Challenging The Judge On Table Topics
A table topic is only two minutes, not the five to seven minutes of the Prepared speech. (Actually a speech of four and half minutes is allowed. However, most speakers go over time. I have only seen the occasional speaker (twice in ten years) who forgets their speech and loses heart and leaves. I have watched them forget, start again, get lost again, give up again.
They did not think to sum up but left abruptly and did not reach the five minutes. That's the problem with not having a proper set of notes to consult in an emergency. No husband or wife or mentor in the audience to shout a prompt.
The other problem is needing to read a speech like a memorised poem. You should have three main stories, and a clear link. Then the speech is like pearls on a chain. If it is a time line - title, explain title, summary, my childhood, may teenage years, where I am now, conclusion - repeat title, it would be hard to get lost.
A table topic is different. You have to devise the answer to the question. You can read/repeat the question which seals it in your mind so you don't wander off topic and this gives time to think but takes up time reducing the number of points you can make. If it's a long question, or quotation, you have time to really both halves.
A recent challenge took place at a contest at Singapore's venue on the East coast near Changi airport. The topic was a quotation by Churchill, about optimism and pessimism.
Most contestants heard the topic, then took hold of the left hand side of the piece of paper with one hand, their right hand, sharing the paper with the contest chair, and read it silently, or took the paper in both hands and read it silently or aloud and then handed it back.
One contestant took hold of the paper and kept hold of it. He answered the first half of the question and from where I was sitting (a few rows back) seemed to put it in his pocket. (I worried through the whole speech that he would 'lose' it, leaving the rest of the contestants with no topic1
Then, if I both saw and remembered rightly, he got it out again to read it again to be sure he answered the second half of the question.
Later contestants are not allowed the advantage of hearing the question prior to their entrance, nor hearing another speaker before they speak, so the only rival contestant who saw this and objected must have been a previous contestant. (Or one whose friends and family or fellow club members had told him about it. Only the contestant could object, not his club members or family members in the audience.)
When the chief judge returned with the results, a member of the audience (the objecting contestant) raised his hands to say he had an objection. The judge said to the audience that he had already been told of the objection.
The contestant in the audience protested that everybody should hear the objection and the reasons for it and have a proper debate on the subject in case it arose again.
By now members of the audience were intrigued, curious, anxious to know, and supported the contestant objecting and wanted to hear the objection.
The objection was that the person who kept hold of the piece of paper with the topic a) should not have been allowed to do so and it was against the rules and this should not be allowed in future contests b) the contestant who did so if it was against the rules should possibly be disqualified for doing so.
Various members of the audience started saying that it was or wasn't in the rules, and some people got out their handphones (previously off and silent during contests so as to not distract speakers)and starting hunting on line. Nobody could find a specific rule about the contestant not being allowed to keep hold of the paper.
The Chief judge said that the chief Judge's ruling was final. He remained very calm, decisive, polite to the parties and good-humoured, treating it not as a confrontation but as an interesting technical point. After two or three times saying that the judge's decision was final, he ended by drawing a conclusion by saying we had to finish so that people could go home but could continue debating the point later.
The person who complained turned out to be one of the (two, I think) winners going forward to the next contest.
The Chief Judge said that the objection had nothing to do with the fact that he had won. (Which is decided by the number of points allocated to each of the top three speakers, thee points for those you think should be first, two points to the person who is second, one point to the person who is third. If the number of points is equal for any of the top three, then the tie-breaker's scoring is used. The tie-breaker's marks are not needed and not checked unless there is a query.
Angela Lansbury, speaker, winner of club contests (UK), judge and tie-breaker judge in some contests (UK and Singapore). You are not allowed to be a judge at your club or another club if you are a speaker in a contest in previous contest in that area or listed as a future contestant at another club in the area (which comprises about four or five clubs - too complicated to go into here, but you get the idea). Equally you cannot be a contestant if you have previously been a judge.
Lots more information on club websites and the forums on LinkedIn. I have written this post because I have far more to say than would be reasonable to write on the forums where each comment is about 3-5 sentences and 3-5 lines long.
Angela Lansbury, CL, ACG.
They did not think to sum up but left abruptly and did not reach the five minutes. That's the problem with not having a proper set of notes to consult in an emergency. No husband or wife or mentor in the audience to shout a prompt.
The other problem is needing to read a speech like a memorised poem. You should have three main stories, and a clear link. Then the speech is like pearls on a chain. If it is a time line - title, explain title, summary, my childhood, may teenage years, where I am now, conclusion - repeat title, it would be hard to get lost.
A table topic is different. You have to devise the answer to the question. You can read/repeat the question which seals it in your mind so you don't wander off topic and this gives time to think but takes up time reducing the number of points you can make. If it's a long question, or quotation, you have time to really both halves.
A recent challenge took place at a contest at Singapore's venue on the East coast near Changi airport. The topic was a quotation by Churchill, about optimism and pessimism.
Most contestants heard the topic, then took hold of the left hand side of the piece of paper with one hand, their right hand, sharing the paper with the contest chair, and read it silently, or took the paper in both hands and read it silently or aloud and then handed it back.
One contestant took hold of the paper and kept hold of it. He answered the first half of the question and from where I was sitting (a few rows back) seemed to put it in his pocket. (I worried through the whole speech that he would 'lose' it, leaving the rest of the contestants with no topic1
Then, if I both saw and remembered rightly, he got it out again to read it again to be sure he answered the second half of the question.
Later contestants are not allowed the advantage of hearing the question prior to their entrance, nor hearing another speaker before they speak, so the only rival contestant who saw this and objected must have been a previous contestant. (Or one whose friends and family or fellow club members had told him about it. Only the contestant could object, not his club members or family members in the audience.)
When the chief judge returned with the results, a member of the audience (the objecting contestant) raised his hands to say he had an objection. The judge said to the audience that he had already been told of the objection.
The contestant in the audience protested that everybody should hear the objection and the reasons for it and have a proper debate on the subject in case it arose again.
By now members of the audience were intrigued, curious, anxious to know, and supported the contestant objecting and wanted to hear the objection.
The objection was that the person who kept hold of the piece of paper with the topic a) should not have been allowed to do so and it was against the rules and this should not be allowed in future contests b) the contestant who did so if it was against the rules should possibly be disqualified for doing so.
Various members of the audience started saying that it was or wasn't in the rules, and some people got out their handphones (previously off and silent during contests so as to not distract speakers)and starting hunting on line. Nobody could find a specific rule about the contestant not being allowed to keep hold of the paper.
The Chief judge said that the chief Judge's ruling was final. He remained very calm, decisive, polite to the parties and good-humoured, treating it not as a confrontation but as an interesting technical point. After two or three times saying that the judge's decision was final, he ended by drawing a conclusion by saying we had to finish so that people could go home but could continue debating the point later.
The person who complained turned out to be one of the (two, I think) winners going forward to the next contest.
The Chief Judge said that the objection had nothing to do with the fact that he had won. (Which is decided by the number of points allocated to each of the top three speakers, thee points for those you think should be first, two points to the person who is second, one point to the person who is third. If the number of points is equal for any of the top three, then the tie-breaker's scoring is used. The tie-breaker's marks are not needed and not checked unless there is a query.
***
Angela Lansbury, speaker, winner of club contests (UK), judge and tie-breaker judge in some contests (UK and Singapore). You are not allowed to be a judge at your club or another club if you are a speaker in a contest in previous contest in that area or listed as a future contestant at another club in the area (which comprises about four or five clubs - too complicated to go into here, but you get the idea). Equally you cannot be a contestant if you have previously been a judge.
Lots more information on club websites and the forums on LinkedIn. I have written this post because I have far more to say than would be reasonable to write on the forums where each comment is about 3-5 sentences and 3-5 lines long.
Angela Lansbury, CL, ACG.
Labels: challenging judge, finishing early, mentor, pocket, prompt, question paper, summary, table topic, table topics
posted by Angela Lansbury Author at 8:30 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home