Florida FFA Leadership Development Events

How Florida FFA Leadership Development Events Work

Leadership development events, or LDEs, test speaking, meeting skills and job-readiness rather than animal or plant judging. Florida FFA lists them with its other contests on the competitive events page. The state says its members take part in nearly 50 career and leadership development events each year, and rules are revised annually, so confirm the current version with your advisor.

The Events

The events page does not label every contest as an LDE, but the speaking, meeting and ceremony events include these, with team sizes as listed:

• Parliamentary Procedure: team of 6 (high school and middle school)
• Conduct of Chapter Meetings: team of 7, listed for grades 7-9 in the high school section and also offered as a middle school event
• Opening and Closing Ceremonies: team of 7 (middle school)
• Prepared Public Speaking: individual
• Extemporaneous Public Speaking: individual
• Creed Speaking: individual, grades 7-9, with a separate Spanish Creed Speaking event
• Discussion Meet: individual (high school)
• Employment Skills: individual (high school)
• Agricultural Issues Forum: team of 3 to 7 (high school)

Technical contests such as Livestock Evaluation or Citrus are covered in the career development events guide.

What Changed for 2025-26

The state's revisions summary lists these LDE-related updates:

• Conduct of Chapter Meetings: adds written exam details, with Robert's Rules of Order questions possible, a time clock for the demonstration and "Accuracy" in the Opening Ceremonies requirements.
• Employment Skills: adds a signed Statement of Authenticity.
• Extemporaneous Public Speaking: middle school topics are reduced to four areas. AI use is discouraged for dialogue modeling or word choice but may be used as a search engine.
• Opening and Closing Ceremonies: updates the oral question parameters for the Official FFA Manual.
• Schools with more than one chapter on the same campus must sit for a virtual preliminary at the same time.

Practical Tips by Event

• Team events: assign roles early and practice the full run with a timer. In Parliamentary Procedure and Conduct of Chapter Meetings, every member has to know the manual cold.
• Speaking events: memorize the structure rather than every word, and rehearse in front of people who will interrupt.
• Employment Skills: your application materials must be your own, since the event now requires a signed Statement of Authenticity.
• Dress: the state publishes Official Dress Guidelines, and many events score it.

Policies and Resources

The events page links general rules for all events, Official Dress Guidelines and virtual CDE preliminary guidelines, along with a Rules link for each event and, for many, Resources and Judging Card links. It also says advisors are responsible for reviewing the policies and making sure competing members know them. Each event has a registration link, and some have submission forms. Results are at judgingcard.com/Results.

Registration and Dates

The calendar page says registration opens about 30 days before each event, deadlines appear in the "Register/Receive By" column of the official calendar, and teams that miss the deadline are not eligible. The page does not list specific event dates, so download the official calendar. Teams that qualify at a preliminary event do not need to register again for state finals.

The State Convention

The 98th Florida FFA Convention ran June 15 to 19, 2026, at the Caribe Royale Orlando, 8101 World Center Drive. The page lists motivational speakers, award presentations, exhibits, workshops and the Florida FFA Expo. Per the convention page, online registration was $100 per person and onsite registration was $110, chapter registration opened April 20, and a Quality Chapter Report due May 1 was required to seat voting delegates. A notarized Student Permission Form must be presented at registration, not mailed. Fees and details change each year, so check the current page.

Before You Compete

Talk to your advisor about which events your chapter will enter, who is on the team and when practice starts. The state publishes the format for each event before it is held, and the events page notes that activities may be dropped if materials or expertise are lacking or if costs would strongly affect the event budget. Read the event's Rules link every year rather than assuming last year's version still applies.

Choosing Your Event

• New to FFA and in grades 7-9: Creed Speaking, Spanish Creed Speaking or Conduct of Chapter Meetings.
• Want a team challenge: Parliamentary Procedure.
• Prefer one-on-one skills: Employment Skills.
• Like thinking on your feet: Extemporaneous Public Speaking or Discussion Meet.

Frequently Asked Questions

Start with the Florida FFA competitive events page and ask your advisor for this year's rules.

Guide checked Nov. 11, 2026. Rules and dates change; confirm with the organizer.