Number of Competitors Per Club & Area Contests – Spring 2012
What better way to hone your speaking skills than to participate in a speech contest! Sure, you get some decent evaluations after speaking to your club, but when you practice and progress through the various levels of competition, you really learn how to choose exactly the right words… exactly the right place for pauses… and you’ll learn exactly what needs to be done to connect with an audience!
As in previous years, participants will progress from Club level contests to Area level… to Division… to District. For the International Speech Contest (only), they will progress to International!
Looking for resources for your Club, Area, or Division contest? See below for everything you need… except for the contestants!
All contests require that contestants be a Toastmaster in good standing in a Toastmasters Club in good standing. (i.e. club dues must have been paid BEFORE the club-level speech contest.)
The International Speech Contest has an additional requirement that a Toastmaster must also have completed at least six manual speeches in the Competent Communicator Manual (a.k.a. the “Basic Manual”). Only one exception may be made to International Contest’s six-speech requirement: A charter member of a Club chartered since the previous July 1 is eligible to compete. The Club must be officially chartered prior to the Area contest.
Speech contest eligibility will be verified before each contest, for each contestants.
District level officers are ineligible for competition in any contest. See the current year’s rulebook for a complete description of rules and eligibility criteria.
Speech Contest Resources
Contest Documents and Manuals
Toastmasters International provides the following manuals and judging forms to help clubs, areas, divisions, and districts holder better contests.
As of September 1, 2011, all of the speech contest materials are available for free through the Toastmasters Shop. Take a look at the short video below to see how easy it is to download everything you need for a speech contest.
Reminder: Here’s the address for the digital content – www.Toastmasters.org/DigitalContent
Contest Rulebook
An invaluable asset for contest officials and contestants alike, the Toastmasters International Speech Contest Rulebook is updated every year for the International, Evaluation, Humorous, Table Topics, and Tall Tales speech contests. The latest version is available for download by following the instructions above. If you download the specific contest kit, you will receive the rulebook.
Winners of contests at each level should be documented on the Notification of Contest Winner form (downloaded in your contest kit), which should be immediately provided to the Chair for the next level of competition.
Area / Division Resources
Number of Contestants
In Areas with FOUR or fewer clubs at the beginning of the Contest Season, clubs will be encouraged to send up to TWO participants each, per contest, to the Area-level competition.
In Areas with FIVE or more clubs at the beginning of the Contest Season, clubs will be allowed to send ONE participant each, per contest, to the Area-level competition (e.g., this applies to Area 42).
In Divisions with FOUR or fewer Areas at the beginning of Contest Season, Areas will be encouraged to send up to TWO participants each, per contest, to the Division-level competition.
In Divisions with FIVE or more Areas at the beginning of Contest Season, Areas will be encouraged to send ONE participant each, per contest, to the Division-level competition.
Each Division will have ONE representative at the District contests (i.e. each Division sends first-place winner to District).
Printable Resources
Ballots/Contest Forms (including Contestant Forms) must be downloaded from the TI Website.
Click here to see a short video on how to find them & print them from the TI website.
Programs
- Contest Program – Word … Customizable to fit your Contest!
- NEW – Contest Program – Template Spring … Customizable to fit your Contest! Word PDF
Scripts
- Toastmaster – Evaluation/Humorous Contest – Word PDF
- NEW – Toastmaster – Table Topics – Word PDF
- NEW – Toastmaster – International – Word PDF
- Judges Briefing Script – Word PDF
- Contestant Briefing Script - Word PDF
Checklist, Flyer, Contest Evaluation Form
- District Speech Contest Checklist (Excel spreadsheet) …can be modified for use in Club, Area or Division contests
- NEW – Grade Your Contest (PDF) … An evaluation form for the contests.
- Flyer (Doc) … can be modified to promote your contest
Please