Sundance Open Invitational Online
2022 — NSDA Campus, UT/US
Original Oratory
Event Description:
Oratory
NOTE: This is an Asynchronous Event, you will not see students in person or go to a room. You will see on your ballot the names of the students with a camera icon...click on that icon and view their speech and evaluate it on the ballot. After viewing all of them, you will make your decision and submit your ballot. Please do so as if this was a real round in real time.
Original Oratory is a speech written by the student with the intent to inform or persuade the audience on a topic of significance. Oratory gives students the unique opportunity to showcase their voice and passion for their topic. It is to be 8-10 minutes in length, with a 30 second grace.
An Oratory is not simply an essay about the topic—it is a well researched and organized presentation with evidence, logic, emotional appeals, and sometimes humor to convey a message. Topics may be of a value orientation and affect people at a personal level, such as avoiding peer pressure, or they can be more of a policy orientation and ask an audience to enact particular policies or solve societal problems.
In speech, a typical round will contain six different contestants, although this number can fluctuate depending on how many students are entered in the event. Prior to the start of the round, the judge will pick up a set of ballots from the tournament organizer. These ballots are where judges will record their thoughts on each performance, suggestions for improvement, and general feedback for the performer. At the end of the tournament, each school will receive all the ballots written about their competitors so contestants can use your feedback to improve!
The judge will meet the students in the assigned room and watch the entirety of the round, which usually lasts for one hour. During each speech, the judge will make notes on the ballot, keep the contestant’s time, and ensure the round runs smoothly.
Students will occasionally ask for time signals, it is up to you whether or not you would like to honor that request. Time signals are a simple system that let competitors know how much time they have used throughout the speech. The most common time signals are to alert the student when they have two minutes remaining by holding two of your fingers in the air, like a peace sign, and to alert them when they have one minute remaining by holding one finger in the air.
In speech, it is common for competitors to enter in more than one event for the tournament, this is called being cross-entered. Student’s who are cross-entered should be allowed to speak earlier in the round if they have another event to go to, and should be excused for entering the round late if they were competing in a different event in the same round.
At the end of the round, the judge will evaluate the speakers and rate them on a scale from one to six, with the best performance receiving the one ranking.
Please refer to the appropriate sample ballot to assist you in what to look for in this round to help in your decisions as needed
https://www.speechanddebate.org/wp-content/uploads/Sample-Ballot-All-Speech-Events-Blank.pdf