DIVISION D JUDGES TRAINING 101 SATURDAY, August 2 nd “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 Tie- Breaking 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 Tie- Breaking 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 Check- List. 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 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.