By Eunie Jeong

RCHK Persuade-athon, a new student-run online persuasive speaking contest, was launched from June 8 to June 16, 2021. Contestants were divided into either the junior (Years 7-8) or senior (Years 9-10) category. Organised by now-Year 12 students, Megan Chan, Chloe Lam and Audrey Lau, the contest was a marked success in terms of organisation and participation.

The competition process involved each participant being assigned three internal or external judges, from whom the participants would receive feedback, based on three criteria: content, style, and the organisation of the speech. The aim of the speeches was to give well considered, original and realistic solutions to global or social issues, be able to state examples, facts, and figures, as well as logical arguments about the importance of addressing these issues.

RCHK Persuade-athon was originally intended to be hosted live, but COVID-19 resulted in the transition of the event online. The organisers encountered several challenges due to the change.

Lam said social distancing posed particular difficulties: “The social distancing regulations made it difficult to organise rooms for competitors and judges since students were expected to leave campus after school and only a certain number of people were allowed in each classroom.” 

“Because we weren’t able to host the competition in person, participant entries needed to be sent online and we encountered quite a few technological problems,” commented Lau. She further elaborated, “There were definitely challenges with the communication between participants, judges, and our admin team.” 

However, when times are difficult, you need to make do. “We had to run with what worked best, even if it wasn't the most ideal,” remarked Chan. 

As a result, participants were required to submit a recorded speech between 3-5 minutes long, where current issues and potential solutions were thoroughly discussed. It was submitted in a Google form before June 16, which was the deadline before the judges could give feedback according to the criteria and give out awards. The judges – of diverse backgrounds, and all eager to volunteer for the role – included internal examiners (e.g. senior students or teachers), as well as external examiners.

Participants were also given restrictions for video-editing and script-reading in the video. Yet, the competition concluded smoothly even amongst the challenges for organisers and participants, much like many of the other activities in pandemic times.

There were six winners, from the junior and senior categories. Andrea Chow, Aidan Lai, and Ryan Sun placed 1st, 2nd, and 3rd respectively in the juniors category, while Daniel Cheung, Audrey Yip, and Shriya Srinivasan placed 1st, 2nd, and 3rd respectively in the seniors category. 

Students who participated in this event found it constructive and well organised, as corroborated by the positive feedback received.

Chow, from Year 8, remarked, “I have participated in some public speaking competitions before but because this competition was focused on RCHK students, I found a sense of community when I saw the people that signed up.” 

Students participating recognised the benefits in this competition and would agree to the remark from Yip, from Year 10, saying that Persuade-athon was an “opportunity to do a bit more research on an issue and educate myself on it.”

Furthermore, the organisation of the event was much appreciated, especially the wealth of feedback given. “I was quite delighted to receive the feedback I did from such quality judges, who I must thank for giving up what has to be a sizable amount of time to write such detailed and constructive yet direct feedback,” commented Lai. 

Due to the event’s success in June, it was hosted again for the second time on November 20 live on Zoom, in comparison to the video submission previously. This time it was also expanded to Years 6-11 students of all ESF schools so there were a total of 80 participants. Zoom breakout rooms were used during preliminary rounds, and the winners of those rounds went on into the finals.

A greater diversity of judges were also involved. Alongside an array of teachers, key figures in the Hong Kong public speaking circuit, such as the coach of Hong Kong’s public speaking team, participated. In addition, student judges also all had extensive experience in public speaking, whether they came from secondary or university.

The winners of the November ESF Persuade-athon were Bobby Li, Seung-June Yoon, and Sophia Ling for the juniors, Andrea Chow, Nicholas Tsai, and Alicia Jade Liu for the intermediates, and Hannah Wu, Olivia Sun, and Lily Haylett for the seniors; all listed in rankings of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd of their respective categories. 

To all those who participated, Chan said, “It takes a lot of courage to show up and do such amazing speeches, and I admire how all our participants had such strong ideas on how to change the world for the better.”

Despite challenges seeming insurmountable in these turbulent times, with the collaboration of participants, volunteer judges, and organisers, the hosting of Persuade-athon was a success both times. Chan concludes, “I’d consider it a success overall. There were definitely trip-ups along the way — that’s inevitable for any project. But it’s all a learning process, so that experience, mistakes and all, has been infinitely helpful.”