Competitive Speech: Grade Level Expectations
Competitive Speech Students Will Understand That…
 A speaker's confidence is a driving force behind speaking effectiveness.
 In order to instill belief in the audience, the speaker must strive to be an ethical
person, use communication skills constructively, and value the audience.
 The speaker, audience, and message are the three elements that must work
together for a winning speech in competition.
 Consistent use of clear thinking principles will aid the student as listener in
recognizing truth and rejecting falsehoods.
 The ethical speaker will seek to find the truth and deliver the truth so the audience
can make valid decisions based on true knowledge.
 Successful speakers instill belief in their claims with evidence and valid
reasoning.
 Speaking presentations require an interplay of the speaker (ethos), the audience
(pathos), and the message (logos).
 The competitive speech areas require a large variety of approaches, depending on
their rules and procedures, but there are some presentation aspects that most have
in common.
 The speaker must follow several specific steps in order to build a successful
presentation.
 Extemporaneous and memorized styles of delivery are the most effective styles if
the speaker has adequate time to prepare and rehearse the speech. Sometimes the
four styles can be combined.
 The speaker should manage several key elements of voice and body in order to
instill belief in the audience.
 The ability to construct and deliver presentations is a valuable skill that takes
time, knowledge, and effort to acquire.
 Major goals of informative presentations are to clarify ideas and instruct and
inform an audience.
 Persuasive speaking requires the speaker to instill belief in an idea, and move the
audience to take a directed action.
 Platform competition events emphasize the careful preparation and rehearsal of
informative and persuasive speeches reflecting successful real-life situations.
 Limited preparation competition events demonstrate a speaker's ability to
compose and organize thoughts, show creativity and imagination, and present
ideas effectively under time pressure.
 The best speakers are those who have a lifetime of information and experiences
upon which to draw quickly; however, everyone can improve in knowledge about
the world around us.
 Idaho state contest rules specify the elements and requirements for choosing and
preparing limited preparation topics in each event.
 Limited preparation events require much practice within the constraints of the
event preparation period before successful presentation at tournament.



Interpretation competition events demonstrate a speaker's ability to move the
audience to a different time and place, explore universal themes, and evoke strong
feelings about the characters.
Idaho State contest rules specify the elements and requirements for choosing and
preparing humorous, serious, and duo interpretation.
A successful, award-winning performance in competition requires character
analysis, memorization skills, and much practice and feedback.
Competitive Speech Students Will Know…
 Confidence increases with purposeful oral speaking preparation and practice.
 The speaker must carefully consider personal and team image in a speech
competition.
 The effective speaker must link his or her message to the needs of the
judge/audience.
 Purposeful event preparation and practice will result in a balance of ethos, pathos,
and logos.
 Reasoning is the process of thinking and drawing conclusions about evidence.
 Several levels of believability may exist in logic between truth and falsehood;
clear thinkers must recognize qualifying signs.
 Fallacies are errors in the reasoning process, and they may lead to incorrect
conclusions.
 Reasoning and emotions are two separate elements of human thought processes,
and they may lead to different actions.
 Logic and reasoning may be sacrificed when the speaker tells the audience only
what the audience wants to hear.
 Each competition event is built around specific rules and procedures for that
event.
 The speaker must give the audience a speech that they can relate to and apply in
some way in their own lives.
 Limited preparation events require advance knowledge of the subject and the
ability to quickly organize materials and deliver them with a flourish.
 Platform events require careful research, preparation and practice to perfection.
 The interpretative events require extra ability to focus, an excellent cutting of the
material, and high quality vocal intensity and variety.
 A requirement for successful presentation is adequate rehearsal of verbal and
nonverbal elements.
 With each successful speech presentation, the speaker gains more confidence for
future presentations.
 If verbal and nonverbal elements of delivery conflict, the audience will value the
nonverbal message most.
 A manageable topic can be created by limiting the subject in time, space, and
scope.
 The speaker can plan how to give careful consideration to clear, powerful
organization of ideas and support for claims.












A speech can be supported through the use of appropriate facts, stories,
quotations, definitions, and descriptions.
Speaker ethos requires the speaker to be a person of learning and insight.
Speeches that aim to convince or persuade employ the speaker-audience-message
triangle (ethos-pathos-logos).
Audio and visual aids, if used confidently and gracefully, can enhance a speech
by reinforcing the message and adding to the presentation.
Understanding and using the audience-message-speaker triangle will result in
confidence and success in the limited preparation events.
Each of the limited preparation events (impromptu, extemporaneous, retold story,
and radio speaking) requires an understanding of the elements and rules of the
specific event.
Awareness of current events requires the speaker to methodically analyze
important events, understand cultures, and imagine possible future scenarios, and
then relate conclusions to the audience.
Practice makes perfect in improving techniques in the limited preparation
speaking events.
The speaker must be aware of the specific rules pertaining to the interpretation
events, as there are differences between the state rules and the NFL rules.
A careful analysis of characters and a thorough knowledge of the plot will aid the
speaker in defining the characterizations.
Sources of competitive interpretations can be found in many places, including
play order books (Samuel French, etc.), anthologies, and on the Internet.
Practice makes perfect in preparing for success in the interpretative events.
Competitive Speech Students Will Be Able To…
 Reflect on personal ethics and personal and team image and responsibilities.
 Use eye contact correctly, depending on the specific event, to fully enhance ethos.
 Assess increased personal confidence as speech opportunities arise.
 Assess the balance and interplay of ethos, pathos, and logos in the speech
presentation.
 Compare and contrast information and facts gleaned from research as support for
claims.
 Explain how to find specific facts or other pieces of information on the Internet
and correctly identify source cites.
 Identify evidence legitimacy, and explain at what point a piece of evidence is not
legitimate or valid.
 Listen critically as claims and information are stated orally to ascertain
truthfulness or falsehood of the information given.
 Identify elements of Aristotle's and Toulmin's models of reasoning and use these
elements correctly in clear thinking.
 Recognize errors in the reasoning process as both speaker and listener.
 Identify the particular requirements for the various competitive events and use the
rules and procedures to enhance his or her presentation.






















Assess the interests of the audience in order to adjust to what the audience or
judge wants to hear.
Choose topics that follow the guidelines for selecting a subject.
Rehearse the speech so as to deliver it in the most appropriate style of delivery for
that particular purpose.
Demonstrate nonverbal ways to enhance a presentation.
Identify techniques for rehearsing an effective presentation.
Self assess own presentations and set improvement goals.
Identify the elements and rules pertaining to each of the platform speaking events.
Construct an effective speech in one or more of the platform competition events.
Rehearse the speech adequately and deliver it with appropriate verbal and
nonverbal signals.
Present appropriate visual or audio aids if the even rules permit their use.
Assess effective speaking techniques in others.
Self assess areas for personal improvement.
Identify the elements and rules pertaining to each of the limited preparation
speaking events.
Construct a speech in one or more of the limited preparation events.
Practice and present numerous speeches in one or more events.
Assess effective speaking techniques in others.
Self assess areas for personal improvement.
Identify the elements, rules, and times of each of the interpretative events.
Cut a piece so as to retain the power, integrity and high point of the work.
Self assess the quality of one's own piece, and assess quality in the work of peers
so as to identify areas for improvements.
Use appropriate gestures, expressions and focus, within the guidelines of the
rules, to enhance the presentations.
Set goals for high quality interpretative presentations and achieve those goals.