Interstate Oratorical Association

Interstate Oratorical Association
Founded1874
TypeIntercollegiate
PurposeSpeech Organization
Location
Key people
F. I. Moulton
Henry W. Read
Geo A. Lawrence
Larry A. Schnoor
Websiteinterstateoratoryassociation.org
The Interstate Oratory Association is the oldest public speaking organization within the United States. Founded in 1874, the IOA has held a contest for the top persuasive speakers represented from each state. Here, the 1913 IOA contest was hosted by Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky on June 9, 1913.

The Interstate Oratory Association is an intercollegiate contest in oratory or persuasive speaking.[1] Founded in 1874, the IOA is the oldest public speaking organization in the United States and has held contests for the top oratory or persuasive speakers from each state ever since. The annual Interstate Oratory Contest is usually held within the last weekend of April with two representatives from state competing at the event. The most recent IOA contest was hosted at the University of Illinois Chicago on April 26–28, 2024.[2]

The IOA is composed of approximately twenty state collegiate forensic organizations. The organization's purpose is to conduct an annual competition in Oratory. Participants in the contest are the top two finalists in each of the respective state contests. In this sense, the state competitors represent the member state's oratory participants.[3]

  1. ^ "Interstate oratory association". INTERSTATE ORATORICAL ASSOCIATION. Retrieved 2019-05-01.
  2. ^ "SpeechWire Tournament Services - Forensics Tournament Software - Speech, Debate, Congress". www.speechwire.com. Retrieved 2024-10-14.
  3. ^ Sellnow, Timothy. "THE Persuasive Speaking Contest: An Analysis of Twenty Years of Change" (PDF). Retrieved 1 May 2019.