Oral Question Component

• All six team members will be asked a planned question, which may include one to three parts, relating to their assigned motion. No one may step forward to help another member answer their individual question. The chair will be asked a question relating to presiding, debate, assigning the floor or other general parliamentary procedures.

• Oral questions will be scored a maximum of 16 pts. For responses to questions. The chair will score a maximum of 20 points.

Presentation Component 

• Process:

  • The event official and judges will select two subsidiary, two incidental, and one privileged or a motion that brings a question again before the assembly from the list of permissible motions. These five selected motions will be randomly assigned to five team members (one per member). All teams will be assigned the same five motions.

  • Upon entering the presentation room and taking their seats, the participants will have one minute to review the main motion and the required motions to be demonstrated (which may be noted by bolding, underlining, or an asterisk).

  • The team demonstrating shall assume that a regular chapter meeting is in progress and new business is being handled on the agenda. The chair shall start the presentation by saying, “Is there any new business?” Time will stop when the chair declares the meeting adjourned

• Original Main Motion:

  • The event official will assign the main motion on the index card, no other original main motions may be used that are not on the event card. Making other original main motions that are not on the event card will result in a 50-point deduction from overall team presentation.

  • The assigned original main motion is to be the first item of business presented, unless take from the table, reconsider or rescind are required on the event card. If this is the case, an alternative main motion for take from the table, reconsider or rescind will be provided.

  • The person who makes the assigned main motion will be given credit for an additional motion

• Secondary Or Additional Motions:

  • Each member is required to perform one additional subsidiary, incidental or privileged motion in addition to the required motion on the card.

  • No limit to the number of subsidiary, incidental, or privileged motions a team may demonstrate.

  • A member’s required motion will not be counted as an additional motion for another member. No motion may count for an additional motion for more than one member.

  • Only one additional motion correctly performed will count for a member’s 10 points.

  • If the officials in charge designate “rescind, reconsider, or take from the table” as a motion to be demonstrated, you could assume that you would rescind, reconsider, or take from the table a motion that you did at your last meeting. Example: “I move to rescind the motion that passed at our last meeting about having an FFA hayride.” These motions should not be used unless designated by the official in charge has a scenario included on the event card.

  • An alternate motion not pertaining to the main motion may be used to facilitate the correct demonstration of the motion, “Call for the orders of the day,” should that privileged motion be designated as one to be demonstrated by the officials in charge.

  • All members must demonstrate their required motions. Deductions for parliamentary mistakes on a required motion can range from 5 to 20 points per mistake. Omitting a required motion is a 50-point deduction from the total team score. and a 15-point deduction from the member’s individual score even if another member on the team demonstrates that required motion. Additional motions (other than those required) should be logically used throughout the presentation and should affect the flow of the meeting.

• Topics Of Discussion

  • Each team will address a local chapter item of business, which would normally be a part of a chapter’s program of activities. The motion will be specific and must be moved as an original motion as it is written on the event card.

    • Growing Leaders

    • Building Communities

    • Strengthening Agriculture

    • State FFA Convention Items of Business

Scoring Guidelines

• Guidelines for Scoring Discussion

  • Judges must overlook personal opinions and beliefs and score discussion in an unbiased manner.

  • Characteristics of effective discussion include

    • completeness of thought

    • logical reasoning

    • clear statement of speaker’s position

    • conviction of delivery

    • concise and effective statement of discussion.

  • Each time a participant in the presentation discusses any motion, he/she may earn a score. However, an individual may never earn more than 60 points in a given presentation. The top four debates per member will be tabulated in the presentation score. No more than two debates per member per debatable motion will be tabulated even if extension of debate is passed.

  • Scoring Discussion:

    • Good – 15-20 points

      • Good debate would be characterized by a presentation that includes the components of a good debate as well as the quality of delivery in which the debate is delivered. Those components are:

        • states position clearly

        • provides more than one reason supporting their position

        • tells delegation how to vote

    • Average – 8-14 points

      • Average discussion would be characterized by a presentation that includes only one supporting reason or lacks in the quality of delivery. However, the following basic components of debate will still be included:

        • states position

        • provides one reason supporting their position

        • tells delegation how to vote.

    • Poor – 0-7 points

      • Poor debate would be characterized by a lack of effective delivery, poor grammar, reasoning and substance. As well as the omission of one or more components of an effective debate.

• Guidelines for Scoring the Chair (80 points)

  • The chair is evaluated on his or her ability to preside and on his or her leadership.

    Ability to Preside (65 points)

  • The ability to preside includes the following: being able to state motions correctly, follow rules of debate, keep members informed, put motions to a vote, announce results of vote, use the gavel, and maintain awareness of business on the floor.
    A suggested grading scale is as follows:

• Excellent: 51-65 points

• Good: 26-50 points

• Poor: 0-25 points

Leadership (15 points)

• Leadership is stage presence, poise, self-confidence, politeness, and voice.

A suggested grading scale is as follows:

• Excellent: 11-15 points

• Good: 6-10 points

• Poor: 0-5 points

• Guidelines for Scoring Team Effect (20 Points)

  • Conclusions reached by the team

    • The main motion was well analyzed, which may include answering who, what, when, where, why and how.

  • Team use of debate:

    • The degree to which debate was convincing, logical, realistic, orderly and efficient, germane and free from repetition.

  • Team presence:

    • his includes voice, poise, expression, grammar, gestures and professionalism.

Scoring

Required Motions - 75

Additional Motion - 50

• 10 points x 5 members

Debate - 300

• 20 points maximum per debate, up to 60 points total.

• Four debates/member included

• Five members.

Chairman - 80

• Ability to Preside - 65 points

• Leadership - 15 points

Oral Questions - 100

• Individual Questions (80 points) - Five team members, 16 points maximum per question

• Chair - 20 points maximum

Team Effect - 20

Team’s voice, poise, and expression

TOTAL POINTS - 625

References

• Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised, 11th Edition. Henry M. Robert III, William

• J. Evans, Daniel H. Honemann, Thomas J. Balch. www.robertsrules.com

• Videos of National FFA Contests and Resources; https://www.ffa.org/participate/ldes/parliamentary-procedure

• National FFA CDE Page — Past CDE Material (FFA.org/Parliamentary Procedure/Event Resources/Past Test & Practicums) Past National FFA Event Exams, Questions and Practicums, available at FFA.org at no cost. Reference for exams, individual questions, past motion cards, individual practicums, and team problem-solving. https://ffa.app.box.com/s/jmuac2sx7kyr4jdt3edn98cjfcxelnxs

• Parliamentary Procedure Basics, CIMC, AG430317, 2017.

• Official FFA Manual, National FFA Organization, Latest Version, 2017.

Supporting Materials

Senior Parliamentary Procedure Materials

Scansheet