Learning from a speech contest judge

I was invited to be chief judge of a national speech contest the past Monday and learned a lot from it ka.

Thai students were selected from member universities of a regional program focused on mobility and 7 out of 8 sent their representatives.

Let me choose some highlights to share ka:

1. On the platform given, students were required to go through the two rounds, prepared and impromptu even in normal practice, only several selected would do the impromptu.

I myself loved this arrangement because we weren't simply going after a winner. We hoped to offer a 'less threatening/ safe' platform for students to practice and learn more about themselves with feedback from outside university people like judges to add on to their further practice/strengths.

2. Big picture was needed. Judgement of each round went along with the criteria set from content, creativity, and organization to delivery and connection to the contest topic. Thanks to the Fulbright Program, I suggested that all the contestants finish all their speech delivery for the judges to see the whole group's performance to rank them. For me, this could heighten fairness to the contestants.

3. Speech delivery for the prepared one could have been even better without any note. Most if not all the contestants brought some forms of notes with them. While it helped when they got stuck, several got carried away to look at it too often and one began to read it for several minutes.

Storytelling about their own life experiences was really powerful to touch further on the topic chosen which related to caring and sharing in ASEAN. 

4. For the impromptu round, the students were required to talk about this topic, 'What if a robot were one of the contestants'. 

We agreed that they all did real well even with only one minute to prepare ka. Several said robots could be better on the facts, not the feelings. One started linking with 'Deep Blue' and started his argument from there while another said he would teach that robot about kindness. It was fun to follow their ideas and arguments ka.

5. The overall organization of a speech contest consists of unbelievably so many fine details. If the students and universities had known, they would have increased their appreciation of the efforts not only to make it possible and smooth, but to ensure fairness and transparency ka. 

My thumbs up to both the contestants and the organizers and all behind the successes ka. I really hope the contestants felt it was one of their fruitful experiences that would lead them to enjoy more of the public speaking, reading, thinking, and sharing ka.