Senior Parliamentary Procedure 

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Purpose

To encourage students to learn to effectively participate in a business meeting and to assist in the development of their leadership skills. 

 

Objectives

1. Demonstrate parliamentary procedure and conduct an orderly and efficient meeting.
2. Present logical, realistic, and convincing discussion. 

Event Rules

• The event will have three phases: (1) written examination, (2) an 11:00 minute team presentation of parliamentary procedure, and (3) oral questions for five minutes following the presentation. 
• The advisor shall not consult with the team after beginning the event. Also, advisors will not be allowed in the holding room or on stage during the event.
• Minus 50 points if not in official dress.
• Overtime: Point deducted (over 11:00 minutes, 2 points/per second). The official timekeeper will hold up a card or use an electric clock for time, signaling a nine-minute warning to each team. 
• Deductions for parliamentary mistakes range from 5 to 20 points per mistake. Omitting a required motion is a 100-point deduction. 
• NEW!  Any participant in possession of an electronic device in the event area is subject to disqualification. 

 

Event Format

Team Makeup

1. Teams are made up of six participants from grades 8-12. 
2. *Members may NOT participate in both Senior Parliamentary Procedure and Junior Parliamentary procedure contests. 

Equipment

Teams will need to provide their own gavel. 

Event Schedule

• Each team shall complete the event in the time allotted: 

  1. Presentation — 11:00 minutes 
  2. Oral Questions — 5 minutes 

Oral Questions

1. All six team members will be asked a planned, written question relating to their assigned motion. 
2. Oral questions will come from the Chart of Permissible Motions. One question to each member with a required term (20 pts. per question). One with a required chairman. The Oral Question for the Chairman will come from Parliamentary Made Easy, by Shane Dunbar, page 17, “Duties of the President.” 
3. Total possible questions = 6 

 

Presentation 

• The event official and judges will select two subsidiaries, two incidentals, and one privileged or unclassified motion from the list of permissible motions. These five selected motions will be randomly assigned to five team members (one per member). All teams will be assigned the same five motions.
• Upon entering the presentation room and taking their seats, the participants will have one minute to review the main motion and the required motions to be demonstrated (which may be noted by bolding, underlining, or an asterisk).  
• The team demonstrating shall assume that a regular chapter meeting is in progress and new business is being handled on the agenda. The chair shall start the presentation by saying, “Is there any new business?” Time will stop when the chair declares the meeting adjourned 
  • Original main Motion: The event official will assign the main motion on the index card, no other original main motions may be used that are not on the event card. Making other original main motions that are not on the event card will result in a 50 point deduction from the overall team presentation. 
• The assigned original main motion is to be the first item of business presented, unless, take from the table, reconsider or rescind are required on the event card. If this is the case, an alternative main motion for take from the table, reconsider or rescind will be provided. 
• The person who makes the assigned main motion will be given credit for an additional motion. 

Secondary or Additional Motions

1. Each member is required to perform one additional subsidiary, incidental or privileged motion in addition to the required motion on the card. 
2. No limit to the number of subsidiary, incidental, or privileged motions a team may demonstrate. 
3. A member’s required motion will not be counted as an additional motion for another member.  No motion may count for an additional motion for more than one member. 
4. Only one additional motion correctly performed will count for a member’s 20 points. 
5. If the officials in charge designate “rescind, reconsider, or take from the table”  as a motion to be demonstrated, you could assume that you would rescind, reconsider, or take from the table a motion that you did at your last meeting. Example: “I move to rescind the motion that passed at our last meeting about having an FFA hayride.” These motions should not be used unless designated by the official in charge has a scenario included on the event card.
6. An alternate motion not pertaining to the main motion may be used to facilitate the correct demonstration of the motion, “Call for the orders of the day,” should that privileged motion be designated as one to be demonstrated by the officials in charge.
7. All members must demonstrate their required motions. Deductions for parliamentary mistakes on a required motion can range from 5 to 20 points per mistake. Omitting a required motion is a 100-point deduction from the total team score and a 20-point deduction from the member’s individual score even if another member on the team demonstrates that required motion. Additional motions (other than those required) should be logically used throughout the presentation and should affect the flow of the meeting. 

Topics of Discussion

Each team will address a local chapter item of business, which would normally be a part of a chapter’s program of activities.  The motion will be specific and must be moved as an original motion as it is written on the event card. 

1. Growing Leaders 
2. Building Communities 
3. Strengthening Agriculture 
4. State FFA Convention Items of Business 

Guidelines for Scoring Discussion

Judges scoring discussion during the parliamentary procedure event should follow these guidelines: 

• Judges must overlook personal opinions and beliefs and score discussion in an unbiased manner. 
• Characteristics of effective discussion include  
  • completeness of thought 
  • logical reasoning  
  • clear statement of the speaker’s position 
  • conviction of delivery 
  • concise and effective statement of discussion
• Each time a participant in the presentation discusses any motion, he/she may earn a score. However, an individual may never earn more than 80 points in a given presentation. Furthermore, no more than 40 points may be earned during one recognition by the chair. An individual earning 20 points on each discussion would need to be recognized by the chair four separate times to earn the maximum 80 points. 
• Scoring Discussion: 
  • Excellent – 31-40 points 
  • Good – 21-30 points 
  • Average – 11-20 points 
  • Poor – 1-10 points 
• Most discussion will fall in the range of 11-20 points. Excellent discussion would be extremely unusual and would be characterized by a truly stirring delivery and brilliant in terms of information provided and/or suggestions of action offered. 
• Good discussion would be characterized by a presentation that includes a high quality of delivery and all of these components: 
  • states position clearly 
  • provides more than one reason supporting their position 
  • tells delegation how to vote 
• Average discussion would be characterized by a presentation that lacks in the quality of delivery and includes the following components: 
  • states position 
  • provides one reason supporting their position 
  • tells delegation how to vote 
• Poor discussion would be characterized by a lack of effective delivery, poor grammar, reasoning and substance.  As well as, the omission of one or more components of an effective debate. 

Guidelines for Scoring the Chair

• Ability to preside—handling motions, keeping members informed, using gavel, distributing discussion 
• Leadership—stage presence, poise, self-confidence, politeness, and voice (80 points). 

Scoring

Required Terms (5 terms) - 100

• 20 points/member
• 2 Subsidiary
• 2 Incidental
• 1  Privileged or unclassified

Additional Motion - 100

• 20 points/member

Discussion - 400

• Top 5 members’ scores will be transferred to final score sheet.
• Maximum of 80 points each per member
• Note: Team’s ability to handle main motion

Chairman - 80

• Ability to Preside

Oral Questions - 120

• 20 points per member. 
• Questions can be broken into to two or more parts. 
  Will deal strictly with their required motion and the chart of permissible motions.

 

General Effect - 100

Team’s voice, poise, and expression

TOTAL POINTS - 900

 

 

References

• Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised, 11th Edition. Henry M. Robert III, William J. Evans, Daniel H. Honemann, Thomas J. Balch.
  
• Videos of National FFA Contests and Resources. 
• Parliamentary Procedure Basics, CIMC, AG430317, 2017. 
• Parliamentary Made Easy, by Shane Dunbar. 
• Official FFA Manual, National FFA Organization, Latest Version, 2017. 

 

Supporting Materials

Senior Parliamentary Procedure MaterialsScansheet