Convocatoria Nacional del Credo Español
 (National Spanish Creed Invitational)

Purpose
The FFA Creed outlines the organization’s beliefs regarding the industry of agriculture, FFA membership and the value of citizenship and patriotism. The Creed is recited by FFA members as part of the requirements to earn the Greenhand FFA Degree. The purpose of the National Spanish Creed Speaking Invitational is to develop the public speaking abilities of seventh, eighth and ninth grade FFA members as well as to develop their self-confidence and contribute to their advancement in the FFA degree program.

Event Rules
The Convocatoria Nacional del Credo Español (National Spanish Creed Invitational) will be limited to fifty contestants. Each State that conducts a state event will be allowed to enter two participants. States that do not hold a state event may enter one participant. Additional invites may be available if the total number of entries is less than fifty. The participants must qualify in grades 7, 8 or 9. The participants must compete at the next national invitational following their state qualifying.

•	It is highly recommended that participants wear FFA Official Dress for this event.
•	Three to five competent and impartial people will be selected to judge the event. At least one judge should have an agricultural/FFA background. Any advisor who has a student competing in a speaking event may not serve as a judge for that respective speaking event.
•	Each state association is to provide a judge for the preliminary and potentially semifinal rounds of the event. The event committee will provide highly qualified judges for the final round.
•	Any participant in possession of any electronic device is subject to disqualification.

Event Format
The event will include an oral presentation and answering critical thinking questions directly related to the Creed.

Each participant will be asked three questions per round with a five-minute total time limit. The questions used will change as the participant progresses to semifinal and final rounds of the event. The questions will be formulated annually by the Convocatoria Nacional del Credo Español (National Spanish Creed Invitational) committee and will avoid two-part questions. The questions will be asked in Spanish with the speaker responding in Spanish.

Participants will present the Creed in Spanish found on ffa.org.

The event will be a timed activity with four minutes for presentation. After four minutes, the participant will have one point deducted for every second over the set time.

The national invitational will be conducted in three rounds: quarterfinals (consisting of five to nine speakers per section), semi-finals (two sections of six speakers each) and finals (six participants). The top two speakers from each quarter-final section will advance to the semifinals. The top three speakers from the semi-final sections will advance to the final round.

No ranking will be given except for the final four. Feedback for all participants will be distributed at the awards function.

Event officials will randomly determine the speaking order. The room facilitator will introduce each participant by number and state association in order of the drawing. No props are to be used. Applause shall be withheld until all participants have spoken.

Each participant must recite the Creed from memory in Spanish. Each participant shall begin the presentation by stating, “El Credo de FFA por E.M. Tiffany” as an introduction and close with “Gracias.” Additional introductory or concluding remarks will result in accuracy deductions as indicated on the scorecard.

Participants will be held in isolation until their presentation. Participants will not be allowed to have contact with any outside persons.

At the time of the event, the judges will be seated in a designated section of the room in which the event is held. They will score each participant on the delivery of the Creed and responses using the rubric provided.

Timekeepers will be designated to record the time used by each participant in delivering their speech. Content accuracy judges will record the number of recitation errors during delivery.

When participants have finished the presentation and answering of questions, each judge will total the score of each speaker. The timekeepers’ and accuracy judges’ records will be used in computing the final score for each participant. The judges’ score sheets will then be submitted to event officials to determine final rankings of participants.

Participants will be ranked in numerical order based on the final score to be determined by each judge without consultation. The judges’ rankings of each participant will then be added, and the winner will be the participant whose total ranking is the lowest.  Other placings will be determined in the same manner (use the low-point score method of selection).

During preliminary and semifinal rounds, recording of presentations is permitted by one person from each participant’s association for that participant only.

Tiebreakers
Ties will be broken based on the greatest number of low ranks. Participants’ low ranks will be counted, and the participant with the greatest number of low ranks will be declared the winner. If a tie still exists, then the committee chair will rank the participants’ responses to questions. The participant with the greatest number of low ranks from the response to questions will be declared the winner. If a tie still exists, then the participants’ raw scores will be totaled. The participant with the greatest total of raw points will be declared the winner.

Awards
Awards will be presented at the awards ceremony to individuals based upon their rankings. Those participating in the final round will receive a gold pin, those participating in the semi-finals will receive a silver pin and those participating in the quarterfinals will receive a bronze pin. The top six will receive a plaque.

Materials
Materials needed to conduct a Spanish Creed Speaking event include:

•	Accuracy Sheet (1 per speaker for each judge)
•	Timer’s Sheet (1 per room)
•	Scoring Rubric (1 per speaker for each judge)
•	Set of Numbers (1 set per room 1 through 9 for drawing of order) 
•	Three Questions (1 set per room – different questions for each round)

References
Teachers are encouraged to make use of the very best instructional materials available. Make sure to use discretion when selecting website references by only using reputable, proven sites. 

Facility Needs
To conduct a quality event seven rooms will be required. One room is to be set theatre style with 50 chairs and will serve as the participant holding room and six speaking rooms are to be set with 30-50 seats per room.  In addition, in the speaking rooms two tables will be needed with three chairs at each table to serve as judge’s and event official’s stations. 

Draft Schedule
The following is meant to be an example schedule. It will need to be adapted based on the final number of participants.

8:00am-8:30am		Participant Sign-In & Judges Orientation
9:00am-11:00am	Quarterfinals
11:30am-12:00pm	Announcement of Semifinal Participants
2:00pm-3:30pm		Semifinals
4:00pm-4:30pm		Announcement of Final Participants
5:00pm-6:00pm		Finals
6:00pm-7:00pm		Award Reception and Ceremony