LTAAL Member Judges FBLA Alabama State Leadership Conference

By: Charlie Gray, Surety Land Title, Mobile

I had the opportunity to represent LTAAL on April 23rd as part of our abstractor apprenticeship recruiting program. I let many young people know about our title insurance industry by attending and judging several of the competitive events for the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) Alabama State Leadership Conference held in Mobile at the Convention Center attended by over 1300 high school and junior high school students from all over Alabama. I was asked, along with two other individuals, to judge the high school competition made up of individuals and groups. I was asked to judge Impromptu Speaking (individuals) and Parliamentary Procedure (groups). In the Impromptu Speaking competition, the students were given the same topic and guidelines on several issues to address within that topic. Each child was given 20 minutes to prepare and then 7 minutes to present to us. We were asked to judge them on many aspects from eye contact to demeanor when presenting, to use of their notes, and to their proper dress (yes, they have a dress code). In the Parliamentary Procedure competition, they came out in groups of 4 or 5 individuals and presented to us as if we were all in a formal meeting setting where the use of Roberts Rules of Order must be followed. We had 14 individuals and 5 groups participate. The top 4 finalists in each category get to go on to the national competition held this summer. So many of these student leaders have a huge bright future ahead of them as they are all very talented. It was refreshing and inspiring to see these kids work at these assigned tasks with no help from adults and NO use of ANY electronic devices. Those items were not allowed in the area during the competition, period. If caught with a watch, Ipad, phone etc., they are disqualified from all events and sent packing. They enforce their rules in these events: no exceptions – zero tolerance, and there are teachers and eyes all over the place. It was a great event and FBLA is always looking for judges and volunteers for their competitions statewide, so check them out.