It's All in the Cards

It's All in the Cards

I served the entirety of my time as a Collegiate LDE Assistant at the National FFA Convention as a comment card assistant. What does that mean you might ask? Let me explain. When a parliamentary procedure team is presenting, three judges are taking notes and writing down scores. Three collegiate assistants sit at the table with the judges and also take notes. When the team is done presenting, the assistants sit with judges as they tally up scores. While the judges are conversing, the collegiate assistants write down the recommendations given by the judges on a comment card. These comment cards are then put in the team packets that the teams will receive at the end of the competition. The comment cards are crucial for teams as these are the only professional recommendations that they will receive from the judges. It is imperative that the collegiate assistants write down any recommendations or critiques that the judges might give. If a parliamentary error occurs, the assistants will also write down the error and give a page and line number from Robert's Rules of Order for the team's reference. 

On a personal level, I find this to be the best opportunity to learn parliamentary procedure from professionals. I learned so much as I listened to these professionals apply parliamentary procedure right in front of me as they talked about the performance of each team. All of the judges have parliamentary procedure credentials of varying degrees and each of them have unique experiences in which they apply parliamentary procedure. One of my favorite people to work with is a full-time parliamentarian.  It is amazing for myself and students alike to know that you can pursue parliamentary procedure as a career option. It proves that this LDE is extremely relevant and applicable outside of FFA.

This is the third year in a row that I have assisted with this LDE. By serving in this capacity, I have a greater appreciation for parliamentary procedure and its relevancy in our lives. But I have obtained an even greater appreciation for the countless hours that students and advisers put into this competition to be the best that they can be on the national stage.