We're Going to the SuperBowl but this isn't Football

It was a no brainer that when the opportunity came about to participate as a collegiate assistant at the National Parliamentary Procedure LDE, more recently known as the SuperBowlLDE. When asked I wasn't sure what that entailed but if it meant getting to go and see the contest for myself. 

As a collegiate assistant there was a plethora of jobs that were available throughout the few days that the LDE was going on. For me I decided that I should stick to things I can't mess up especially since this was my first time not only helping with something like that but also seeing the contest. I was assigned to be a time keeper and a event host at various levels for the contest.

As an event host it was awesome just getting to sit and chat with all the members competing and learn about their journey to get to the National contest. As someone who was always the one more passionate about Parli Pro than her fellow FFA members it felt really good to hear the passion behind why these members compete and realize just how much Parli Pro means to them. 

Time keeping was what I was waiting for since it was a chance for me to sit in on the action. I know time keeping doesn't sound like a very rewarding job but it gave me a chance to listen to what the members were saying and how they were performing the motions. 

At the end of this experience I learned how important parliamentary procedure was to so many people such as the members, volunteers, and judges. It was awesome to be back with people in the blue jacket since I miss wearing it so much and be able to join in the excitement about parli pro. 

To anyone who has the chance to participate even if it is doing something as simple as time keeping I would 10/10 recommend. You get just as much out of it as you put into it and so that means that you can decide how much you take away from this experience. Even if you don't think you know that much about parli pro, sign up for something where you have a chance to expand your knowledge while also still sharing what you know. 

ATA Conclave- Say What?!

ATA Conclave

Prior to being in the Practical Parli Pro class I had never heard of such a thing as an ATA Conclave and if I would have heard it before the class I might have thought it was a cult or something. The idea of this event is that parli pro is to be used assembly style and in a more practical, applied method.

The way this event is run is there are 6 teams of 5 members from different universities. One team is the chairing team and assigns two members the role of chair person and secretary. The rest of the team just sits and observes the competing teams. When your team isn't the chairing team you are  competing with about 25 other members to fulfill the required amount of motions and debates. 

This all doesn't sound bad and I said to myself that it should be a piece of cake since there aren't as many stipulations as say, an FFA contest. I was SO wrong. Not only had I never seen Parli Pro done in assembly style but also I didn't quite realize the cutthroat nature that other schools had about the event. There were some motions that were allowed and some that weren't and the chairing team had to be fair in who they called on so even if you stood up 10 times you might only get called once. 

Regardless of how many things were different I still found this event extremely useful. It gave me an extra chance to see parliamentary procedure done in good and bad ways while also allowing me to practice my own parli skills. If asked I would most likely do this event again and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to try. It can sound very daunting at first and not knowing what to expect out of it makes it even scarier but after doing it once I want to do it again! 

(2018 ATA Conclave PSU Participants)