Five Skills Parliamentary Procedure Builds (Persuasive Speaking, Confidence, Respect, Listening, Leadership)
Deep Dives on Specific FFA Contests and What They Teach
FFA’s 2023 article 5 Skills Developed Through Parliamentary Procedure asks a professional parliamentarian, Kay Crews, who works with National FFA and helps national officers and committees use the rules, to name the skills the study builds. The five are persuasive speaking, confidence, respect, good listening and effective leadership. This article takes each in turn, connects it to a workplace standard and suggests a way to practice it. The list is one expert’s view, not a study.
- Key takeaway: parliamentary procedure bundles five transferable skills into one structure.
- Source: a parliamentarian who works with National FFA, as reported by FFA.
1. Persuasive Speaking
Crews says learning to state your point of view in a structured, concise manner serves you well even if you never attend another meeting, because you will always need to communicate with family, coworkers and others. NACE’s communication competency covers verbal, written and non-verbal communication, which is the broader category this falls under.
Drill: take a position on a chapter issue and state it in 60 seconds with one reason and one fact.
2. Confidence
The article says confidence builds because competitors practice the skill of stating a viewpoint “hundreds, if not thousands, of times,” especially on a contest team. It also names tangible skills such as counting votes and taking minutes, which it says can set members apart for leadership positions.
Drill: rotate the secretary job at every chapter meeting so each member practices taking minutes.
3. Respect
Crews’s description is that the rules let differing views be heard respectfully: all voices have the right to be heard, and debate stays impersonal, with no pointing fingers or name-calling. This is the subject of the separate article on disagreeing without being disagreeable.
Drill: in a mock debate, require each speaker to restate the previous speaker’s point before disagreeing.
4. Good Listening
The article says members must listen to opposing views so they can evaluate their own position and how to persuade others, and that members may come to understand where another person is coming from even when they disagree. NACE’s teamwork competency includes listening carefully, which is the same skill in a workplace setting.
Drill: before voting, have two members summarize the best argument from the other side.
5. Effective Leadership
Parliamentary procedure aims to give everyone a chance to speak, but eventually a decision is needed. Crews notes that when two-thirds of the group is ready to end discussion, it is time to vote, and that the purpose of a meeting is to get something done. Leadership here means moving a group from talk to a decision without trampling anyone.
Drill: practice chairing a meeting with a strict agenda and a clock; the chair’s job is to keep the group moving and fair.
How the Event Tests These
FFA’s event page describes five phases: a written exam, a team presentation, oral questions, a team problem-solving practicum and an individual practicum on minutes and records. The page says students present convincing debates and evaluate minutes and organizational documents. The mapping to the five skills is this site’s interpretation, not FFA’s scoring rubric.
Quick Self-Check
| Skill | Ask yourself |
|---|---|
| Persuasive speaking | Can I make my point in one minute? |
| Confidence | Have I practiced this out loud, not just in my head? |
| Respect | Did I attack the idea or the person? |
| Listening | Can I state the other side’s best argument? |
| Leadership | Did the group reach a decision on time? |
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to compete to build these skills?
No. FFA’s 2025 feature Leading the Business Meeting With Parliamentary Procedure describes a chapter that uses the rules in ordinary chapter and committee meetings, so practice can happen at every meeting. Crews does say confidence grows faster on a contest team, because of the repetition.
Is there a professional credential?
FFA’s 2021 Q&A Parliamentary Procedure: Come to Order describes the professionally registered parliamentarian (PRP) credential. The parliamentarian interviewed says earning it gave him a way to document his knowledge for clients, and that national event competitors receive American Institute of Parliamentarians membership until age 30.
Honest Limits
The five skills come from one parliamentarian’s opinion in an FFA feature. FFA does not publish research showing members who study parliamentary procedure improve on these dimensions, and no source cited here measures it. The drills are practical suggestions from this site and may need adjusting for your chapter’s size and meeting style.
Past presidents on this site whose careers relied on communication or public service include Mark Sanborn, who became a leadership author and speaker; Jan Eberly, later the U.S. Treasury’s chief economist; and Travis Jett, who became an Oklahoma Supreme Court justice in 2025.
Sources
- National FFA Organization: 5 Skills Developed Through Parliamentary Procedure (2023)
- National FFA Organization: Parliamentary Procedure
- NACE: What Is Career Readiness?
- National FFA Organization: Leading the Business Meeting With Parliamentary Procedure (2025)
- National FFA Organization: Parliamentary Procedure: Come to Order (2021)