Contest season is here!

The fall contest season is in full swing. Contests are a great opportunity to get outside your home club, meet new toastmasters and learn new skills. Don’t forget that your contest speech can be a manual speech. Always get credit for your work.

If competition isn’t for you, volunteer to serve as a judge, timer, ballot counter or toastmaster. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about contests or judging. Area and division governors can always use more help! Take part, step outside your comfort zone and above all, have fun.

Contest judges training

All of the rules you need to run a contest and train judges is contained in the Speech Contest Rulebook 2008. This booklet contains all of the rules for each contest.

The other source of information is the ballot for each contest. The criteria judges should use is listed on the back of the ballot. If judges only read the ballot and use those criteria when they judge each contest, they will know what they need to be fair and effective judges.

Be sure to contact me if you have questions about specific rules or using the ballot.

There will be a training session for contest judges on Saturday September 13 from noon to 2. Contact me if you would like to attend.

Politics in Toastmasters clubs

The political season is here. By the time you read this I’m sure that you’ll have seen or heard hundreds of political ads. I expect that many of you are campaigning for candidates. In the excitement of a campaign it is easy to forget that not every member of our club shares our beliefs or supports our candidates. I ran for office several years ago. Like any toastmaster I rehearsed my speeches at my club before I spoke to the voters (toastmasters are much nicer than the voters). Many of the members of my clubs did not share or agree with my opinions. Most of them however put their own opinions aside to provide me with the evaluations I needed. One evaluator however insisted on pointing out that she belonged to the other political party and that she disagreed with what I said. She did me a disservice. I was preparing to speak at my party endorsing convention and I needed feedback that would help me appeal to that audience. Her evaluation was worse than useless to me and cost me a valuable opportunity to improve my speech before a very important presentation.

Remember the purpose of a toastmasters club is to provide a safe environment where members can grow and improve. Nowhere does the mission of the club say that we are there to fight about politics. I’m not suggesting that toastmasters may not have or may not share political opinions. I have very strong opinions about candidates and the issues facing our country and community. I am saying that we remember the purpose of toastmasters is to give us the opportunity to improve and grow as speakers and leaders. I hope I learned from that useless evaluation to leave my opinions outside the club and evaluate my fellow members in a way that helps them achieve their goals.

PowerPoint and visual aids in contests

There is no rule against using Powerpoint or visual aids including props in contests. Many contestants make use of them during their speeches. The contestant needs to be aware however that they have to supply all of the equipment (computer, projector and screen) they need. They also need to set up and take down everything during the one minute of silence between speakers. If something doesn't work, it is their problem to fix it while the clock is running.

I would recommend against using Powerpoint, but the contestant may decide for her/himself. Personally I'd love to see Powerpoint used in a competitive speech.