Tiebreaker Counts!

For Toastmasters contests, the tiebreaker ballot is more important than you may know!

It is also important to correctly score all contestants.

In the example above, you have a tie for first place. You would open the tiebreaker ballot, and use it to break the tie for first place between Speaker #3 and Speaker #5 (14 points each).

Do not apply the tiebreaker ballot to uncontested placements. You would NOT use the tiebreaker counts to Speaker #1 and Speaker #2 - their placement as 3rd and 4th are already calculated, and adding tiebreaker counts would only confuse the scoring, and not be correct.

However, you are not done yet! There is still a tie for 6th and 7th place (zero points each)!

Yes, to correctly report the standing for ALL contestants, you also need to break the tie between Speaker #4 and Speaker #6. They may not have gotten a placing from any of the regular judges, however, that does not disqualify them from placing in the contest!
All contestants that were not disqualified for other reasons should and must be reported to the next level!

For example, let's say that Speakers #1, #2, #3, #5 and #7 were all in a lottery pool together: they won, and all decided to go to Hawaii instead of going to the next level contest.
Who is the valid person to be allowed to compete in their stead: Speaker #4 or #6?

That is why you need the tiebreaker ballot to be counted for ALL contestants.

This information is entered on form 1182 - Notification of Contest Winner - as completed by the Chief Judge.

Advanced Club Initial Business Meeting

The Colorado Springs new forming advance club will be having the initial business meeting this Thursday.
Thur 5/8, 7pm at the Golden Corral, at Woodmen near Powers. It would be nice if you planned to eat, but it is not required at this time.

If you have completed your CC or CL, and are interested in working more on what Toastmasters can give you, check out our plans for the new club in town!

The name of the club is to be  "S-Peak Leaders". The club is going to have a leadership focus. However, that doesn't mean you have to be a people leader or want to be a manager. You just have to be interested in the topics that makes us leaders in all facets - from parents, to deciding key tasks on projects you do, to leading in Toastmasters Clubs and beyond - to people leading and perhaps leading companies.

There are many techniques that are the focus of leadership programs, such as Emotional Intelligence, Time Organization, Professional Communication, and Coaching to name a few. All of these can be useful in our everyday lives both in and out of work.

We can also work on skills and presentations related to achieving DTM, and focus on activities that lead us to speaking beyond Toastmasters.

While the club will have a leadership theme, expect this to be a club where you can do longer presentations, and get a deeper evaluation.

We will be filling out charter membership forms, determining officer roles and discussing details for the meetings and membership. If we can get 20 members to sign up right away, I'll arrange a discount for charter members of the club. I expect we will be properly chartered by June 1st.

Southern Division Contest April 12th 1pm

Come join us to see the contests!

6 Table Topic Contestants - and 6 International Speech Contestants!


1pm at the PPLD East Library

D26 Southern Division Synergy Meeting

Calling Club Officers and interested members of Toastmasters clubs of the Pikes Peak Region!

Join us to talk about what we can do together to make Toastmasters better!

By working together, we can help each other get the word out - create more interesting activities, share ideas, ask questions and network!

Please let me know if you have any topic to share.

Bonnie-Ann will be sharing her idea for an Ignite-type activity for Toastmasters!

Thanks to Bonnie Ann for helping getting this going!

Find the meeting on Meetup

Unofficial Golden Rule for Toastmasters

When it comes to Toastmasters, especially with contest, I just read a very valuable thought:

An unofficial golden rule of Toastmasters: "If there is no rule prohibiting the thing you want to do and it is in the best interest of the member, club or district - and is fair to all that are involved, then it should be done."

S5 Contest & S1-3-4 Contest Time Change

If you plan to attend either contest, please note the times have been moved up a little in both cases.

Thursday 3/20 - 6:20 briefings - 6:40 contest start

Sunday 3/23 - 12:45 briefings - 1:00 contest start
Check-in and briefings will start OUTSIDE the library - look for Canopy, table & chairs.

Saturday 3/22 2:00pm -  S6 contest in Pueblo, same time. Please let us know if you come down to help!

Additonal Competent Communicator

Have you completed your first CC?

Do you find opportunities to speak for Toastmasters that do not always match an Advanced Manual project?

Perhaps you find yourself as the backup speaker, needing to do a pocket speech.
Perhaps you decided to do an extra CC this year to help your club with its' distinguished goals, even though it may slow down your next Advanced Communicator award just a little.
Perhaps your find yourself in district leadership, and it makes sense to be working on multiple levels at the same time.

I found myself with all of the above in the last [Toastmasters] year.


However, does it seem crazy to have to get a whole other book to complete subsequent CC awards? Toastmasters must think so too! They have a hidden Gem out in their shop. It is called:
Competent Communicator Evaluator Guides #228

This mini-manual has just the evaluation pages from the CC manual. No cover. No objectives, so you still need your prior manual along. But it is only $1.50 as compared to $8.00 (or $7.00 in multi-packs).
For those who thought they could get by with copying the manual evaluation pages (a copyright violation, and cheating Toastmasters International), this gives you exactly what you needed to continue to work on and reinforce your basic skills while helping your home club, in a more efficient package!