Youth Speaks 2017

This National Youth Speaks Competition is a long established and successful contest promoted by Rotary International in Britain and Ireland

WELCOME

From the Isle of Wight Rotary Clubs:

Cowes, Ryde, Sandown, Shanklin, Vectis Sunrise, Ventnor & West Wight

Sponsored by J.A. Dempsey and Wight Aid

The Rotary Youth Speaks Competition is a well-established and successful competition organised and promoted by Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland.  It is a four stage competition which is designed to support and encourage the development of effective communication skills. Some stages may have more than one round.

Aims

This competition aims to offer young people:

·         experience in speaking on a public platform as a member of a team

·         an incentive to formulate ideas on topical subjects

·         discipline in dealing with a topic in a limited time

·         the opportunity of learning and practising high standards of expression, presentation and appearance

·         impartial feedback and assessment of performance by experienced adjudicators

Format

Each team member takes on one of three roles: chairperson, speaker and vote of thanks. The team should be the same throughout the competition. In exceptional circumstances substitutions may be made, subject to the approval of the competition organiser.

Each team member is allocated a time in which to perform their role. The role of each team member is detailed in the procedure section below.

Judges                                                

Judges with appropriate skills appointed by Rotary will apply the judging criteria and provide feedback to all competitors and mentoring to winners. The judges will not discuss marks and their decision will be final.

A Rotarian will not be appointed as a judge for regional or national finals.

Judging Criteria  

        The team members will perform their roles in the following order:

Chairperson   

When the team is ready the chairperson will stand. From this point on the chairperson is in control of the team’s performance until the performance is closed after the vote of thanks. The chairperson should briefly link the team’s presentations. There is no time penalty involved in this part of the chairperson’s role.

                      The chairperson has two minutes to welcome the audience and to introduce the speaker. The introduction should include the relevance or expertise of the speaker to the subject of their speech.

                           An amber light will indicate there are thirty seconds left of the allocated two minutes.

Speaker            

The speaker has six minutes to speak on their chosen subject. The speaker may choose any subject, subject to the approval of the organisers. Considerable discretion should be used in choosing the subject. Sensitive subjects such as party politics, race or religion should be avoided. The subject may change between stages.

                            An amber light will indicate there is one minute left of the allocated six minutes

Chairperson   

When the speaker has finished the chairperson will invite the questioner to ask a question

Speaker            

Before answering the question the speaker may seek clarification of the question via the chairperson. The speaker, who is the subject expert, may not consult about the question with other team members.

The speaker then has about two minutes to answer the question.

                            An amber light will indicate two minutes are drawing to a close and after the amber light speakers should bring their response to a conclusion.

                            Speakers are advised to respond spontaneously, without prepared sections, to obtain high marks from the judges.

Chairperson

When the speaker has finished answering the question, the chairman will introduce the proposer of the vote of thanks.

Vote of Thanks

The vote of thanks has two minutes to propose the vote of thanks.

Timetable

17:00       Doors Open

17:30       Buffet

18:30       Competition commences

Trafalgar Room – Senior Teams

Hunnyhill Room – Intermediate Teams

19:50       Judges retire

20:20       Results and Presentation

20:45       Anticipated finish

The Judges

And for the Winners:

The District Final - 11^th March 2017 at

Richard Taunton 6^th Form College,

Hill Lane

Southampton

SO15 5RL