Australian Individual Debating & Public Speaking Championships
We are excited to announce that the Australian Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships will be held in Melbourne, Victoria at Huntingtower from Monday 18 September to Wednesday 20 September 2023.
About the Championships
- Coordinate Debating
- Impromptu Speaking
- Interpretive Reading
- Prepared Speaking (After-Dinner or Persuasive)
The Australian Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships (AIDPSC) is an annual oratorical competition that has been modelled on the World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships: an innovative competition held annually in a different country around the world. It is targets passionate and socially minded student speakers, providing them with an opportunity to collaborate with like-minded peers from outside their regular schooling experience.
Through the competition students participate across four different public speaking events:
In the AIDPSC each competitor progresses through two preliminary rounds of competition. The highest-scoring speakers in each event then proceed to the final round which will determine the winner in each event.
Scores in the preliminary rounds also determine the overall ranking of each competitor within the competition. The top overall-ranked students from the AIDPSC are then selected to form the Australian contingent who will represent their country and their school at the following year’s World Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships.
Students from Years 9 to 11 may participate in AIDPSC.
Students from Years 8 to 10 may participate in the accompanying Speakfest development competition, allowing participants to build their skills and gain exposure to high-quality speakers.
Inquiries can be directed to Mr Matthew McDonald (mmcdonald@huntingtower.vic.edu.au), who will be Huntingtower’s convener of the 2023 Championships.
What Makes AIDPSC Unique?
The ability to communicate and gain recognition and respect for our ideas and opinions is vitally important. AIDPSC is built around providing students with a unique and challenging opportunity to extend their skills as an orator, advocate and critical thinker as they prepare to take their place in a rapidly-changing world.
The competition requires students to engage with a range of public speaking abilities. Each events tests a different unique skill: the ability to work collaboratively and respond to opposing arguments, the ability to think spontaneously and respond effectively without notice, the ability to bring another person’s words to life, and the ability to craft an effective oratorical response of one’s own.
Participants get to work with students from around the country. Debates take place with students from different schools and are randomly paired. They must then develop a coherent presentation in a short time, while working with a partner they have just met.
Each event takes place in front of a panel of adjudicators, who are themselves drawn from the teachers who accompany the students. At the end of the competition, speakers receive feedback from each of their adjudicators, providing them with a range of perspectives and expertise that will help them progress along their journey as public speakers.
It is a tournament that will unfold over the course of three days, which will give the students an opportunity to connect and network with many students from a variety of schools from across the nation.
Each school must send an accompanying teacher with their team as the teachers attending AIDPSC will be expected to adjudicate the various events during the tournament.
What is Speakfest?
Speakfest is an accompanying development competition for students in Years 8 to 10.
It provides an opportunity for middle years students to engage in spirited debate with likeminded peers in an environment that will enable them to hone and enhance their public speaking and debating skills.
This event is run in conjunction with the AIDPSC and is also modelled on the World Individual Debating and Public Speaking which is held annually around the world. It mirrors the structure of AIDPSC, providing younger students with a valuable opportunity to develop their debating and public speaking skills while gaining feedback.
Winners of each event, as well as an overall winner, are announced at the end of the Speakfest tournament, although they do not form part of the Australian team for the following year’s World Championships. However, students gain the ability to observe the finalists in the competition and receive feedback that will assist them should they desire to return in future years to participate in the Australian Championships. It therefore provides an invaluable learning opportunity for younger public speakers.
AIDPSC Event Guidelines and Descriptions
AIDPSC is open to students in Years 9 to 11.
All competitors must enter all four categories. Competitors will be marked for individual performance throughout the championships.
Participants must compete in EACH of:
- Interpretive Reading: 7 to 11 minutes
- Impromptu Speaking: 3 to 5 minutes speaking (2 minutes preparation)
- Debating: 9 minutes total (see below)
And ONE of:
- Persuasive Speaking: 7 to 13 minutes
- After Dinner Speaking: 5 to 7 minutes
The below details have been reproduced from aidpsc.com
General Guidelines
Students must author their own speeches and may not use any speech or reading that has been used in an inter-school competition prior to July 1 of the year that they are competing in the Australian Individual competition. Students may not use any published or recorded material in any medium verbatim or virtually verbatim without attribution. Penalties may be applied to any competitor who violates any of these rules. Students usually present the same material in all rounds of a prepared event, but it is also acceptable for them to present different material if they wish to. There is no additional credit given for using different material.
Debate
This is coordinate debating. Each competitor will debate with a partner from another school, often another school. Even though they are debating as a team, they are scored individually and advance separately.
The debaters are not told the resolution until 45 minutes prior to the debate. The two sides must agree on the definition, i.e. what the resolution means. The Government (the side in favour) must tell the Opposition (the side against) the definition after 10 minutes, i.e. when there are 35 minutes left to prepare. The resolution must be interpreted in a reasonable manner that reflects the spirit of the resolution.
The length and order of speeches are as follows:
- The Proposer: 6 minutes
- The Opposer: 6 minutes
- The Seconder to the Proposition: 9 minutes
- The Seconder to the Opposition: 9 minutes
- The Opposer (summing up): 3 minutes
- The Proposer (summing up): 3 minutes
Warning bells are signalled at:
Proposer/Opposer:
- 1 minute (single) (end protected time)
- 5 minutes (single) (start protected time)
- 6 minutes (double)
- 6 min 30 secs (triple)
Seconder to the Proposition/Opposition:
- 1 minute (single) (end protected time)
- 8 minutes (single) (start protected time)
- 9 minutes (double)
- 9 min 30 secs (triple)
Proposer/Opposer (summing up) (protected time):
- 3 minutes (single)
- 3 min 30 secs (double)
30 seconds grace shall be allowed each speech but there is no minimum time limit.
Emphasis on judging will be on clash, spontaneity, logic, wit, content and teamwork.
The side which does the best debating, and therefore the side to which the highest score is given may not be the side which wins the argument. This is similar to the situation in court where the side with the better lawyer may still lose the case: the facts may overwhelmingly favour the other side. They advance as individuals based on their own scores, not as a team.
Impromptu Speaking
Each speaker will draw a piece of paper listing three topics, which may consist of a word, a quotation, a phrase or anything unrelated to current events. The speaker must choose one of the three and then has up to two minutes to prepare. The room manager will start timing at the moment he or she begins to read the topics. The speaker may write notes during preparation but may not bring them up with him or her when he or she speaks. The speaker may have the piece of paper with the topics in hand, if he or she so chooses. The topic will be announced at the end of the speech.
Speakers may speak in favour, against, in favour and against, or simply about the topic. Speakers may take a humorous approach, a serious one, or some combination of the two. Wit, humour, logic, philosophy and sentiment are all equally welcome. It should be the sort of speech that would be delivered if the speaker were asked to speak on short notice to a general audience on the topic given. Judges will be looking for agility of thought, for substance (some ’meat on the bones’), for organisational ability, and, above all, for the ability of each speaker to communicate with style and originality.
The speech must last between 3 and 5 minutes.
The tabulation room will assess a penalty if the speech is too far under time or overtime.
A penalty of 5 points will automatically be incurred if it is observed that notes are used.
Interpretive Reading
Each competitor will read a passage from a novel or short story or poetry (or selection of poems), serious or humorous, and of literary merit.
The reading should not be a speech from a play or a dramatic monologue.
The use of facial expressions and gestures, as the competitor feels appropriate, is encouraged, but should not distract from the primary emphasis in judging the category - the reader’s use of voice.
The reading should be between 7 and 11 minutes long. An introduction of up to one minute is included in the time permitted.
The introduction should give an indication of the context of the reading and convey the reasons why it has been chosen. The introduction should be a direct address to the audience, personal and informal, and the piece(s) should be of literary merit.
If a competitor chooses to do a conclusion, it need not complete a narrative episode: instead, the reader may choose either to leave the audience in suspense or to sum up in a few words how the episode goes on to reach a conclusion.
Prepared: After Dinner Speaking
Note: Students compete in ONE of persuasive speaking OR after dinner speaking.
An after-dinner is the kind of speech that is given after a formal dinner to an audience who have a common interest or share some aspect(s) of identity, employment or character (e.g. the left-handed society or the dental association).
This category includes the kind of speech given at a convention, e.g. by the Chairman or sales manager of a firm or specialised group, reviewing the practices, policies or employees of that firm or group.
The speaker must address an imaginary audience of his/her own choosing. He/she must deliver some new and relevant insights to them in a way designed to inform and entertain.
An after-dinner speech must not be just a stand-up comedy routine.
Although not necessarily human, both speaker and audience must be credibly capable of communication through speech: i.e. they may be vampires or aliens, for example, but they may not be animals. The only exception to this rule is that the speaker and/or audience may be animals if they are derived from books, films or plays/musicals in which they already have the power of speech (e.g. characters from ‘Animal Farm’).
No props may be used.
The speaker may ask the chairman to announce who is being addressed immediately before he/she delivers the speech. In that case, a brief and suitable form of words must be provided. Otherwise the speaker will identify the audience in the opening lines of the speech.
Notes must be limited to both sides of one 3 x 5 inch card and should be used as little as possible.
Each competitor must speak for 6 minutes, with a grace period of 1 minute on either side.
Salutation is optional if the chairman has identified the audience before the speech begins.
A penalty of 5 points will automatically be incurred if MORE than one 3 x 5 inch (7.62 x 12.7 cm) card is used.
Prepared: Persuasive Speaking
Note: Students compete in ONE of persuasive speaking OR after dinner speaking.
This speech is designed to persuade and must be on a serious topic, although this does not mean that humour might not be useful at points in the speech.
A problem/solution approach must be taken, although the speaker may finally conclude, for good reasons that must be shown, that no solution can currently be found.
The persuasive element may be in convincing you that the problem exists, or its significance, or it may be a problem that everyone knows exists and the persuasiveness is in convincing you that the solution is valid. Obviously, this may mean that the speaker devotes most of his or her time to the problem and less time to the solution, or the other way around. As long as it is convincing, that is fine.
Speeches will have been prepared beforehand and should be about 10 minutes in length. Notes must be limited to both sides of one 3 x 5 inch card and should be used as little as possible.
A penalty of 5 points will automatically be incurred if MORE than one 3 x 5 inch (7.62 x 12.7 cm) card is used.
Speakfest Event Guidelines and Descriptions
AIDPSC is open to students in Years 8 to 10.
All competitors must enter all four categories. Competitors will be marked for individual performance throughout the championships.
Participants must compete in EACH of:
- Interpretive Reading: 5 to 9 minutes
- Impromptu Speaking: 3 to 5 minutes speaking (2 minutes preparation)
- Debating: 6 minutes total (see below)
And ONE of:
- Persuasive Speaking: 6 to 10 minutes
- After Dinner Speaking: 4 to 6 minutes
The below details have been reproduced from aidpsc.com
Debate
This is “coordinate” debating. Each competitor will debate with a partner from another school, often another country. Even though they are debating as a team, they are scored individually and advance separately.
The debaters are not told the resolution until 45 minutes prior to the debate. The two sides must agree on the definition, i.e., what the resolution means. The Government (the side in favour) must tell the Opposition (the side against) the definition after 10 minutes, i.e. when there are 35 minutes left to prepare. The resolution must be interpreted in a reasonable manner that reflects the spirit of the resolution.
The length and order of speeches are as follows:
- The Proposer: 4 minutes
- The Opposer: 4 minutes
- The Seconder to the Proposition: 6 minutes
- The Seconder to the Opposition: 6 minutes
- The Opposer (summing up): 2 minutes
- The Proposer (summing up): 2 minutes
Warning bells are signalled at:
Proposer/Opposer:
- 1 minute (single) (end of protected time)
- 3 minutes (single) (beginning of protected time)
- 4 minutes (double)
- 4 min 30 secs (triple)
Seconder to the Proposition/Opposition:
- 1 minute (single) (end of protected time)
- 5 minutes (single) (beginning of protected time)
- 6 minutes (double)
- 6 min 30 secs (triple)
Proposer/Opposer (summing up) (protected time)
- 2 minutes (single)
- 2 min 30 secs (double)
30 seconds grace shall be allowed each speech but there is no minimum time limit.
Emphasis on judging will be on clash, spontaneity, logic, wit, content and teamwork.
The side which does the best debating - and therefore the side to which the highest score is given - may not be the side which wins the argument. This is similar to the situation in court where the side with the better lawyer may still lose the case - the facts may overwhelmingly favour the other side. They advance as individuals based on their own scores, NOT as a team.
Impromptu Speaking
Each speaker will draw a piece of paper listing three topics, which may consist of a word, a quotation, a phrase or anything unrelated to current events. The speaker must choose one of the three and then has up to two minutes to prepare. The room manager will start timing at the moment he or she begins to read the topics. The speaker may write notes during preparation but may not bring them up with him or her when he or she speaks. The speaker may have the piece of paper with the topics in hand, if he or she so chooses. The topic will be announced at the end of the speech.
Speakers may speak in favour, against, in favour AND against, or simply about the topic. Speakers may take a humorous approach, a serious one, or some combination of the two. Wit, humour, logic, philosophy and sentiment are all equally welcome. It should be the sort of speech that would be delivered if the speaker were asked to speak on short notice to a general audience on the topic given. Judges will be looking for agility of thought, for substance (some “meat on the bones”), for organizational ability, and, above all, for the ability of each speaker to communicate with style and originality.
The speech must last between 3 and 5 minutes.
A penalty of 5 points will automatically be incurred if it is observed that notes are used.
Interpretive Reading
Each competitor will read a passage from a novel or short story or poetry (or selection of poems), serious or humorous, and of literary merit.
The reading should not be a speech from a play or a dramatic monologue.
The use of facial expressions and gestures, as the competitor feels appropriate, is encouraged, but should not distract from the primary emphasis in judging the category - the reader’s use of voice.
The reading should be approximately 5 to 9 minutes long. An introduction of up to one minute is included in the time permitted.
The introduction should give an indication of the context of the reading and convey the reasons why it has been chosen. The introduction should be a direct address to the audience, personal and informal, and the piece(s) should be of literary merit.
If a competitor chooses to do a conclusion, it need not complete a narrative episode: instead, the reader may choose either to leave the audience in suspense or to sum up in a few words how the episode goes on to reach a conclusion.
Prepared: After Dinner Speaking
Note: Students compete in ONE of persuasive speaking OR after dinner speaking.
An after-dinner is the kind of speech that is given after a formal dinner to an audience who have a common interest or share some aspect(s) of identity, employment or character (e.g. the
left-handed society or the dental association).
This category includes the kind of speech given at a convention, e.g. by the Chairman or sales manager of a firm or specialised group, reviewing the practices, policies or employees of that firm or group.
The speaker must address an imaginary audience of his/her own choosing. He/she must deliver some new and relevant insights to them in a way designed to inform and entertain.
An after-dinner speech must not be just a stand-up comedy routine.
Although not necessarily human, both speaker and audience must be credibly capable of communication through speech: i.e. they may be vampires or aliens, for example, but they may not be animals. The only exception to this rule is that the speaker and/or audience may be animals if they are derived from books, films or plays/musicals in which they already have the power of speech (e.g. characters from ‘Animal Farm’).
No props may be used.
The speaker may ask the chairman to announce who is being addressed immediately before he/she delivers the speech. In that case, a brief and suitable form of words must be provided.
Otherwise the speaker will identify the audience in the opening lines of the speech.
Notes must be limited to both sides of one 3 x 5 inch card and should be used as little as possible.
Each competitor must speak for 5 minutes, with a grace period of 1 minute on either side.
Salutation is optional if the chairman has identified the audience before the speech begins.
A penalty of 5 points will automatically be incurred if MORE than one 3 x 5 inch (7.62 x 12.7 cm) card is used.
Prepared: Persuasive Speaking
Note: Students compete in ONE of persuasive speaking OR after dinner speaking.
This speech is designed to persuade and must be on a serious topic, although this does not mean that humour might not be useful at points in the speech.
A problem/solution approach must be taken, although the speaker may finally conclude, for good reasons that must be shown, that no solution can currently be found.
The persuasive element may be in convincing you that the problem exists, or its significance, or it may be a problem that everyone knows exists and the persuasiveness is in convincing you that the solution is valid. Obviously, this may mean that the speaker devotes most of his or her time to the problem and less time to the solution, or the other way around. As long as it is convincing, that is fine.
Speeches will have been prepared beforehand and should be from 8 minutes in length with a two minutes grace either side. Notes must be limited to both sides of one 3 x 5 inch card and should be used as little as possible.
A penalty of 5 points will automatically be incurred if MORE than one 3 x 5 inch (7.62 x 12.7 cm) card is used.
Registration
Please submit a copy of the following online form to express your school’s interest in participating in the 2023 Australian Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships:
This registration form must be submitted by 5.00pm on Friday 28 July 2023. Please submit one form for each team that you wish to enter (AIDPSC and/or Speakfest).
Note that each team must be accompanied by a staff member who can act as an adjudicator for the duration of the competition (i.e. if entering a team into AIDPSC and Speakfest, then two staff adjudicators are required).
Payment details will be sent out to interested schools once a registration form has been submitted. Places will be confirmed once payment of registration fees has been received.
The registration cost for the competitions are:
- AIDPSC: $700.00
- Speakfest: $500.00
Host School
Huntingtower (77 Waimarie Drive, Mount Waverley) will be the organising and host school for the 2023 Australian Individual Debating and Public Speaking Championships.
Our school is readily accessible via public transport, being an easy five-minute walk from Mount Waverley station via Amber Grove and Dunsmuir Drive.
Inquiries can be directed to Mr Matthew McDonald (mmcdonald@huntingtower.vic.edu.au), who will be the convener of the 2023 Championships.
Travel and Accomodation
Participating schools travelling from interstate will need to make their own arrangements for transport and accommodation. Accommodation and transport is not covered by the registration fee.
Huntingtower is easily accessible by public transport. Our school is located an easy, five minute walk from Mount Waverley Train Station, on the Glen Waverley Train Line.
Accommodation is available nearby in Glen Waverley, near Kingsway. There are a range of accommodation options available near the Glen Waverley Train Station, as well as various shopping and food options.
The Skybus connects Melbourne Airport with Southern Cross Railway Station, which then allows for onward travel across the metropolitan rail network.
Rules and Regulations: AIDPSC and Speakfest
Times and rules for each speaking category can be found at aidpsc.com and have been reproduced on this website.
Each participating student must compete in all four events:
- coordinate debating
- prepared speaking (after dinner speck or persuasive speech);
- impromptu speaking; and
- interpretative reading
Every school entering the competitions must supply one adjudicator for each competition entered (AIDPSC and/or Speakfest). This adjudicator will be the accompanying teacher and will not adjudicate students from their own school.
- Each school is permitted to enter four (4) students who are currently in Years 9 -11 (AIDPSC) or 8-10 (Speakfest).
- Each student will take part in four (4) events during each of the preliminary rounds.
- Coordinate debates will have forty-five minutes’ preparation on a secret topic. Points of information should be asked and answered during speeches.
- Coordinate debating teams will be made up of two students from different schools (i.e. two students from two different schools, assigned randomly).
- Each student is judged individually by independent adjudicators in each event, and these scores go towards determining the winning individual speaker.
- Each school must provide at least one adjudicator per competition entered who will be expected to judge during the day. They are expected to provide a score for each individual speaker and provide brief constructive written feedback. A briefing session will be given to all adjudicators.
- Adjudicating staff must bring an internet capable device (i.e. a laptop) that can be used to submit online score sheets and type feedback for the speakers they observe.
- Each student will receive their individual feedback from their adjudicators at the end of the tournament.
- School uniforms are to be worn.
