After-Dinner Speaking

An After-Dinner speech is the kind of speech that is given after a formal dinner to an audience who have a common interest or share some aspect(s) of identity, employment or character (e.g. the left-handed society or the dental association).This category includes the kind of speech given at a convention, e.g. by the Chair or sales manager of a firm or specialised group, reviewing the practices, policies or employees of that firm or group.

The speaker must address an imaginary audience of their own choosing.  They must deliver some new and relevant insights to them in a way designed to inform and entertain. An after-dinner speech must not be just a stand-up comedy routine.

Although not necessarily human, both speaker and audience must be credibly capable of communication through speech: i.e. they may be vampires or aliens, for example, but they may not be animals. The only exception to this rule is that the speaker and/or audience may be animals if they are derived from books, films or plays/musicals in which they already have the power of speech - e.g. characters from ‘Animal Farm’. 

The speaker may ask the person chairing the round to announce who is being addressed immediately before they deliver the speech.  In that case, a brief and suitable form of words must be provided.  Otherwise the speaker will identify the audience in the opening lines of the speech.

Notes must be limited to both sides of one 3 x 5  card, and should be used as little as possible.

Each competitor must speak for 6 minutes, with a grace period of 1 minute on either side.  Competitors may use the same After-Dinner speech in all rounds. Competitors may not use speeches that they have presented at any interschool competition prior to January 1 of the year of the Championships. Props, including audiovisual material or costumes, may not be used. There are time penalties for speeches that are over or undertime. 

Examples of after-dinner speeches can be seen using this link