Extemporaneous Public Speaking
Career Development Event
Revised May 2010
The rules for this career development event are to be utilized in conjunction with the rules contained in the
introduction section of the Arizona Association FFA Career Development Event Manual.
I.
Purpose
The State FFA Extemporaneous Public Speaking Career Development Event is designed to develop the
ability of all FFA members to express themselves on a given subject without having prepared or rehearsed
its content in advance, therefore causing FFA members to formulate their remarks for presentation in a
very limited amount of time. The event will be held in connection with the State FFA Leadership
Conference.
II. Event Description
In this CDE, you deliver a speech on one of three agricultural topics after 30 minutes of preparation. It’s
great practice to learn how to think on your feet and make your case quickly and persuasively. After each
speech, judges may ask related questions.
III. Standards
4.1 4.10
4.6 9.8
4.7
 Demonstrate communication skills
 Demonstrate leadership skills
 Utilize time management skills
 Utilize listening skills
IV. Event Format
A. ELIGIBILITY
1. The event is open to two individuals per district not to exceed 16 teams. In the event that a district
does not fill its quota, the remaining slots may be filled using either a succession or lottery of the 3rd
and/or 4th place individuals from other districts.
2. All participants shall wear complete official FFA dress for this each event.
B. SUBJECTS
1. The selection of topics shall be held 30 minutes before the participant is scheduled to present. The
participants will draw three specific topics, selected at random from one pool of 12, relating to the
industry of agriculture. After selecting the topic they desire to speak on, the all three topics will be
returned for the next drawing.
2. Twelve topics shall be prepared by the event chairperson and will include three each from the
following categories:
A. Agriscience and technology;
B. Agrimarketing and international agricultural relations;
C. Food and fiber systems;
1|Extemporaneous Public Speaking
Extemporaneous Public Speaking
Career Development Event
3.
4.
5.
6.
Revised May 2010
D. Urban agriculture.
Participants will be admitted to the preparation room at 11-minute intervals and given exactly 30
minutes for topic selection and preparation.
Reference material will be screened by the officials in charge of the event on the following basis:
A. Must be limited to five items
B. Printed material such as books or magazines
C. Printed compilations of materials collected from internet research
D. To be counted as one item, a notebook or folder of collected materials may contain NO more
than 100 single-sided pages or 50 pages double-sided numbered consecutively.
E. Cannot be notes or speeches prepared by the participant or by another person for the purpose
of use in this event.
Each speech shall be the result of the participant's own effort using approved reference material,
which the participant may bring to the preparation room. No other assistance may be provided.
Participants must use the uniform note cards provided. Any notes for speaking must be made during
the 30-minute preparation period.
A list of all possible topics will be given to and reviewed by the judges prior to the beginning of the
event. Judges will be notified of the speakers’ topic prior to each speech.
C. TIME LIMIT
Each speech shall be not less than four nor more than six minutes in length with five minutes additional
time allowed for related questions, which shall be asked by the judges. The program chairman of the
event shall introduce the participant by name and chapter, and the participant may introduce his or her
speech by title only. Participants will be penalized one point per second on each judge's score sheet for
being over six minutes or under four minutes. Time commences when the speaker begins talking.
Speakers may use a watch to keep a record of their time. No time warnings will be given by event
officials or observers.
D. EVENT PROCEDURES
1. The State FFA Executive Secretary will assign a chair to this event.
2. A 50-question, multiple choice, online exam will be taken prior to the event. The State FFA Office
will distribute further information regarding the administration of the exam.
3. The speaking order will be randomly determined by event officials. The program chairman shall
introduce each participant by name and in order of the drawing. A participant will be permitted to
use note cards while speaking. No props are to be used.
4. One timekeeper shall be designated who will record the time used by each participant in delivering
his or her speech, noting under time or overtime, if any, for which deductions will be made.
5. The state event will be conducted in two rounds: semifinals and finals. No ranking will be given
except for the final four. Preliminary rounds will be conducted at the district level.
6. A judge shall be provided by each school, for each contestant registered in the Extemporaneous
Speaking CDE. This judge will be utilized in the same semi-final round as his/her student. During
that round, the judge will not score his/her own student. Failure to provide a judge may result in
2|Extemporaneous Public Speaking
Extemporaneous Public Speaking
Career Development Event
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Revised May 2010
the disqualification of the student from the event. If a student/judge arrives late to the judges
meeting (or leaves before the end of the meeting) professionalism points will be deducted from the
students score in both the preliminary (and finals if appropriate) round(s).
The CDE Chairperson will meet with all judges, coaches and contestants prior to the semi-final
round and will discuss the procedure for the event, the scorecards, the scoring procedure, the
meeting following the conclusion of the speeches and answer any questions. The CDE Chairperson
will also inform coaches and contestants when and where they will be notified of the results from
the semi-final round.
Each judge shall formulate and ask questions. Questions shall pertain directly to the speaker's
subject. Judges will score each participant on the ability to answer all questions asked by all judges.
Three to five minutes for questions should be used.
When all participants have finished speaking, each judge will total the score on delivery and
response to questions for each participant. The timekeepers' record will then be given to all judges
and used in computing the final score for each participant. Judges will rank the contestants (based
on the total scores) from 1 to 8 (with 1 being the highest). The judges' score sheets will then be
submitted to event officials to determine final ranking of participants.
The judges' ranking of each participant then shall be added, and the top two contestants from each
round will be the participants whose total of rankings are the lowest. This calculation is to be done
without consultation between judges. Other placings shall be determined in the same manner (low
point score method of selection). In case of a tie, that individual who has the highest grand total
score shall have higher rating.
The top two participants from each semi-final round will be eligible to advance to the final round.
The CDE Chairperson will meet with all judges, coaches and contestants prior to the final round and
will discuss the procedure for the event, the scorecards, the scoring procedure, the meeting
following the conclusion of the speeches and answer any questions. The event chairperson will
inform the finalists that they will be receiving invitations to participate in training prior to the start
of school which will be focused on improving their speaking skills for national competition or the
next year’s state competition.
For the final round, a minimum of three competent and impartial persons will be selected to judge.
At least one judge should have an agricultural background. The judges will be seated in different
sections of the room in which the event is held. They will score each participant on the delivery of
production, using the score sheet provided.
Each judge shall formulate and ask questions. Questions shall pertain directly to the speaker's
subject. Judges will score each participant on the ability to answer all questions asked by all judges.
Three to five minutes for questions should be used.
When all participants have finished speaking, each judge will total the score on delivery and
response to questions for each participant. The CDE chairperson will provide the exam score and
professionalism scores to be added into the scores. The timekeepers' record will then be given to
all judges and used in computing the final score for each participant. Judges will rank the
3|Extemporaneous Public Speaking
Extemporaneous Public Speaking
Career Development Event
Revised May 2010
contestants (based on the total scores) from 1 to 4 (with 1 being the highest). The judges' score
sheets will then be submitted to event officials to determine final ranking of participants.
16. The judges' ranking of each participant then shall be added, and the winner will be that participant
whose total of rankings is the lowest. This calculation is to be done without consultation between
judges. Other placings shall be determined in the same manner (low point score method of
selection).
17. The CDE Chairperson is to deliver the results to the State FFA Executive Secretary immediately
following the conclusion of the judges’ final meeting.
V. Tiebreakers
In case of a tie, that individual who has the highest raw grand total score shall have higher rating.
VI. Awards
Plaques will be awarded to the state finalists by the Arizona Association FFA. A cash award of $225 will be
awarded to the State winner.
VII. Resources
This list of references is not intended to be inclusive. Other sources may be utilized and teachers are
encouraged to make use of the very best instructional materials available.
The following list contains references that may prove helpful during event preparation.
Arizona FFA Online CDE Test Bank (to be distributed by CD annually)
AgDay: http://www.agday.com
American Farm Bureau: http://www.fb.com/
Educating About Agriculture: http://ageducate.org/
Farm Facts (by American Farm Bureau): http://www.fb.org/brochures/farmfacts/
Farm Journal’s AgWeb.com: http://www.farmjournal.com/
Food and Agricultural Education Information System: http://faeis.usda.gov
Farm Progress: http://www.farmprogress.com
National Agricultural Library: http://www.nalusda.gov/
National Agri-Marketing Association: http://www.nama.org/
National Farmers Union: http://www.nfu.org/
Progressive Farmer: http://www.progressivefarmer.com
Successful Farming: Agriculture Online http://agriculture.com
United States Dept. of Agriculture (USDA): http://www.usda.gov/
USDA History of Agriculture site: http://www.usda.gov/history2
Agricultural Education classroom text books (focus on vocabulary words)
VIII. Scoring
4|Extemporaneous Public Speaking
Extemporaneous Public Speaking
Career Development Event
Revised May 2010
STATE FFA EXTEMPORANEOUS PUBLIC SPEAKING CAREER DEVELOPMENT EVENT JUDGES SCORE SHEET
Items to be Scored
Max.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Content Related to Topic
30
Appropriateness of the total speech content to the topic
selected, Extent to which the speaker addressed the topic
selected, Suitability of the material used, Accuracy of the
statements included
Organization of Material
10
Organization of the content, Unity of thought, Logical
development, Language used, Sentence structure,
Accomplishment of purpose/conclusions, Material related
to subtopic
Voice
10
Quality, Pitch, Articulation, Pronunciation and Force
Stage Presence
10
Personal appearance, Poise and body posture, Attitude,
Confidence, Personality and Ease before audience
Power of Expression
10
Fluency, Emphasis, Directness, Sincerity, Communicative
ability and Conveyance of thought and meaning
Response to Questions
20
The ability to answer satisfactorily the questions on the
speech that are asked by the judges indicating originality,
familiarity with subject and ability to think quickly.
Conveyance of thought and meaning.
General Effect
10
Includes the extent to which the speech was interesting,
understandable, convincing, pleasing and held attention.
Evidence of purpose.
GROSS TOTAL POINTS
100
Max
Less Time Deductions*
1 pt/
sec
Less Notebook preparation Deductions**
10
Less Professionalism Deductions***
10
(to be applied to prelim and finals rounds)
SUBTOTAL POINTS
100
max
Multiply subtotal by .75
75
Test & Workplace Employability Score multiplied by .25
Grand Total
25
100
Max
Rank of Participant
*From the timekeeper's record.
**Based on lack of preparation in student notebook
***Based on student/judges being on time and present for entire judges meeting
****Based on student being registered for event by deadline
5|Extemporaneous Public Speaking
8
Extemporaneous Public Speaking
Career Development Event
Revised May 2010
Speaking Finalist Judge Comment Card
This card will be filled out by each finalist judge for each speaker in the finals round. The Speaking CDE
Chair will collect the forms and distribute to the finalist (if time permits) or deliver to the State FFA Executive
Secretary to be distributed after the event.
Name:
Chapter:
Positives:
Areas of Improvement:
General Comments:
6|Extemporaneous Public Speaking
Extemporaneous Public Speaking
Career Development Event
Revised May 2010
Sample Topics for Extemporaneous Public Speaking
(These are samples. Additional topics can and will be used for the actual CDE)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Agriscience and Technology
Using hydroponics to produce food crops
Reproducing plants
Using biotechnology to improve life
Applying principles of soil sciences
Applying science to food preservation
Designing and conducting agricultural research
Controlling electrical current: circuits, conductors and insulators
Soil and water relationships: permeability and drainage
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Agrimarketing & International Agriculture Relations
Selecting a marketing strategy
Establishing prices for meat animals
Careers in agriculture sales
Using commodity futures
Marketing horticultural products and services
Understanding the world food and fiber chain
The effect of tariffs and embargoes on world trade
How foreign competition affects U.S. trade opportunities
Food & Fiber Systems
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Methods of harvesting timber
Selecting seed
Developing conservation plans
Managing the cow-calf herd
Maximizing your crop harvest
The use of chemicals in livestock feed
Maintaining animal health
Urban Agriculture
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Improving life with companion animals
Urban encroachment on farmland
Developing a community garden
Lawn chemicals and the urban environment
Developing community parks
Ag literacy activities for urban residents
Managing a greenhouse
7|Extemporaneous Public Speaking
Extemporaneous Public Speaking
Career Development Event
9.
Revised May 2010
Protocols for Speaking CDE Chairperson
Judge Preparation








Thank the judges for their time and their professionalism.
Explain the scorecard to the judges to be sure that they understand what they are looking for.
Review the format of the CDE including important topics such as drawing for order.
For prepared and creed, choose which judge asks which question and in what order.
Judges are only responsible for certain areas (i.e. accuracy, time, presence).
Explain what to look for in question answers
o Answering questions completely
o Answering all parts of multiple part questions
o Accuracy & knowledge
o Organization of answer
o Confidence
Confidentiality of scores
Written feedback should be taken given only to finalists after CDE
Scoring








Each judge totals their scores and ranks contestants
o 1 being best, 2 being second best, etc.
Chair collects rankings and totals. Rankings should be handed to chair (in lieu of verbally
reporting results).
The lowest sum of rankings is the winner, next lowest is 2nd, etc.
Chair then discloses the final results to the judges.
If the judges have concerns, the chair will re-tally.
No discussion will take place.
Finals judges will submit written feedback for the contestants to review.
All placings should be confidential.
8|Extemporaneous Public Speaking