and for your ideas to stick.

Guidelines for Program Director:

Roster this late in a member’s participation in the Orbit Program, unless they want it earlier. It may also be useful to roster a number of members with this exercise if a particular competition is coming up.

During the speech drafting and editing phase, do a shorter run-through at your club. This way the coach can give you tips on how to make the speech better before you put too much work into it.

Competitions can be:

Club competitions, inside the club
Inter-club competitions, 2 or 3 clubs may get together and have a competition
Rostrum State wide competitions
National competitions

Some members are really good at competition speeches, other members are not. It’s a good challenge and skill for everyone, whether they’re intending to enter a competition or not.

Ensure you have more experienced members demonstrating what a competition winning speech looks like. If there’s time, get the coach to use and dissect it as a learning experience for newer members who are building their skills.