"Judges Training" from the 198th Regular Meeting on Jan. 18, 2025

We had a very educational judge training workshop. In our regular meetings, speeches are evaluated by members called evaluators. But, in speech contests, speeches are scored by judges. We learned the differences between evaluating and judging speeches, as well as the various judging rules and criteria.

What impressed me was the structure of the workshop. It consisted of four well-organized parts (1.　Explanation 2. Test Speech 3. Judging 4. Discussion), which made our understanding firm and clear. The flow of the workshop was so smooth that everything was easy to follow. Surprisingly, all the members will have an opportunity to serve as judges at the club competition in the next meeting.

In the beginning of our president Marilyn’s presentation, she repeated, “You will be the judge, you will be the judge”, while politely pointing at each of us. And she started with questions, instead of diving directly into her explanations. This way, she made the topic feel more relatable and made us feel more responsible for our roles in the next meeting. Her use of slides was very natural and excellent, adding more visual details in a supplementary way.

The second part was the test speech by Eri-san. As a matter of fact, I didn’t know what a test speech meant until the meeting started. Her engaging and organized speech was great material to practice judging with, and I tried to apply what I had learned while judging it.

Then, the last part of the workshop came. Members were divided into small groups, and in each group, we discussed how we scored the speech in each category.

I learned some of the most important points when judging speeches were fairness and consistency.

(Madelyn)