Rules and Regulations

Eligibility:

To be eligible to compete in the KAIST Speech Contest, an individual must:

1. Be a full time KAIST student (graduate or undergraduate)
2. not be a member of Daedeok Toastmasters Club

Speech Subject and Preparation:

1. Subject of the speech shall be selected by the contestant. To keep the healthy and friendly environment of the speech contest, it is recommended to the participants to avoid top three controversial topics: sex, religion and politics.
2. Contestants must prepare their own speeches which must be substantially original and certified in the application form. Any quoted material must be so identified during the speech presentation. Plagiarism if found or notified to the judges by any contestant may lead to disqualification.
3. Contestants can deliver the same speech in the both rounds, and it will not influence on the final judgement, but please keep in mind the time limit.
4. Contestants will be made aware of their speech sequence 2 days prior to the semi-finals and the finals. Top 10 finalists shall be announced on the website.
5. All contestants will speak from the same platform or area designated by the contest chairman with prior knowledge of all the judges and all the contestants. The contestants may speak from any position within the designated area and are not limited to standing at the lectern/podium.
6. A lectern/podium will be available. However, the use of the lectern/podium is optional.
7. A fixed microphone and a portable microphone would be made available. The use of a microphone is optional.
8. All equipment will be available for contestants to practice prior to the contest on the contest day.
9. Contestants are responsible for arranging their preferred setup of the lectern/podium microphone and other equipment in a quiet manner before being introduced.
10. Contestants can use visual aids such as objects and pictures or anything else, but they need to arrange for it by themselves. No power-point presentation is allowed.

General Procedure:

1. Daedeok Toastmasters Club will organize a public speaking workshop (November 15th) which would help students to understand the essentials of making good speeches. The workshop would be open to all KAIST students in addition to contestants. The contestants (maximum 50) would compete in the semi-finals to make it to the top 10 who would then compete in the finals.
2. The Speech contest would have a panel of 7 judges headed by a chief judge; 2 timers; and a contest chairman.
3. All the contestants are recommended to arrive 15 minutes before the contest, for they will be briefed by the contest chairman.
4. Any contestant late or absent from the contest (7:30 PM) would be disqualified.
5. Each contestant would be introduced in the speaking order predefined by the contest committee.
6. There will be one minute of silence between contestants, during which the judges will mark their ballots.
7. Contestants may remain in the same room throughout the contest.
8. After all the contestants have delivered their speech, Chief Judge will prepare the final result by consulting the panel of judges.
9. Announcement of contest winners is final unless the list of winners is announced incorrectly, in which case the chief judge, ballot counters, or timers may immediately interrupt to correct the error.

Timings of the speech

1. Upon being introduced, the contestant shall proceed immediately to the speaking position.
2. Timing will begin with the contestant's first definite verbal or nonverbal communication with the audience. This usually will be the first word uttered by the contestant, but would include any other communication such as sound effects, a staged act by another person, etc. Therefore, Toastmasters International recommends that the speakers start their speech immediately without self-introduction.
3. Timers shall provide warning signal to the contestants, which shall be clearly visible to the speakers but not obvious to the audience.

Semi-finals

Speeches will be up to three minutes. Contestants will stop their speech if they exceed the time limit.

· A yellow card will be flashed at two minutes

· A red card will be flashed at two minutes and 30 seconds

· A bell will ring at three minutes and the contestants shall stop their speech

Finals

Speeches will be five to seven minutes. Contestants will be disqualified from the contest if the speech is less than 4 minutes and 30 seconds or more than 7 minutes and 30 seconds.

· A green card will be flashed at five minutes

· A yellow card will be flashed at six minutes

· A red card will be flashed at seven minutes

· No signal shall be given for the overtime period

Protests:

1. Protests will be limited to judges and contestants. Any protest will be lodged with the chief judge and/or contest chairman prior to the announcement of the winner.
2. Before a contestant can be disqualified on the basis of originality, the contestant must be given an opportunity to respond to the judges. A majority of the judges must concur in the decision to disqualify.