Parliamentary Procedure – Novice LDE

Objectives

Students will be able to

• Demonstrate parliamentary procedure to conduct an orderly and efficient meeting.
• Communicate and participate effectively as a team members.
• Demonstrate critical thinking and teamwork for effective decision making.

Event Rules

The Kansas FFA State Novice Parliamentary Procedure Leadership Development Event will be limited to two teams from each district. 

1. Each team will consist of six members from the same chapter. Team members must be enrolled in the ninth grade at the time of selection and qualification.
2. Team members must be FFA members at the time of qualification.
3. Official dress is highly recommended.
4. There will be a minimum of two rounds of demonstrations. Team members will only take one written exam one time. Exam score will be used as part of the team score.
5. Exam scores will be used to seed teams into the preliminary rounds.
6. The competitive event will consist of the three activities listed below in the following order (minutes are not required):
   1. Written examination
   2. Team demonstration
7. Team members will conduct a regular chapter meeting by demonstrating a designated main motion and four additional permissible parliamentary procedure motions selected by the event superintendent.

Event Format

EQUIPMENT

Materials the student needs to provide include

• Two sharpened No. 2 pencils.

Materials provided by the event committee include

• Gavel.
• Blank note paper.

WRITTEN EXAM

Twenty questions (one point per question; 20 points per member; 150 total team points)

1. Permissible motions
2. Order of business

PRESENTATION — TEAM DEMONSTRATION

Team members will demonstrate four of the permissible parliamentary procedure motions listed below. Event officials will select motions to be demonstrated in each flight of the event.

• Privileged Motions
  1. Raise a question of privilege
  2. Recess
• Subsidiary Motions

1. Previous question
2. Postpone definitely
3. Commit or refer
4. Amend
5. Postpone indefinitely

• Main Motion
• Incidental Motions
  1. Parliamentary inquiry
  2. Division of the assembly
  3. Point of order

ORAL QUESTIONS

Judges will ask one oral question (which may contain one to two parts) per participant. Oral questions will be predetermined and related to the permissible motions or general purposes of parliamentary procedure.

Event Procedures

• The room will be pre-set with a lectern, tables, chairs, and station markers. All teams will use identical room sets provided by the event committee. Actual meeting room sets will be provided during the team orientation meeting prior to the event.
• All participants will be provided paper to take notes during the entire demonstration. Pencils or pens must be provided by the team.
• Participants will have one-minute immediately before their demonstration to read their card silently and take notes. Team members may not mark or write on the cards and may not confer or signal each other during the one-minute time period or during the demonstration, except when seeking recognition from the chair.
• Every participant will receive a card (see the sample below) with the main motion and the five required motions from the list of permissible motions. No other motions may be used. However, a point of order and parliamentary inquiry may be used if it is not listed on the motion card. Points will not be awarded if it is not on the motion card, and an appeal may not be made on the president’s ruling. Included in the five required motions, will be a minimum of one debatable subsidiary motion.

• The required motion must be demonstrated by the officer that the motion is assigned to for points to be scored. If the assigned motion is used by another officer it must be properly renewed again, if allowed, by the assigned officer to score points.
• Judges will score all member debates, but only the top three debates per team member will impact final team score.
• If the privileged motion recess is adopted, members must stay at their officer stations and may not talk or signal each other.
• Five of the six participants on the floor will be assigned a required motion. The items will be marked in bold print and underlined on their cards to indicate the motion assigned.
• The demonstration will not be over 10 minutes (no penalty is assessed until after 10 minutes and 30) seconds.
• The timekeeper will signal the team with large cards at the elapsed times of 7 and 9 minutes.
• Judges will ask one oral question (which may contain one to two parts) per participant. Oral questions will be predetermined by the event superintendent and relate to the permissible motions, and general purposes of parliamentary procedure.

Main Motion

• There is no pre-determined list of main motions. Main motions are determined annually by the event superintendent and must be developed for any of the three divisions of the Chapter Program of Activities, which includes Student Development, Chapter Development, and Community Development. 
• The order of business will begin at the conclusion point of opening ceremonies (ceremonies are not presented). The ACTUAL demonstration will begin with the consideration of new business (other items normally on the order of business are not to be considered). A member on the floor will gain recognition and state the main motion on the card without suspending the rules.
• The motion to adjourn is not allowed.
• Point of order and parliamentary inquiry may be used with no point deduction, if not listed on the motion card, when used appropriately. Use of other motions not listed on the motion card have no point value and will result in a point reduction not to exceed 20 points per instance.

TIEBREAKERS

• Presentation—Debate
• Written exam —Team total

Awards

1. The first through fourth place teams will each be awarded a plaque.
2. Members of the first-place team will each receive a medal.

References

All references (except #6) are available on-line through the National FFA Organization’s Core Catalog, http://www.ffa.org/

1. National Official FFA Manual
2. National FFA Student Handbook
3. Dunbar’s Manual of Parliamentary Procedure Test Questions
4. Parliamentary Procedure Oral Questions (Basic) (CD)
5. Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised (11th edition)
6. Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised in Brief (11th edition) (Optional) 

2021 State Champion Team

Paola FFA Chapter