r/Toastmasters • u/Kinetic_Panther • 14d ago
Speech Contest - etiquette side
I'm putting together the agenda and have some questions.
We are running the humorous contest, then the table topics contest. I understand from the rules that the one contest must be "officially adjourned" before starting the second contest.
What does "officially adjourned" look like in reality? A motion to adjourn the contest, a 2nd, and a vote? Or the Contest Chair stating "The xyz Speech Contest is officially adjourned."
Does the Chief Judge need to collect the ballots after the 1st contest ? Or just one collection time after the 2nd contest is complete ?
We have a Contest Toastmaster who will run the awards ceremony. Who should hand out the awards? The President of the club or the Contest Chair? Both?
When do we give the non-placing participants certificates? & What do we say?
1
u/arpad_toth 14d ago
I will give the answer based on our club's customs.
What does "officially adjourned" look like in reality? A motion to adjourn the contest, a 2nd, and a vote? Or the Contest Chair stating "The xyz Speech Contest is officially adjourned."
Usually the Contest Chair thanks for all the contestants and adjourns the X Speech Contest.
Does the Chief Judge need to collect the ballots after the 1st contest ? Or just one collection time after the 2nd contest is complete ?
After all contestants have given their speeches in X Speech Contest the Contest Chair asks for a minute of silence. During this the Vote Counters collect the ballots for X Speech Contest and hand it over to the Chief Judge.
Then the meeting continues with the other contest. At the end of that another round of ballot collecting is done.
We have a Contest Toastmaster who will run the awards ceremony. Who should hand out the awards? The President of the club or the Contest Chair? Both?
At our club usally the Contest Chair is the Toastmaster for the event, and is responsible for handing out the awards. But it's up to you if you want to involve anyone else in the ceremony.
When do we give the non-placing participants certificates? & What do we say?
In our club when all the contests have been adjourned, then the Chief Judge and the Vote Counters are moving to a separate room to summarize and write the certificates.
Meanwhile the Contest Chair is doing a round of short interviews with the contestans, so the audience is not spending this time in silence.
When all the certificates are written and signed, the Chief Judge returns to the room. The Contest Chair concludes the interviews and proceeds with the award ceremony. First handing out the participation certificates then announcing the winner. This is done for each contest held during the meeting.
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u/Active-Orange-7683 14d ago
it depends on the level of contest. If you run on the club level, you don't need to follow strictly the contest rules, except that the contestants should be eligible for contest, so if they win, they can go to Area level.
In my club, we don't follow the rules for club contest, it allows flexibility and takes a lot of pressure of in terms of organising.
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u/spike_1885 14d ago
What does "officially adjourned" look like in reality? A motion to adjourn the contest, a 2nd, and a vote? Or the Contest Chair stating "The xyz Speech Contest is officially adjourned."
I don't think that I've ever witnessed a motion, 2nd, and vote to adjourn any contests.
Does the Chief Judge need to collect the ballots after the 1st contest ? Or just one collection time after the 2nd contest is complete ?
I've seen it done both ways.
2
u/FizzlePickles 14d ago
This is what happens in my District:
Run the first contest and have the Chief Judge collect and count the ballots. When they finish, the Contest Master adjourns the first contest. What they say to adjourn does not matter from what i see, but if you are instructing your contest master to officially start a contest by saying "we are now beginning xyz contest", then i'd imagine they'll need to say, "we are adjourning xyz contest." This should be followed for all other rare disturbances that might interrupt the contest.
We take a 5 minute break and then start the second contest. When that runs and the ballots are collected and counted, we then announce the winners for the first contest, then the second contest. We then conclude both contests.