Contests are one of the easiest places to make a mistake — and yet, one of the most important events to get right, especially for members who are planning on becoming the World Champion of Public Speaking! Here’s a few scenarios to think about. What would YOU do?
Some of them have “right” answers per the rules, some have “right” answers per most peoples’ understanding of fairness … and some have no good answer at all. Regardless, they are likely to start a good conversation at contest training.
Contest program & preparation
Do you include contestant names on the program? Speech title? Their club name and number? Educational award level (like CC or DTM)? Title (like club president or past district governor)?
For the evaluation contest, do you include the model (target) speaker’s name, speech title, objectives, and/or club information?
For the evaluation contest, is it better to have a model speaker who is relatively new, moderately experienced, or a highly-polished speaker?
You want to include the judge’s ballot in the program for the audience. Can you do this? Is there anything special you should do?
You’ve set a date for the contest several weeks out and publicized it heavily. There’s only three contestants, and one of them tells you that they can’t make it that day. Can you, should you, change the date or time? What if it was one of two contestants, or one of ten? Does the reason for not making it that day matter, such as a child’s surgery vs. an unspecified vacation plan?
Sergeant at arms & logistics
Before the contest, a contestant asks you to help with their props (e.g., put a chair on stage). Do you?
Should contestants be allowed to wear their Toastmaster name badge or similar when competing?
The contest venue has a portable stage with a few steps. At the contestants’ briefing, you realize one of the contestants has mobility limitations (maybe a wheelchair), and cannot possibly get up the steps. What do you do?
A contestant asks if a friend can video record their speech. Can they? What if they want to record the whole contest? What if they didn’t ask and then you see someone recording?
A contestant wants to use PowerPoint. What do you need to do, if anything?
It’s time to begin, and a contestant hasn’t arrived yet. When is the contestant disqualified?
It’s time to begin, and a contestant hasn’t arrived yet. Someone says the contestant called, is caught in traffic, and will be there in 10 minutes. Do you wait? 30 minutes — do you wait? An hour? What if the contestant told you the day before that they would be 30 minutes or an hour late? What if it was the only contestant for that contest?
The room has been brought to order, we’re ready to begin, and it’s time to introduce the dignitaries. Except one of the dignitaries is a contestant! What do you do?
Should evaluation contestants be left in silence while waiting for their turn to speak?
The holding room for the table topics contests is right next to the contest room, and you can clearly hear the contest master through the thin wall. What can you do?
You’re monitoring the table topics or evaluation contestants in a room down the hall as they wait for their turn. One pulls out their phone and begins to tap away on it. What do you do?
For the table topics contest, where should the contestants be when they are introduced?
Are audience members allowed to enter and leave during the one minute of silence between speeches? During the two-plus minutes after the last speech, while judges are finalizing their ballots?
During a contest speech, you notice someone in the front row discreetly holding their phone for the contestant to see, with a timer apparently showing how long they’ve been speaking. What do you do? What if you were a judge?
Contest master
There’s only one contestant. Do we still need a contest? What if they go under or over time?
You’re planning the area contest, and it’s going to be a very small affair (just a couple contestants). A neighboring area has the same problem. Can you combine the contests? What special steps do you need to take?
While preparing for the division contest, you send a the list of the area contest winners to WHQ to confirm their eligibility. They respond saying one of them hasn’t paid their dues and is ineligible. Does this affect their title of area contest winner? Can they be in the division contest? What if there was no runner-up in the area contest?
It’s time to draw for the speaking order, and a contestant is still missing. Do you draw for them, or do they just get last in the order?
At the contestant briefing, the speaking area has been defined as the area in front of the first row of chairs. One speaker says they wanted to walk around the whole room as part of their speech — can you change the speaking area? Do you?
Can the speaking area be defined as the whole room? Is there any reason to make it less?
It’s the table topics contest, and after reading it (twice!) to the first contestant, you realize it’s much too long. Can it be shortened (or even just read once) to the subsequent contestants?
Should there be a printed version of the table topic to show the contestant? Can they hold onto it during their speech?
During the speech contest, the sound system fails completely halfway through the first contestant’s speech. What can you do?
During the speech contest, the building fire alarm goes off halfway through the first contestant’s speech. What can you do? What if it was during the last contestant’s speech?
There’s two contests being held back-to-back, the same evening. One contestant is in both of them, and the agenda has contest interviews after each contest. Do you interview that contestant twice?
Your club holds a contest for two speakers, and both go over time. What can you do? What if there’s a third person who wanted to compete, but couldn’t be there that day?
There are 5 contestants, 1 is disqualified over time. Do you present the planned 3rd place award?
Timers
You’re in charge of the contest timing, where should you set up your equipment and sit?
There are two timers and you’re given two timing devices. Should you both actively time the speeches?
You are one of two timers, and you are each actively running a timing device. At the end of a prepared speech (international or humorous), one device says 7:30, the other says 7:31. Is the speaker disqualified?
For the evaluation contest, should you time and signal the model (target) speaker?
When a contestant is introduced, some audience members start chanting. When do you start the clock?
Contestants
The speech contestant mentions their club name, or their educational award level, or a title, or winning the contest last year, in their speech. Is this a problem?
Two members want to give a speech together, as one speech, a dialog. Is this against the rules?
Can a contestant have friends planted in the audience to react loudly and hysterically to their humorous speech?
You’re the first evaluation contestant, and the sergeant at arms cannot find your notes that they took away. What do you do? What if they have them but misunderstand the rules and refuse to give them to you?
Judges
The contest master forgets to allow one minute for you to mark your ballot, and instead immediately starts introducing the next speaker. What can you do?
The contestant clearly leaves the defined speaking area during their speech. How does this affect your scoring?
Near the end of the second speech out of five, you realize you’re becoming urgently in need of going to the restroom (and it won’t be less than a minute). What do you do?
You’re chief judge and happen to casually observe one of the judges isn’t making any marks on their ballot at all during the speeches or the one minute of silence. Should you do anything now, or after the contest?
You dutifully fill out your ballot, tear off the bottom, and give it to the ballot counters. What do you do with the top part?
After the district contest, you discover that one of the judges is a member of the same club as the winner. What can you do?
Ballot counters
You’re the chief ballot counter, and you know that 7 judges got ballots at the briefing. The contest is over, you’re collecting the ballots, but you’ve only gotten 6 so far, and have no idea who has the 7th one. What can you do? What if you get 8 ballots but only expected 7?
It’s time to count the ballots, there were at least three contestants, and one of the judge’s ballots lists only one name. Or lists two names on the same line. Or isn’t signed. What can you do?
Feel free to add your own scenarios, or comment on how you would handle these situations!
Interesting! But personally I’ve encountered some of these and I don’t have an answer for them.
What do you do if you make a decision as a chief judge and you realize it was the wrong decision? What if someone hands you a ballot with their whole sheet in the envelope? Should you throw out the ballot or just try to ignore how the judge considered each contestant?
Whenever a toastmster tries to introduce the next speaker without the minute for the judges, someone has to bring it to their attention. It would be unfair to the contestants if the judges are not given time.
It has always been my understanding that an unsigned ballot is thrown out.
Sharon, that’s a good scenario, the judge turns in the whole ballot. It’s still valid, you just have to dispose of the top part yourself, or maybe discreetly return it to the errant judge. Since the ballot counting process is completely objective, there’s no issue of “trying” to ignore how the judge considered each contestant.
This is the most thorough list of contest problems I have seen to date. Please tell us that you will be writing a follow-up with the right AND wrong answers!
Of course, the BEST scenario would be to have answers to these questions in the contest rules and regulations. THAT would help us during the contest events when so many of these happen!
District leaders and veteran Toastmasters are approached at many contests to “make the decision” on many of these situations. Having the rules AND answers to all of these would be so helpful!
I am very anxious for your “follow up” article to this!
But Pam, there are hundreds more possible scenarios. We cannot have a rule for every situation, it’s impractical. Instead, we have principles to follow, like fairness and respect, integrity and excellence. Some of the scenarios I describe don’t even really have any correct answer!
Good selection of “gotcha’s”. As you said, some trivial (read the rules) and many “in the cracks”. Trivial cases include “late arrival DQ” (When contest master is introduced), Model speaker (no level, goals, project etc.), leaving the speaking area (optional points off by judges)and several more. Judgement calls (Whether and for how long to delay a contest when one or more contestants call ahead vs traffic or whatever), and on and on. Many of us have encountered most of these examples at one time or other, but that does not make them any easier to call. I love your “bathroom bound” contest master! (Why not simply hand the mike to the CJ or host to introduce the next contestant(s) on time).
I’m curious about the 7:30 vs 7:31 scenario … is the contestant disqualfied?
The standard answer is that there should only be one person operating the timing device (stopwatch). If it fails, the speaker gets an additional 30 seconds.
My recommendation: Both timers run a timing device, and disqualification only occurs if both timers say the speaker went over (benefit of doubt to the contestant). This also helps ensure that any ONE person (a solo timer) cannot disqualify someone on their word alone.
Re the videoing – it’s in the rules that there is to be no photography or videoing during the contests.
HOWEVER – I did consider requesting special permission to have my speech very discreetly videoed to send to my husband on deployment. The idea was to ask the Chief Judge, and then to request the other contestants approval beforehand. I didn’t go ahead with it in the end, I have no idea if it would have been approved or not.
To be precise, the current rules say “The taking of photographs during the speeches is not permitted”. It used to specify FLASH photography, and in my opinion, that’s still the right rule, as a picture with no flash is not disruptive (it’s the same as video, really, assuming the shutter sound isn’t too loud).
There’s nothing in the rules about video, though I believe it would be a legal requirement to have the permission of the speaker to record it. If you are the speaker and request your own speech be recorded by a friend, obviously, there’s no permission issue.
I thought it included video – the briefing given by the Chief Judge at our Div and Area Contests included no video. Interesting that it was included although not in the rules.
Next time I compete, I’ll definitely be checking the wording and videoing my own speech. Thanks for pointing that out!
The rules do change every year, usually in trivial ways, sometimes more substantially.
In regards to videoing a contest. The contestants during the International Speech finals are recorded and official looking recordings have been made available in the past. TI provided links to on-demand material this year. Surely this suggests that video is permitted or do we apply different rules depending on the level of the contest?
I think the key is to be sure nothing will distract the speaker. That means no flash, and no moving around to get a different angle. Video from a fixed point, sure. I wouldn’t even really care if someone was taking pictures, as long as they sat still, it was silent, and didn’t use a flash.
Is it “legal” or “ethical” for the District Steering members to be judges at Area/Division contests?
IE, the District Governor, Lt. Governor of Education, Lt. Governor of Marketing, P.R.O. or District Sgt-At-Arms
Certainly, that’s often done.