FPSPI is a federationconsists of state-orand nationwide organizations called affiliates. Each affiliate is responsible for conducting the competitions which take place in its own geographic area. Students begin preparing for competition at the start of each school year. Depending on the affiliate and the type of competition, there may be regional, state, or national levels of competition that take place during the year. Only the winners of any given competition qualify to proceed to the next level. The highest level of competition takes place at the annual International Conference (IC), which is held in May or June, at the end of the United States school year. The IC is held at the campus of a public university in the United States (the country with the largest number of competitors), with a new ___location being chosen every two years.
