ESU Canada - Public Speaking

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ESU Canada Presents

HSBC National Public Speaking Competition

Mapping the Global Future

Ethan Chess of St Paul's (Winnipeg) was top speaker in the Canadian Finals leading to the HSBC International Public Speaking Competition in London, England, next May.

By the narrowest of margins, necessitating the use of a tie-breaking formula to decide between the top three competitors, Ethan was placed ahead of Jordyn Benattar and Elizabeth Stratton, both of Branksome Hall (Toronto).

The competition attracted 27 entries from as far apart as Winnipeg and Halifax and was held at the Best Western Ville Marie, Montreal, on Sunday, November 1st, 2009. The entry was split into 4 groups and each group made their speeches twice in front of different judges. Before the competition, a change to the rules was announced which would ensure that at least one speaker from each group would be in the finals.

Second place, Jordyn Benettar is flanked by Ethan Chess and Elizabeth Stratton.
The sheilds were presented by John Wright, President, ESU Canada, and Nancy Zeligman, Assistant Vice-president, HSBC Bank, Montreal.

Competitors were required to speak on the theme Mapping the Global Future without using it as the title to their talk. The interpretations varied widely. Ethan spoke on Globalization which, he postulated, is 'flattening the earth'. Jordyn spoke on the consequences of depriving third world children of their childhood and Elizabeth took Urbanization as her sub-theme, commenting that 60% of the population live on 5% of the land.

The competition was organized by Chris George, Chairman of the Education Committee, ESU Canada, who teaches at Lower Canada College. Our thanks go to Chris and his helpers as well as to the Judges and Moderators. Two of the top three competitor in the 2009 National Finals, Lia D'Abate and Julia Deutsch took part as session moderators

The theme for the 2010 International Competition will be Speculation on our Future.

Click here for the 2010 International Competition Handbook. (Note: A revised version was posted on 09/11/23 - addition of judging criteria.)

Tournament Rules

Each Speaker will be allocated 5 minutes.
No visual aids or microphones are used by the Chair, Judges or Speaker. This includes props of any kind.
Five marks will be deducted for speeches which vary more than 45 seconds either side of 5 minutes. The Timekeeper will also give an audible signal after 4 minutes 15 seconds, and at 5 minutes, and 5 minutes 45 seconds. At the end of 6 minutes Speakers will be asked to finish their speech immediately.
A Timekeeper will record the lengths of speeches.
Students will be assigned to rooms randomly. The sequence of Speakers within each round and room will be selected at random, co-ordinated by the Timekeeper, and will be written on the board.
Speakers will be scored out of 100 on the provided ballot for the preliminary rounds. The top five will advance to finals.
Scoring:
- Subject, Reasoning and Evidence, 45%
- Expression and Delivery, 35%
- Establishing Credibility, 20%
Each round will be judged by 4 or 5 judges. We will ask judges to complete all score sheets for all competitors and hand in both rounds at once.
The scoring for the finals only will be done using a rank system. Judges will rank all competitors from 1st to 5th, and students will be assigned 5,3,2,1 and 0 points respectively. In the unlikely event of a tie, the prepared rounds will break the tie.
The ESU Handbook makes reference to a question period from members of the audience and the judging panel. THIS WILL NOT BE INCLUDED.