Missouri FFA Leadership Development Events

What Missouri FFA Leadership Development Events Are

Leadership development events (LDEs) test speaking, meeting skills and workplace readiness rather than agricultural technical knowledge. They share the state CDE and LDE guidelines eligibility rules with CDEs: students must be enrolled in secondary agriculture in grades 9 to 12, be 21 or younger and be certified by their district, which requires taking part in the district CDE or LDE. A student may compete at state in a given event only once.

The Events

The state handbook page lists guidelines for these LDEs:

• Creed Speaking
• Prepared Public Speaking and Extemporaneous Public Speaking
• FFA Knowledge
• Parliamentary Procedure: a written test and a demonstration of parliamentary law based on Robert's Rules of Order, per the convention report.
• Conduct of Meetings
• Employment Skills
• Agricultural Issues Forum: teams build a presentation on a significant agricultural concern in their own community and give it at least five times to community organizations before competing, per the convention report.
• FFA Books: record books, secretary's and treasurer's books and scrapbooks.

The 2026 district schedule and state schedule also list Division I, Division II and Advanced speaking contests alongside Creed and Extemporaneous.

Team Sizes and Scoring

Per the 2025 guidelines, Parliamentary Procedure teams have 6 members plus up to 2 alternates, and the Agricultural Issues Forum takes 3 to 7 members. Other events use 3 or 4 students, with the top three scores forming the team score. Parliamentary Procedure, Ag Issues and Conduct of Meetings are scored differently. The guidelines allow 16 participants per LDE at state, with FFA Knowledge at 52.

District Contests

The 2026 Southwest District held its contests March 28, 30 and 31 at Missouri State University in Springfield, with speaking and Employment Skills on March 31 and Parliamentary Procedure, Conduct of Chapter Meetings and Agricultural Issues on March 30, per the district bulletin. Speaking contests required manuscripts with a title page, with four hard copies accompanying the speaker. Employment Skills paperwork had to be emailed and received by March 25. Other districts set their own dates, so ask your agriculture teacher.

State LDEs in Columbia

The 2026 state schedule placed the LDEs in two Columbia hotels:

• Wednesday, April 15 (Wyndham Executive Center): Parliamentary Procedure and Conduct of Meetings preliminaries from 8:00 a.m., Ag Issues preliminaries from 9:00 a.m., and finals at 5:00 p.m.
• Thursday, April 16 (Stoney Creek): Creed from 8:00 a.m., then Division I, Division II, Advanced and Extemporaneous Speaking and Employment Skills from 8:30 a.m. Finals for five LDEs, excluding Creed, were at 1:00 p.m.
• Thursday, April 16: FFA Knowledge, 4:30 to 5:15 p.m.

Students must arrive 30 minutes before their LDE presentation time. Convention dates for later years are April 14 to 16, 2027 and April 19 to 21, 2028, per the Agricultural Education page.

Recent Winners

At the 98th convention, Troy FFA won the Parliamentary Procedure LDE and Centralia FFA won the Agricultural Issues Forum, per the convention reports linked above. The Past State Officers sponsor both events.

Fall Speaking and Other Opportunities

Missouri FFA also lists Fall Speaking LDEs under its CDE and LDE section, and the DESE FFA page lists a Public Speaking Academy with registration due May 15. Those pages carry the current details. The LDE guidelines also include a snake order ranking sheet, comment cards for judges' feedback and guidelines on the use of AI, so read them before you write a speech or a presentation. Under the memorandum of cooperation with 4-H, a student who wins a state contest in one organization may compete in the comparable state contest of the other, provided they belong to both, per the CDE guidelines.

Rules to Know

• Phones and smart devices, including smartwatches, are prohibited and a device going off means disqualification. Ag Issues and Ag Sales may use laptops for presentations.
• Advisors and alternates may not enter the holding room once an event begins.
• Students may not compete in events scheduled at the same time.
• Accommodation requests go in by the deadline on a form from the DESE Ag Education website.

Choosing an Event

• Like speaking: Creed, Prepared or Extemporaneous Public Speaking, or Employment Skills.
• Want a team: Parliamentary Procedure, Conduct of Meetings or the Agricultural Issues Forum.
• Like community work: Ag Issues rewards teams that present to local groups at least five times.
• Read the current guideline and comment cards, and practice under a timer with no notes.

Frequently Asked Questions

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