Contest Calendar

September 10	Club Humorous Speech and Evaluation Contests should be completed
September 30	Area speech contests should be completed
October 30	Division speech contests should be completed
November 10	District Fall Conference and Humorous Speech and Evaluation Contests
March 10	Club International Speech and Table Topics Contests should be completed
March 31	Area Speech contests should be completed
April 30	Division speech contests should be completed
May 10	District Spring Conference and International Speech and Table Topics Contests
Note: Check the District Calendar for actual dates of area and division contests. In order for your contestents to compete at the next level, your club contests must be completed before your area contest, and your area contest must be completed before your division contest and of course your division contest should be completed before the district contest. Contestants may not serve as judges at any level for the type of contests in which they are still competing. Download the latest version of TI's Speech Contest Rules, by clicking here. You can download a list of trained judges by clicking here.

The winner of the District International Speech Contest will be invited to participate in the Region II contest, and of the District Humorous Speech contest will be invited to participate in the Region II Humorous Showcase, to be held in June 2008. The winner of the Regional International Speech contest will be invited to participate in the World Championship of Public Speaking, 2008 International Convention in August 2008 in Alberta, Canada.

Who's Responsible?

The Lt. Governor of Education and Training is the district officer responsible for speech contests within the District. At the club level, the VP-Education; at the area level, the Area Governor; at the division level, the Division Governor; and at the district level, the Lt. Governor of Education and Training. This does NOT mean that these people run the contests themselves, however.

Roles:

Contest Chair: Overall coordinator of the Contest. Often the Area Governor for an Area contest, etc.

Contest Master: The Toastmaster for the event. Make sure you can pronounce everyone's name, and verify the speech titles!

Chief Judge: Briefs the judges, timers, ballot counters, officiates the contest, and resolves any disputes.

Judges: Judges rank contestants, and turn in their choice for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place only to the ballot counters. For club contests there should be four judges if a contest is held to determine the club's representative. For area contests there should be five judges, and division contests need at least two judges from each area. (Judges are not to be identified.)

Tie Breaking Judge: Chosen by the Chief Judge, the purpose of the tie breaking judge is to determine the placement order in case of any ties. His ballot is different, as he scores all speakers and writes every name in order of performance, first to last, placing the results in a sealed envelope provided by the chief judge. This ballot is only consulted if there is a tie for 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place.

Ballot Counters: two to count ballots.

Timers: two, one will show cards or light signal, the other is the back up timer in case of anything going wrong with the first timer. If there is a discrepancy in the times, the time that favors the speaker is used.

The contest Sgt at Arms greets everyone, then turns into a door guard during the actual contest. Holds contestants outside for Table Topics and Evaluation contests.

Some general information:

Eligibility All contestants must be members in good standing. Contestants for the International Speech Contest must have six speeches completed from the Communication manual unless they are a charter member of a club that has chartered in the current Toastmaster year, in which case the six speech rule is waived. District officers are not eligible to compete at any level.

Originality A speech must be original and any material incorporated from other sources must be cited

Props Props can be used, but not before the beginning of a speech

Timing Timing begins when the contestant engages in definite verbal or nonverbal communication with the audience

Protests Only the judges or contestants may protest any part of a speech. Announced results are final, with no further protest possible. Any disqualification of a contestant must occur before the results are announced. If a contestant is later found to have been ineligible at any stage of the process, the results will stand, but they become ineligible to compete at higher levels for category of contest in which they had been ineligible.

Preparation Preparation will differ depending on what level of contest you are holding. An Area Governor may do most all of their own preparation for an Area contest, while a District Governor will appoint committees for each major task. For a large contest, the following Committees are often used: Contest Committee, Host Club/Facilities Committee, Printing and Publicity Committee, Registration Committee, and Finance Committee. With or without committees, the basic tasks are:

• Select place and time for contest
• Determine contest agenda (e.g. contests to be conducted)
• Arrange supplies and services (e.g. refreshments, flip-charts, timing lights, forms, etc.)
• Select Chief Judge and other officials
• Judges (4-8 minimum, depending on the level)
• Timers (2)
• Counters (2)
• Sergeant-at-arms (1 or more)
• Notify contest officials of time and place
• Ensure all contestants are eligible
• Notify contestants of time and place
• Publicize contest in community
• READ the rule book, and both sides of the ballots