I few weeks ago I participated at Toastmaster Area 43 Fall Contest which was held on Friday September 24, 2101. This was my first speech contest and I was proud to have represented my club the West Seattle Earlybirds. I gave my humors speech “The Bet” and I had 3 competitors.

Never have I been that nervous before anything in my life. However, after having successful delivered my opening line “Have you ever done a bet you later regret? [PAUSE looking at audience] Have you, or you, or you? [pointing at people at the audience] I have and this is the story.” in front of the audience on a wide stage somewhere in Burien, Washington, joy suddenly was flowing through my body and I had fun, fun presenting and fun playing with the spectators. I had them in the palm of my hand. They were all listening, being sucked into my tale, followed my every move, laughing hard and uing and ahing at the twists of the unfolding story of my tale.

Yet, I did not win, nor did I made the second place. All people I spoke with during the break told me that they had fun listening to my story, it was good, really good, even my competitors said so. At the end the referees didn’t think so.

What went wrong?

First of all there is a difference between delivering a speech to have fun or to present a speech to win. A contests has rules everyone has to follow, some a very clear and others not so much unless studied and understood.

What are the rules?
First of all the speaker has a minimum and maximum time. I had to speak more than 4 minutes and 30 seconds and no more than 7 minutes. The green light goes on at 4 minutes and 30 seconds. Nevertheless, the person who operates the light, green – yellow -red, is separate from the person who is the judge timer. Therefore my advice is not to stop to talk as soon as the green light turns on because the two timers might not be at sync.
Second, each speech contest, humors – tall tales – international, have their own judge guidelines. In common to all is that the first place needs 3 points, the second 2 points and the third place 1 point, meaning that each contests has multiple judges deciding who was the best based on a “judge’s guide and ballot. They are:

Humorous Speech Contest:
55% goes towards the content of the speech, 30% towards the speech delivery, and 15% towards language used.
Content: Speech Development (structure, organization, supported material), Effectiveness (achievement of purpose, interest, reception), Speech Value (ideas, logic, Original thought), Audience Response (attentiveness, laughter, interest, reception)
Delivery: Physical (appearance, body language, speaking area), Voice (flexible, volume), Manner (directness, assurance, enthusiasm)
Language: Appropriateness (to speech purpose and audience), Correctness (grammar, pronunciation, word selection)
total score 100 points

International Speech Contest:
50% goes towards the content of the speech, 30% towards the speech delivery, and 20% towards language used.
Content: Speech Development (structure, organization, supported material), Effectiveness (achievement of purpose, interest, reception), Speech Value (ideas, logic, Original thought), Audience Response (attentiveness, laughter, interest, reception)
Delivery: Physical (appearance, body language, speaking area), Voice (flexible, volume), Manner (directness, assurance, enthusiasm)
Language: Appropriateness (to speech purpose and audience), Correctness (grammar, pronunciation, word selection)
total score 100 points

Tall Tales Speech Contest:
each section is weighted equally
Speech Development: (opening, build-up, climax, organization, smoothness)
Speech Techniques: (effective use of exaggeration, irony, pun, surprise, twists, humor, slapstick, etc)
Physical: (appearance, body language)
Voice: (flexible, volume)
Language: Appropriateness (to speech purpose and audience), Correctness (grammar, pronunciation, word selection)
total score 100 points

Now I like to come back to “What went wrong?”; I don’t know because I did not get any offical feedback or ever saw what comments the judges made on the ballots. All I know is that the toastmaster said that there was a disqualification because of time but he did not specify who it was. I don’t like that! I am used to receive feedback for my speeches. Even an ice dancer knows who gave how many points. I feel this should be improved at toastmasters competitions.

Bernd Paatsch