Silver Spring Toastmasters' Humorous Speech Contest and Table Topics Contest on September 1, 2010

Speech contests are an important part of the Toastmaster experience. On September 1st, Silver Spring Toastmasters will hold its humorous speech contest and table topics contest. All members are encouraged to participate!

HUMOROUS SPEECH CONTEST

The purpose of the humorous speech contest is to provide an opportunity for speakers to improve their speaking abilities, to recognize the value of humor in speaking, and to recognize exceptional speakers.

There are three primary guidelines for the humorous speech preparation:

A. The subject for the humorous speech shall be selected by the contestant. The speaker shall avoid potentially objectionable language, anecdotes, and material.

B. Contestants must prepare their own five- to seven-minute speech, which must be substantially original and certified as such in writing to the chief judge by the contestants prior to the presentation of the speeches. Any quoted material must be so identified during the speech presentation.

C. The speech must be thematic in nature (opening, body, and close), not a monologue (series of one-liners).

We will also need a chief judge, at least five judges, a tiebreaking judge, three counters, and two timers are appointed, as far as practical.

Timing is very important. Speeches shall be from five to seven minutes. Contestants who speak less than four minutes 30 seconds or more than seven minutes 30 seconds will be disqualified.

TABLE TOPICS CONTEST

The purpose of the table topic contest is to provide an opportunity to learn by observing the more proficient speakers who have benefited from their Toastmasters training, to encourage development of impromptu and/or extemporaneous speaking skills, and to recognize the best as encouragement to all.

There are two primary guidelines for the table topics contest:

A. All contestants shall receive the same topic, which shall be of a general nature, and shall speak for two minutes.

B. The topic shall be of reasonable length, shall not require a detailed knowledge and shall lead to an opinion or conclusion.