THE SPEAKER FACTOR – DO YOU HAVE IT?
The Speaker Factor is the annual PSASA speech competition for Associate Members who wish to showcase their talent and sharpen their speaking skills.
Each year in January through March, PSASA Chapters host regional competitions to determine the candidates who will represent their Chapter at the semi-final and final during the Annual Convention in April, where the Grand Champion is crowned.
This Champion gains an automatic speaking slot and is invited to deliver a full keynote at the next annual convention.
What makes a winning speech… and a winning speaker?
The PSASA’s annual Speaker Factor Competition is an excellent opportunity to find out.
First, here’s what you need to know about the Speaker Factor Competition:
The competition rules bind contestants to gruelling rules:
· Speakers have only 5 minutes to deliver their talk.
· Speakers may not use any slides or visual aids, including special outfits, objects, or virtual backgrounds.
· Regional winners must deliver the same speech in the Semi-final and Final as they gave in the Chapter competition.
· Presentations should focus on what the speaker’s key topic of speaking is and what they can offer to a prospective client with some form of call to action.
The judges will look for overall quality of the presentation, judging the entrants on four main criteria:
· Stagecraft / Screencraft (20%) – how well the speaker uses the platform and stage or screen area
· Script (20%) – how well the talk was scripted, constructed, and worded
· Delivery (20%) – how well the speaker delivered the talk, including vocal performance and body language and audience interaction
· Bookability (40%) – is the speaker likely to be booked, is their talk likely to be paid for based on their topic, call to action and relevance to the proposed audience? The ‘bookability’ of a speech is defined as being something their intended market would pay for, not as a preference of the Judge.
Past champions include Zanele Njapha, KZN Chapter (2019), Gary Tintinger, Johannesburg Chapter (2020), Alison Weihe, Johannesburg Chapter (2021), Nick Smit, Johannesburg Chapter (2022), Njideka Chika Orji, Virtual Chapter (2023) and Ursula Botha, Virtual Chapter (2024).

Ursula Botha
2024

Njideka Chika Orji
2023

Nick Smit
2022

Alison Weihe
2021

Gary Tintinger
2020

Zanele Njapha
2019