Thursday, July 16, 2015

The Club Contest

I have been reminded that there has never been an individual who was awarded the coveted World Champion of Public Speaking, who didn't first compete and win in a local Club Speech Contest. That means, if you have hopes of claiming to be a club that produces award winning speakers, you must have contests.


The bottom line is, twice each year the local club is encouraged to hold a contest. During the Spring, the two contests are Table Topics and the International or Prepared Speech. This Fall, the two contests are the Evaluation and the Tall Tales Speech. If you are interested in having a contest, but have never had one before, talk to the Area Director.

If your club is too small, meaning you need more people to help fill the Contest roles, consider joining another club. You could use one meeting to run two contests with half of the required roles. Or, you could invite Toastmasters from other nearby clubs to fill the Contest roles. Again, if you would like to run a contest - and you should - contact the Area Director or Area Contest Chair for assistance.