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I have been in half a dozen Toastmaster speech contests all in all, so I know to a certain against the nervousness and confusion about rules, etc., that has a contestant has to contend with.

I have a dual club membership and participated in the Club and Area level Speech Contests for my home club and Area. However, I was asked by the Area Governor of my second club to be a Contest Master, essentially a Master of Ceremonies, for the contest I had just been in a week earlier for my home club. He said that having just been in a contest, I know what it is like to be a contestant, and thus could be more sensitive to the needs of the contestants in the upcoming contest.

I agreed—here are the five things that I have learned about being a Contest Master from being a Contestant.

1. Prepare beforehand

Before the day of the contest, you should be given by the Contest Master or whoever is organizing the contest an outline of what to say. Make a script if you like, or just notes that fill out your opening remarks. Take some extra pens with you to the contest just in case there aren’t enough at the venue.

Contestants have other things on their minds then trying to remember to bring pens to fill in the forms that are required. You should be given a list of contestants, although many times you are not given this until the day of the contest.

2. Get there early

If the registration starts at a certain time, get there at least 30 minutes beforehand.  . You will need to get forms for the contestants to sign from the judges or the person running the contest. You will need to get the contest briefing rules. You will need to get the list of contestants’ names. Introduce yourself to the person doing the registration. He or she should, upon identifying that a person registering is a contestant in your contest, send him or her over to you for filling out the forms that are required for the judges.

3. Give two things: information and reassurance

Contestants may be nervous—give them the paperwork to fill out and then tell them to relax, get some refreshments, and let them know you will contact them for a briefing in a little while. Once it is about 10 to 15 minutes before the contest, and you have most of the contestants there, then it is a good thing to make an announcement or have the overall contest organizer makes an announcement for contestants to come to you for a briefing.

Here you go over the rules clearly, make sure you have the name of the contestants correctly pronounced, and ask if there are any questions. Let them know the protocol for introducing them at the time of their speech. Their name only (no Toastmaster titles), the name of their speech, and then the same two things backwards: the name of their speech, and their name. Let them know where you are sitting so they know where to look when the speech is done. Smile! Let them know that they will do just fine.

4. Showtime—do not upstage your guests!

There are three stages to being a Toastmaster: the first is when you are afraid to get on stage. The second is when you are afraid to get OFF stage because you love the limelight. The third stage is when you learn not to Upstage those in other roles, or in the case of Contests, the contestants themselves.

When you get up to make your remarks, make sure they are brief. You don’t have to tell long, drawn-out funny stories. Just an opening joke or humorous observation, if you feel you must. But it might be best to welcome everybody, and congratulate the contestants for taking the step of entering such a contest.

The focus should be on them, not on yourself.

5. Avoid awkward pauses

Sometimes a contestant will not know what to do, or where to stand on stage, and in these times, standing and gesturing while smiling will be helpful in letting them know where they should be. Of course, you probably already told them what was going to happen in the briefing, but people do have times when their minds go black under pressure.

Also, when you are giving a minute of silence, many contest masters simpler stare at the timer waiting for the light to go off. Here, looking around the room and glancing at the audience and smiling can take the edge off for them and the next contestant. You can’t say anything during the minute of silence, but that doesn’t mean you can’t DO anything.

In conclusion, do what you can to make sure the contestants and the guests feel welcome. Make sure to say something at the end of the day for those who won, and those who entered and did NOT win. They deserve special support because they will naturally be feeling disappointed. In short, make everyone go home feeling they won something.

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