Information for Participants

Congratulations students on your nominations to participate in the second University of Arkansas Public Speaking Contest. The contest, sponsored by the Arkansas Union Society, will take place over the course of two evenings --April 20 and April 24. The contest consists of a first, second, third, and final championship round.

On Thursday, April 20, the first through third rounds will take place in Kimpel Hall. Every nominee will have the opportunity to participate in the first round. Competitors will give their speech in front of two judges who will evaluate the speech in the same manner as was used in your COMM 1313 class. There will be, hopefully, ten rooms with approximately five contestants per room. No one will be watching the speech in the first round, except for the two judges evaluating you. This round should last approximately one hour. At the completion of the first round, the judges will meet and determine the top twenty scores. The top twenty competitors will move on to the second round, which will begin immediately following the announcement of results from the first round.

The second round will be identical to the first round. You will give the same speech as you did in the first round; however, you will be making your presentation to a different set of judges. After all of the competitors have given their speech, the judges will rank and post the names of the six people with the highest scores. These people will move to the fourth and final round which will be held Monday, April 24.

THE FINAL ROUND

The championship round will begin at 7:00 p.m. in Giffels Auditorium in Old Main. In this round, the six finalists will give the same speech as given in the first, second, and third rounds. However, the final round will be open to the public. Community Access Television will also be taping the competition to be aired at a later date. Dean Randall Woods of the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, will present award certificates to all finalists and cash prizes to the top three finalists.

Prizes for this competition were donated to the Arkansas Union Society by BTW-Houghton-Mifflin, publishers of "Public Speaking," by Osborn and Osborn, and Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, publishers of "Communication in Our Lives," by Julia Wood.

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE SPEECH.

· The speech should be 4-8 minutes in length.

· The contestant may only present a persuasive speech (This can be the one that you gave in class or you may create a new one for the competition).

· Visual aids are optional; however, no audio/visual equipment will be provided.

· Dress for the championship round will be formal:

o MEN: khakis, button-ups, ties OR suit

o WOMEN: nice skirt, pants, dress OR suit

o This event will be televised on the local cable channel, so look sharp

If you need additional information concerning the Public Speaking Competition, please do not hesitate to e-mail or call me.

Leah Potts
Committee Chair
Arkansas Union Society
(501)575-5955