Important 2024-2025 Speech Contest rule updates

Dear District Leader,

As the 2024-2025 program year begins, there are a few important speech contest updates for you to be aware of. These changes are reflected in the 2024-2025 Speech Contest Rulebook, along with other updates.

Speech Contest Format

To help accommodate for limitations due to COVID-19, the Toastmasters International Board of Directors has issued annual exceptions to the Speech Contest Rulebook every year since 2020. These exceptions specifically applied to the rules requiring that contestants and contest officials be physically present to participate in speech contests.

Ultimately, these exceptions were not intended to become the normal method of conducting speech contests. As a result, the Board determined that there will be no further exceptions to the rule requiring physical presence at speech contests beyond the club level, effective beginning with the 2024-2025 contest cycle. This decision will not affect the 2024 semifinals and World Championship of Public Speaking, which will be conducted in a hybrid format.

We recognize that some members may not be able to be physically present for speech contests. To continue providing flexibility, a new contest type is debuting this program year, called the Online Speech Contest. The Online Speech Contest will be an option for Districts to provide for members wanting to compete in an online format, joining the Evaluation, Humorous, Table Topics, and Tall Tales contest options. Detailed rules for the Online Speech Contest are included in the 2024-2025 Speech Contest Rulebook.

Region Realignment

With the region realignment that went into effect with the start of this program year, the Board of Directors reviewed the International Speech Contest Region Quarterfinals and discussed potential impacts to this level of the contest.

Prior to the realignment, the size of regions ranged from seven to 12 Districts and the size of each region quarterfinal contest directly matched the number of Districts in each region.

With the region realignment, the smallest region is now five Districts, with the largest being 13. To reduce the disparity this would cause in contest size, the Board of Directors determined to remove the region association from the quarterfinal level of the contest.

For the quarterfinals, Districts will continue to submit videos of their first-place winners following their District-level contest. However, rather than 14 contests based on region, all contestants will be randomly assigned to a contest. The randomization will ensure that each contest has no fewer than 9 and no more than 10 contestants. This will create an equitable contest by ensuring that each quarterfinal contest is similar in size, and each contestant is competing against roughly the same number of other contestants.

We hope that this information is helpful in your planning, and we look forward to another invigorating program year of inspiring speeches. Thank you for your team’s efforts in supporting speech contests!

Sincerely,