Which contest are you running?
Pick the one you’re running. Each has its own steps, and its own guide to read first.
Club contest
Your club decides who runs its contest. If you’re the only one who knows the rulebook, ask your Area Director to help on the night.
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Before you start
Pick the format
There are two ways to run it. A streamlined club night takes about 45 minutes and needs six officials. A full contest needs 14. ED4 Contests explains both.
Guide: ED4 Contests
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A few weeks before
Find your officials
Fill every role your format needs. If you’re short, ask a nearby club or your Area Director. Pair newer members with experienced ones, and use The Every Member Contest Brief so everyone knows what happens on the night. Hold your contest by 30 September, in time for the Area.
Guide: ED4 Contests
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2 weeks before
Get the eligibility forms signed
Once you know who’s competing and who’s judging, send each of them a link to sign their form on their phone: a 1183 for a contestant, a 1170 for a judge.
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A week before
Print the folders and the scripts
Contest folders gives each official a folder of the right forms; choose Club night if you’re running the streamlined format. Contest scripts writes the Contest Toastmaster’s script. If a name changes, make them again.
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The night before
Print the certificates
Print a participation certificate for each contestant. For the place certificates, print spares and write the winners’ names on by hand on the night.
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On the night
Run the night
ED4 Contests has a Sample Contest Runsheet to follow, and Contest Leader Briefing Prompts for briefing the contestants and officials.
Guide: ED4 Contests
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After
Email your Area Director
Send them your winners’ names, in order of place. They go on to the Area contest.
Area conference
At Area level the Contest Chair is usually you, the Area Director. Where the forms, the folders and the scripts say “Contest Chair”, that’s you.
Read these first
A word you don’t know? Look it up in the Club Up Glossary.
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Before you start
Read Essential #3: Conference
It’s the conference chapter of the How To: Area Director guide, and it walks you through everything. Planning takes 6 to 8 weeks, an hour or two most days.
Guide: How To: Area Director guide, Essential #3Guide: Speech Contest Rulebook for Areas
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As early as you can
Book the venue and set the date
Pick any date from 1 October to 31 December that isn’t the same day as another Area conference in your Division. Once the dates are agreed at DLT1 (the District’s leader training, in late June), send your clubs the Save the Date flyer.
Guide: Area Conference Resources
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8 weeks before
Start planning, and find out who’s competing
Clubs hold their contests by 30 September and email you their winners. Keep the names in the Contest People Planner, a sheet in the Area Director Tracker.
Guide: Area Director Tracker
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About a month before
Hold your first Area Council Meeting
This is a meeting with the leaders of your clubs. Give each club one contest to host, and tell them which officials it needs to provide. The Agenda Builder sheet in the tracker works out the day’s timings from the number of contestants.
Guide: Key Conference People ChecklistGuide: Area Director Tracker
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2 weeks before
Brief everyone, and get the eligibility forms signed
Email each official and contestant to tell them when to arrive and what to do; the email templates are in Area Conference Resources. Invite all your Area’s members too. At the same time, send every contestant and judge a link to sign their form on their phone: a 1183 for a contestant, a 1170 for a judge.
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A week before
Send the booklet to print
The conference booklet has the agenda, a report from each club, and a page for each contest. Page 9, “How Your Club Fits Into Toastmasters International”, has a sample chart: make your own with the Structure chart, save it as an image, and paste it over the sample. Your local MP’s office may print the booklets for you, at A4 or A5; give them at least a week.
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A week before
Print the folders and the scripts
Aim to have everything ready a week before, so there’s time to fix anything that goes wrong. Contest folders gives each official a folder of the right forms, in one PDF. Contest scripts writes a script for each Contest Toastmaster, and one for the Master of Ceremonies (MC). If a name changes, make them again.
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The night before
Print the certificates, and pack
Print a participation certificate for each contestant. For the place certificates, print spares and write the winners’ names on by hand on the day. Then pack, using the checklist.
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On the day
Arrive an hour early
Bring a few helpers early to set up. Give the judges’ folders to the Chief Judge, the timers’ and counters’ folders to the Assistant Chief Judge, and each Contest Toastmaster their own folder.
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After
Engrave the trophies, and settle the money
Take the perpetual trophies (the big ones each winner keeps for a year) to a trophy shop to have the winners’ names engraved. If clubs pay for attendance, invoice them, and add what you spent to your budget.
Division conference
At Division level the Contest Chair is usually you, the Division Director. A Division conference runs like an Area conference, only bigger, with Areas in place of clubs.
Read these first
- How To: Division Director
- How To: Division Director guide, Conference
- How To: Area Director guide, Essential #3
A word you don’t know? Look it up in the Club Up Glossary.
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Before you start
Read the Division guide’s Conference section
It only lists what’s different from an Area conference, so read it alongside Essential #3 of the How To: Area Director guide.
Guide: How To: Division Director guide, ConferenceGuide: How To: Area Director guide, Essential #3
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As early as you can
Check the Area conference dates
At DLT1 (the District’s leader training, in late June), make sure no two Area conferences in your Division fall on the same day. Go to them if you can, and offer to be Chief Judge.
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As early as you can
Set your own date
Your conference is in February or March, on a day no other Division has taken. Send the Save the Date flyer after DLT2, in September.
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8 weeks before
Plan it like an Area conference
Follow Essential #3, with Areas in place of clubs. Book a bigger venue, with a separate room for the briefings, and allow at least 15 minutes for each break.
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About a month before
Find the judges
You need at least seven voting judges, or the same number from each Area. No judge can be from a contestant’s club. For Chief Judge, ask one of the District’s senior leaders (the Top Table) or another Division Director.
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2 weeks before
Brief everyone, and get the eligibility forms signed
Send the same briefing emails as for an Area conference. At the same time, send every contestant and judge a link to sign their form on their phone: a 1183 for a contestant, a 1170 for a judge.
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A week before
Send the booklet to print
Use the same booklet template, with a report from each Area instead of each club. Make the chart on page 9 for your Division with the Structure chart, save it as an image, and paste it over the sample.
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A week before
Print the folders and the scripts
Contest folders gives every judge their own judging folder. Contest scripts writes a script for each Contest Toastmaster, and one for the Master of Ceremonies (MC). If a name changes, make them again.
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The night before
Print the certificates, and pack
Print a participation certificate for each contestant. For the place certificates, print spares and write the winners’ names on by hand on the day. Then pack, using the checklist.
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On the day
Arrive an hour early
Bring a few helpers early to set up. Give the judges’ folders to the Chief Judge, the timers’ and counters’ folders to the Assistant Chief Judge, and each Contest Toastmaster their own folder.