DIVISION D
JUDGES TRAINING 101
SATURDAY, August 2nd. 2014
“So You Want To Be
A Toastmasters
Speech Contest Judge”
By
PDG Michael Rodrigues DTM
Who Invites
The Chief Judge?
The Organizing Chairman
Of course.
That wasn’t so difficult
to answer, huh?
Wow, that simple?
So Who can be The
Chief Judge?
(million dollar question?)
Any Toastmaster, whom the
Organizing Chairman thinks has
the experience and qualifications,
can be the Chief Judge.
So now we have our Chief Judge
(Sigh....half the job is already
done.)
So, What Does The Chief
Judge Do?
More than you may think.......
Let’s see........
Selecting The
Panel of Judges.
1. How many Judges
would you need?
Club Contest
At least 5 Voting Judges
& 1 Tie-Breaking Judge.
Chief Judge and any of the above may compete
at their Club Contest and judge other Clubs’
Contest but not beyond if they qualify.
District officers or announced candidates
for elected positions for the term
beginning the upcoming July 1, may not compete
in any Speech Contests.
Area Contest
An equal number of Voting Judges
from each Club in the Area, or a
minimum of seven Voting Judges and
one Tie-Breaking Judge
Division Contest
An equal number of Voting Judges from
each Area in the Division, or a minimum
of seven Voting Judges and one
Tie-Breaking Judge.
No Chief Judge, Voting Judge or TieBreaking Judge shall be a member of
any club of which a Contestant is a
member.
District Contest
An equal number of Voting Judges from
each Division in the District, or a
minimum of seven Voting Judges and
one Tie-Breaking Judge.
No Chief Judge, Voting Judge or TieBreaking Judge shall be a member of
any club of which a Contestant is a
member.
Who qualifies to be a
Toastmasters Speech
Contest Judge?
You must meet all
eligibility requirements
identified:
AT CLUB CONTEST
You just need to be a
Member of Good
Standing.
AT AREA, DIVISION
OR DISTRICT
CONTEST
1. Be a Member of Good
Standing for at least 6 months.
2. Have completed a min. of 6
speech projects in The Basic
Manual.
At The International Speech
Contest Semi-finals and The
World Championship of
Public Speaking
1.Be a member in good standing for a
minimum of six months.
2.Be at least an Advanced Toastmaster
Bronze or Advanced Communicator Bronze.
3.Have previously judged a Toastmasters
Speech Contest at the Area, Division,
District or Semi-final level.
Voting Judges at all
levels shall remain
anonymous when
practical.
How To Select Your
Panel of Judges?
1. For Club Contests, pick your
judges from other Clubs,
preferably from other Divisions
than the Club they will be
judging.
2. For Area Contests, you may
pick one judge from each
Club in the Area and the rest
from Divisions other than the
one the Area is in.
3. For Division Contests, you
may pick one judge from
each Area of the Division and
the rest from other Divisions
than the one you are judging.
4. Your Tie-Breaking Judge
should be someone
independent and qualified,
whom you know to be a
reliable and experienced
Judge.
Be Selective when
appointing your
Judges.
You should select Senior and
Experienced Toastmasters Speech
Contest Judges or at least
Toastmasters who have been
trained to be Speech Contest
Judges.
CHIEF JUDGE’S
CHECK-LIST.
1. Before The Contest.
2. Judges’ Briefing CheckList.
3. During The Contest.
4. After The Contest.
BEFORE THE CONTEST
1. Appoints and counsels Voting Judges, Counters,
Timers and secret Tie-Breaking Judge.
2. Acts as Chief Counter, appoints 3 assistant Counters
and provide each with The Counters’ Tally Sheet
(Item 1176).
3. Encourages all Speech Contest Officials to view the
online Speech Contest Training at
www.toastmasters.org/tlc
4. Conducts the Judges’ Briefing for Voting Judges,
Counters and Timers.
JUDGES’ BRIEFING
CHECK-LIST
1. Distribute the following to each voting Judge:
• List of Contestants in Speaking Order
• Judge’s Guide and Ballot
• Speech Contest Rule Book (Item 1171)
• Judges’ Certification of Eligibility and Code of Ethics
2. Instruct the Voting Judges to sit close to the Contest
Area in case of outside disturbance or malfunctioning
technical systems.
3. Review the Judges’ Guide and Ballot and speaking
Area.
JUDGES’ BRIEFING
CHECK-LIST
4. Brief the Tally Counters in the use of the
Counters Tally Sheet
5. Review the Speech Contest Time Record
Sheet and instructions for Timers with the
Timers.
6. Provide a stop-watch to the Timer.
7. Brief the Timers in the proper use of the timing
equipment, if necessary.
DURING THE CONTEST
1. Collect the Speech Contest Time Record Sheet and
instructions for Timers from the Timers.
2. Collect the Tie-Breaking Judge’s Guide and Ballot
from the Tie-Breaking Judge.
3. Resolve any eligibility and originality protests that
may arise.
4. Oversee the counting process. Sees that all ballots
are counted twice to ensure accuracy.
5. Provide the Results list to the Contest Chair to show
placement of all Contestants.
AFTER THE CONTEST
1. Retain and keep all Judges’ Ballots, Counter’s
Sheet and Timer’s Record Sheet and a copy of
the Results List for a reasonable period of
time. This is for the unlikely challenge to the
Results.
2. BUT once the results are announced, it is
FINAL and cannot be revised.
3. All the above are to be destroyed by The Chief
Judge once he is satisfied that the Results
Process was fair and verified by The Counters.
JUDGES’
BRIEFING
(Vocal or Written)
Humorous and
Prepared Speech
Contests
1. I will advise you of the Speaking
Order of the Contestants well
before the Contest starts. Write
the Contestants’ Names down
on your Ballot Sheet as soon as
you get them from me.
2. Your judging must be based on the
Contestants’ performance at the Contest
and not on the Contestant’s reputation.
3. Follow the Judging Criterion closely and
award points on your ballot sheet
accordingly as you deem it to be. Ignore the
duration of the Speech.
4. As you judge the Speakers’
performance, you have the
prerogative to score them as you see,
hear and feel about the speech.
5. If you would like to raise a matter on originality of any
speech please alert me of this. In this instance you
must be able to identify the source of the content. A
Judges’ Meeting will be called to determine if there is
cause for disqualification and if there is, the
Contestant will be called to face the Judges Panel to
answer the charges of non-originality. A Judges’
Decision will be made after this.
6. If you, as a Judge, feel that parts of
the Contest Speech is improper or
inappropriate, you have the
prerogative to demerit your score as
you deem fit.
7. Except for the Tie-Breaking Judge, pick your winners
as per First Place, Second Place and Third Place.
Please print their names clearly.
8. Print your Name clearly on your Ballot Sheet and sign
it.
9. Tear off the results portion of your Ballot along the
perforated line and place your result slip into the
envelope provided. When you are done, hold up
your envelope for the Tally Counters to identify you
and to collect it from you.
JUDGES’
BRIEFING
(Vocal or Written)
Evaluation Speech
Contest
1. I will advise you of the Speaking Order
of the Contestants well before the
Contest starts. Write the Contestants’
Names down on your Ballot Sheet as
soon as you get them from me.
2. Your judging must be based on the Contestants’
Evaluation Speech at the Contest and not on the
Contestant’s reputation.
3. Follow the Judging Criterion closely and award points
on your ballot sheet accordingly as you deem it to be.
Ignore the duration of the Speech.
4. As you judge the Speakers’ performance, you have
the prerogative to score them as you see, hear and
feel about the speech.
5. If you, as a Judge, feel that parts of
the evaluation speech is improper
or inappropriate, you have the
prerogative to demerit your score as
you deem fit.
6. Except for the Tie-Breaking Judge, pick your winners
as per First Place, Second Place and Third Place.
Please print their names clearly.
7. Print your Name clearly on your Ballot Sheet and sign
it.
8. Tear off the results portion of your Ballot along the
perforated line and place your result slip into the
envelope provided. When you are done, hold up
your envelope for the Tally Counters to identify you
and to collect it from you.
JUDGES’
BRIEFING
(Vocal or Written)
Table Topic Speech
Contest
1. I will advise you of the Speaking Order
of the Contestants well before the
Contest starts. Write the Contestants’
Names down on your Ballot Sheet as
soon as you get them from me.
2. Your judging must be based on the Contestants’
Topic Speech at the Contest and not on the
Contestant’s reputation.
3. Follow the Judging Criterion closely and award points
on your ballot sheet accordingly as you deem it to be.
Ignore the duration of the Speech.
4. As you judge the Speakers’ performance, you have
the prerogative to score them as you see, hear and
feel about the speech.
5. If you, as a Judge, feel that parts of
the Topic Speech is improper or
inappropriate or not related to the
Topic, you have the prerogative to
demerit your score as you deem fit.
6. Except for the Tie-Breaking Judge, pick your winners
as per First Place, Second Place and Third Place.
Please print their names clearly.
7. Print your Name clearly on your Ballot Sheet and sign
it.
8. Tear off the results portion of your Ballot along the
perforated line and place your result slip into the
envelope provided. When you are done, hold up
your envelope for the Tally Counters to identify you
and to collect it from you.
PROTESTS
1. Protests will be limited to Judges and
Contestants ONLY.
2. Any Protest will be lodged with the Chief
Judge and/or Contest Chairman, prior to the
announcement of the winner and
alternate(s).
3. When a “Protest” is lodged,
The Chief Judge shall call the
Judges Panel for a meeting
where the “Protest” will be
discussed.
• The “Protester” must have first-hand
knowledge on the basis of the “Protest” (in other
words they have seen or heard it), it CANNOT be
based on information from an audience member
or bystander.
• The Judges Panel shall decide if the “Protest”
should be upheld or dismissed.
• The person making the charge
(Contestant or Judge), will explain
the basis of the “Protest.”
• Should the “Protest” be upheld, The Contestant
will be called in to face the charge before the
Judges’ Panel and given a chance to defend
himself/herself against the charge. The
Contestant will then leave the room.
• The Judges’ Panel will make the final decision
on the “Protest” taking into account the charge
and the Contestant’s explanation.
4. The Contest Chairman shall notify the
Contestant of a disqualification regarding
originality or eligibility prior to that
announcement before the meeting at which
the Contest took place is adjourned.
5. All decisions of the Judges are final.
Thank You for
your Attention.
Save your Questions
for the
Q & A Session.