Professional Speaker Of The Year Competition

This competition is an ideal way for Professional Members of the PSA to show off their speaking skills in front of their peers. To enter, please read these guidelines carefully and if this is the right competition for you (and you qualify), please click on the entry form at the bottom of this page.

Entry Criteria

• This competition is open to Professional Members of the PSA only (Fellows,
Board Members, and RPs are not permitted to apply)
• The contest is only open to those who have been a fully paid-up Professional 
member by the 1 st of May of the competition year. They also need to have
attended at least two regional PSA events as a member in the previous 12
months, up to but not including, the regional heat
• Contestants may enter in as many years as they like but priority will be given by 
RPs to those who have not entered before. If they have entered ESY (including
Speaker Factor) or PSY in previous years, the talk must be a new one
• Contestants may not enter other PSA competitions (including ESY) in the same
 year
• Contestants may only compete in one region each year
• Contestants must be able to attend the Speaking Business Summit that year; if
 they think they may be unable to attend for any reason, they should not enter
• The talk must not have been delivered to a PSA Audience before

Talk Requirements

• Each contestant should speak for exactly 8 minutes with an allowance 15
 seconds. If speakers go over 15 seconds or are more than 30 seconds under the
 contestant will not be eligible for the next round, or if it is the final they will be
 disqualified
• The talk must be entirely the contestant’s own work (mentions of others work
must be referenced).
• PowerPoint and props may be used but are entirely optional. However, judging
 criteria will be applied regarding the sending in of slides by a set date, both 
regionally and for the semi-finals (to their RP for the regional heats and the SCC 
for the semi-finals)
• Each contestant should provide an introduction of no more than 50 words. (The
 writing and communication of this is also part of the professionalism criteria). The 
introduction should include the title of the talk and their name but not their region
and target audience (which should be supplied at the same time as their 
introduction)
• Regional heat winners must give the same talk in the semi-finals and finals as 
they gave in the regional heats

Entry Procedures

• To enter, individuals will need to inform their Regional President and then 
complete the entry form on the PSA website
• The Regional President will liaise with head office to ensure each individual
 qualifies to enter the competition
• Once an individual has agreed to enter the regional heat they must attend, only 
exceptional circumstances will be accepted for failure to attend the heats

Dates

• Regions will normally run their PSY regional heats in June and July
• The semi-finals and finals take place at Speaking Business Summit in October 
each year

Competition Timing

• The semi-finals will take place on Friday morning of summit
  There will only be 3 finalists on the main stage on the Saturday afternoon
• Each contestant should speak for exactly 8 minutes with an allowance 15
 seconds over or 30 under. If this is exceeded the contestant will not be eligible
for the next round, or if it is the final they will be disqualified
• These rules will be made very clear at the beginning of each stage of the
 competition so judges, contestants and the audience are all aware
• A timer will be visible to all contestants at every stage of the competition. All 
timings will also be recorded by separate and dedicated timekeeper
• Timing starts from the contestant’s first word and ends on the last word of their 
talk
• 
In the unlikely event of all contestants overrunning, the contestant(s) with the 
shortest overrun should be selected to go forward to the next stage

Judging

• The judging panel at all stages of the competition will consist of the head judge
 and two other judges.
• No judge at the regional heats may judge another region
or the national semi-final or final
• 
At the regional heats all judges should be fellows – if this is not possible a very
 experienced professional member can be on the panel subject to agreement with 
the SCC.
• If possible, the third judge should be a speaker booker – but this isn’t a
 requirement.
• One of the judges at PSY semi-finals and finals at SBS will be a speaker booker
 and one international judge.
• Judges are selected by National President (Board
 members may not be judges at Semi Finals and Finals). These judges will be
selected before any of the regional finals which these judges should not attend

The MC will provide the judges with professionalism & audience engagement scores
 only at the end of the judges’ deliberations. Like all scores these are to be kept 
confidential. The judges have the final say on the winner.

Professionalism – Did the contestant ensure all materials, introductions, slide
 deck etc delivered in a timely manner. This is scored by the MC (5%)

Engagement – how well the contestant engaged with the audience. This will be
judged by the audience (using Mentimeter – or manual method in the regions if
 they prefer) after each contestant (10%)

The judges will look for overall quality of the presentation. They will judge the 
entrants on 5 criteria, weighted as indicated:

• 
Originality – 10% – How innovative the contestant’s topic, delivery and style is
• Stagecraft – 15% – How well the contestant used the stage and props
• 
Script – 15% – How well the presentation was constructed and worded
• 
Delivery – 15% – How well the contestant delivered the talk, including vocal
 performance and body language
• Bookability – 30% Is the contestant likely to be booked and paid for their talk?
 The ‘bookability’ of a speech is defined as being something the intended market
 would pay for, as discerned by the judges at the event

Announcement of Winners

• At the regional finals, the winner will be announced by the head judge at a point 
in the event’s proceedings decided by the Regional President.
• In each of the regional finals, the judges will also decide upon a runner-up. This 
individual will be able to enter the national semi-final in the event, that due to
exceptional circumstances, the regional winner is unable to attend
• At the semi-finals, three winners will be announced as soon as is practicable 
after the semi-finals have concluded. The three winners will move on to take part
in the finals, the following day
• In the finals, the winner will be announced at the gala evening awards


Prizes

• 
The prize for winning a regional heat is a place in the semi-finals
• 
Contestants in the semi-finals will each receive a certificate indicating their
 participation
• The winner of the competition receives a framed certificate. They will receive 
publicity for their win via the PSA website and emails. They may also indicate
they are the ‘PSA Professional Speaker of the Year’ in their own promotional 
materials. The winner also gets a guaranteed speaking slot of 20 minutes on the
 main stage at the following year’s Summit.

Feedback

• In the regional finals, general feedback will be provided by the lead judge at the
end of the contest, but before the winner is announced. Detailed and specific 
feedback will not be provided, although the head judge may outline why the 
winning speech won, highlighting elements that other speakers could learn from
• Contestants should not contact the judges for more specific feedback
• At the semi-finals, no feedback will be provided