Speech Contests FAQ

To help accommodate for limitations due to COVID-19, the Toastmasters International Board of Directors has issued annual exceptions to the Speech Contest Rulebook every year since 2020. These exceptions specifically applied to the rules requiring that contestants and contest officials be physically present to participate in speech contests.

Ultimately, these exceptions were not intended to become the normal method of conducting speech contests. As a result, the Board determined that there will be no further exceptions to the rule requiring physical presence at speech contests beyond the club level, effective beginning with the 2024-2025 contest cycle.

To continue providing flexibility for Toastmasters who cannot compete in person, a new contest type debuted in the 2024-2025 program year, called the Online Speech Contest. The Online Speech Contest gives Districts the option to provide members with the opportunity to practice public speaking in a competitive setting in an online format. This contest joins the Evaluation, Humorous, Table Topics, and Tall Tales contest as an additional contest type that Districts can chose from. Detailed rules for the Online Speech Contest are included in the Speech Contest Rulebook.

In-person contests are those in which all participants (contestants, judges, and/or audience members) are onsite in a specified, physical contest location provided by the contest organizers. All speech contests, with the exception of the Online Speech Contest, must be conducted in person. For the Online Speech Contest, all participants (contestants, judges, and/or audience members) are online.

The Online Speech Contest must be conducted with each contestant participating from physically distant locations, using equipment that each contestant obtains themselves. All contestants and contest officials must be present in real time for a live, online contest.

The Online Speech Contest is its own contest type. It is not an Evaluation, Humorous, Table Topics or Tall Tales Contest conducted online.

Requirements for the Online Speech Contest can be found in the Speech Contest Rulebook.

It is recommended that reaction buttons, emojis, or other similar interactions are not used during the Online Speech Contest. Such reactions could be a distraction to contestants and judges. If your online platform allows for reactions to be inactivated, it is recommended that you take this approach. You may also want to consider turning off chat for similar reasons. If you are not able to turn off reactions or chat, ensure that contestants, judges, and audience members know not to use these features, as they could disrupt the contest. If chat is disabled across the platform, please ensure all officials and contestants have a way contact the chief judge and contest chair if needed.

See the Online Speech Contest Best Practices document for further recommendations related to use of chat and other platform features.

If a recording is made for any purpose other than to be used in quarterfinal judging, Districts determine the guidelines regarding video or audio recording. Any guidelines established must not contradict the Speech Contest Rulebook and must consider the safety of contestants and audience members. All participants and attendees that will be on camera must sign the Photo/Video Release Form.

All recordings to be submitted for quarterfinals must follow the rules outlined in the Speech Contest Rulebook.

Quarterfinal contestants must complete the Speaker's Certification of Eligibility and Originality form (Item 1183) and the International Speech Contest Quarterfinals Video Release form (Item 1193).

If you are conducting the Online Speech Contest, you must also read the below Online Speech Contest Statement and have anyone who will be on camera sign the Video Release Form.

Online speech contest statement

By attending this online Area, Division, or District speech contest, you agree to the privacy policy of Toastmasters International as well as the unassociated online hosting service. Some of your personal information, such as name, image, and any shared messages may be shared with other meeting participants and will be recorded by Toastmasters International who may use the recording in the future as it sees fit. Your online attendance hereby discharges Toastmasters International from all claims, demands, rights, promises, damages, and liabilities arising out of or in connection with the use or distribution of said video recordings, including but not limited to any claims for invasion of privacy, appropriation of likeness or defamation.

The first place to look for further information is the Speech Contest Rulebook. This contains all the rules for speech contests, several checklists with common steps to run or participate in a contest, and a list of available resources. Additionally, you can find more resources included in the speech contest kits, available as free digital downloads. These kits include certificates, ballots, tally sheets, and other resources for conducting a speech contest. For general information about the different types and levels of Toastmasters Speech Contests, visit the speech contest webpage.

Toastmasters International World Headquarters does not track the dates and times that contests will be held for club, Area-, Division-, or District-level contests. We recommend speaking with your club or District leadership for further information on speech contest dates.

In general, any individual who is performing the role of a contest official including judges, counters, Sergeant at Arms, and a contest Toastmaster cannot compete in a contest in which they are serving or in a contest in which the outcome of the contest they are officiating will be affected.

Additionally, District, region, and international leaders are not eligible to compete in speech contests. This includes current leaders and candidates for future roles in elected positions. Candidates for elected positions cannot compete in speech contests, as this could be used as a platform for campaigning or viewed as unfair exposure. However, appointed candidates are eligible to compete in speech contests because their roles are based on appointment and there is no campaigning involved.

Lastly, education session presenters and event committee chairs for the event where the contest is being held may not compete.

For full details regarding eligibility to compete in Toastmasters Speech Contests, review the Speech Contest Rulebook, General rules for all Toastmasters speech contests, section 2.Eligibility.

Unfortunately, in this instance, you are ineligible to compete. To compete in a Toastmasters Speech Contest, you must be a paid member of a club in good standing in the Area, Division, and District in which you are competing at the time of the contest.

The only way to maintain your paid membership is to make sure your Club Treasurer submits your dues to World Headquarters by October 1 for the October renewal period and by April 1 for the April renewal period. For new, dual, transfer, or reinstated members, the membership application and applicable dues must be received by World Headquarters prior to competing in the first contest.

The only speech contest with an education requirement is the International Speech Contest. To participate in any level of the International Speech Contest, a member must have completed Levels 1 and 2 of any path in the Toastmasters Pathways learning experience or earned the DTM award.

For clubs that chartered less than one year before the club contest, the charter members are permitted to compete without having completed this requirement.

No. A member can only compete in one Area contest of a given type.

Yes, as long as the contest where the member is competing and the contest where the member is serving as a contest chair are not at the same event.

Example Scenarios:

Jane Doe is competing at District G's annual conference in the Tall Tales Contest. She cannot serve as a contest chair for any contests at District G's annual conference.

Jane is not competing in District F's annual conference. Jane Doe can serve as a contest chair for any contest at District F's annual conference.

The following are contest officials included in the Speech Contest Rulebook: contest chair, contest Toastmaster, event committee chairs, chief judge, voting judges, tiebreaking judge, timers, sergeant at arms, and counters. Contest organizers may establish additional roles to assist with their contest as needed.

Officials should not serve in more than one role at the same contest, and they may not compete in the contest at which they are serving as an official.

The alternate speaker is the next person who is eligible to be a contestant at the next level after the first-place winner, when applicable. The alternate speaker is not limited to the next person in line for the contestant spot. For example, if the first-place winner from Division A is not available for the District-level contest, then the second-place winner from Division A would be considered the alternate. If the second-place winner from Division A is unavailable, then the third-place winner would be the next alternate, and so on until the last place contestant would be the alternate. If no other contestants are available, there would be no alternate.

Yes. The names of the voting judges and the tiebreaking judge must remain anonymous, as much as is practical. Judges are not known to contestants, and no judges' names or contact information are provided in any contest materials.

Judges' decisions and identities are confidential. Sharing the names of judges could lead to confrontations with contestants or audience members who do not agree with the contest results. Anonymity helps the judges be more effective and make more objective decisions because confrontations after the contest are less likely.

No. While the chief judge is a judge, they do not judge contestants. The role of the chief judge is to appoint and advise the judges, counters, timers, and the tiebreaking judge. The chief judge also conducts the judges’ briefing before the contest, collects the time record sheet from the timers, collects the ballot from the tiebreaking judge, handles protests, and provides the list of winners to the contest chair at the end of the contest. Because the chief judge does not judge contestants, their identity does not need to remain anonymous.

A member cannot judge a contest where the contest result could lead to the member competing against the contest's winner. This is true at all levels of the contest, as all levels could lead to this conflict of interest in the future.

However, a contestant in one contest type is eligible to serve as a voting, tiebreaking, or chief judge in another contest type than the one they are competing in, at any level of the contest.

Example Scenarios:

Joe Smith competes in club A’s Online Speech Contest and wins. If he judges another club’s Online Speech Contest, he is ineligible to continue competing in that contest type at any level.

John Smith wins Area B's Evaluation Contest. He is asked to judge Area C's Evaluation Contest. If he judges at Area C's Evaluation Contest, he is ineligible to continue competing in the District's Evaluation Contest.

Jane Smith is disqualified from Area B's Tall Tales Contest. Because she is no longer competing in the Tall Tales Contest, she can judge Area C's Tall Tales Contest. Similarly, if Jane Smith loses Area B's Tall Tales Contest, she can judge Area C's Tall Tales Contest because she is no longer competing.

Yes. Areas with four assigned clubs or fewer in good standing may have clubs send two contestants to the Area contest.

Note: The decision whether or not to allow two contestants to advance from club to Area, from Area to Division, and/or from Division to District must be made and communicated throughout the District prior to any club contests being held as per Rule 3.B in the Speech Contest Rulebook. Once the decision is made, it must be implemented consistently throughout the District in all clubs, Areas, and Divisions affected.

Twenty-five percent or less of the speech may be devoted to quoting, paraphrasing, or referencing another person’s content. Any quoted, paraphrased, or referenced content must be so identified during the speech presentation. Each judge must determine if they believe that 25 percent or less of the speech was devoted to quotes, etc.

No. You cannot nominate a new contestant to compete at the next level of competition, nor can you allow the disqualified contestant to compete.

No. Requiring members to pay an entry fee would be considered an addition to the eligibility rules outlined in the Speech Contest Rulebook. Rules can only be added through the administrative protocol with the approval of the Chief Executive Officer and International President. This provision is found under Speech Contest Policy in the Speech Contest Rulebook.

Example: Contestant A is competing in a speech contest at a District conference and intends to only compete in the contest. Contestant A is not attending any of the other conference sessions. Contestant A cannot be charged a registration fee. Contestant B is attending education sessions at the District conference in addition to competing in the speech contest. Contestant B can be charged a registration fee.

Props (including music, PowerPoint presentations, and virtual backgrounds) are allowed during speech contests in accordance with speech contest rules. Please review the Use of Props section of the Speech Contest Rulebook for complete details.

The Speech Contest Rulebook states, “Candidates for elected District leader positions for the term beginning the subsequent July 1 are ineligible to serve as a contest official or as a test speaker at the Area, Division, or District level.”

Yes, serving as a speech contest chair is part of the duties for District leaders. The intention is not to limit the District leader’s responsibilities, but to avoid any perceived unfair advantage toward candidates that do not have the same opportunity.

Candidates cannot use their role as speech contest chair to campaign for an elected role. If possible, it is recommended that District leaders who are candidates appoint a Toastmaster to perform contest chair responsibilities that involve opening the contest, introducing contestants, etc. This could help to remove any possible perception of an unfair advantage due to additional time speaking in front of others.

No, Division and Area Directors cannot serve as a speech contest official for a contest outside of their respective Division or Area.

Yes, the Program Quality Director(s) may serve as the speech contest chair for the District-level contest. However, they must take special care to ensure they do not receive an unfair amount of stage time during the speech contests. To support them in reducing their amount of stage time, Program Quality Directors serving in the contest chair role may appoint a contest Toastmaster.

As an alternative, the District-level speech contests may be held after the Annual Meeting of the District Council to avoid the need to monitor the stage time for the Program Quality Director(s).

The Program Quality Director(s) cannot use their service as contest chair to campaign for an elected role.