Membership and Eligibility Requirements
Maintaining good standing is a
requirement for holding office, voting
or participating in speech contests.
Are you eligible to run for Toastmasters office? Can you participate in a Toastmasters speech contest? Is your club eligible to vote at the district and regional conferences or at the International Convention? In order to be eligible for these and other Toastmasters benefits, each member and club must be in good standing with Toastmasters International.
Member
- A member in good standing is one whose dues have been paid by the club and received at Toastmasters World Headquarters (WHQ) by May 31 for the April through September period and by November 30 for the October through March period.
- A new member is in good standing as soon as the new member application and appropriate fees and dues are received at WHQ.
- A member will remain delinquent after May 31 and after November 30 until dues have been received at WHQ.
- A person must be a member in good standing of a Toastmasters club in good standing to be nominated for or to serve in any office in Toastmasters International.
Club
- A club in good standing is one that has paid its dues to WHQ by May 31 for the April through September period and by November 30 for the October through March period.
- A club will remain delinquent after May 31 and after November 30 until dues have been received at WHQ. If dues are not paid prior to the next dues renewal period, the club will be dropped from active status.
Speech Contests
To be eligible to compete in any official Toastmasters Speech Contest, a member must:
1. Be a member in good standing of the club, area, division, and district in which he or she is competing.
- a) The club must also be in good standing.
- b) A new, dual, or reinstated member must have dues and membership application current with World Headquarters.
2. In addition, to be eligible to compete in the International Speech Contest, a member must have completed at least six speech projects in the Competent Communication manual prior to the club contest. Contestants in speech contests other than the international contest do not need to meet this requirement
- a) However, a charter member of a club chartered since the previous July 1 is permitted to compete without having completed this requirement. The club must have officially chartered before the area contest.
To be a judge at a Toastmasters speech contest, you must meet all eligibility requirements identified below.
1. All judges shall be members in good standing.
2. All judges at area, division, district, semifinal, and International speech contests shall have been a Toastmasters member in good standing since the previous July and have completed at least six Competent Communication manual projects.
3. All judges at the semifinal and International contests shall be at least an Advanced Toastmaster Bronze or Advanced Communicator Bronze and have previously judged a Toastmasters speech contest at area, division, district, or semifinal level.
For complete speech contest eligibility requirements please refer to the Speech Contest Rulebook (Item 1171) which can be accessed by clicking here: www.toastmasters.org/rulebook.aspx