The Competition
INTAN Orator’s Arena (ION) 2025—formerly known as Talk Your Way to the Top is a public speaking competition organised by the National Institute of Public Administration/Institut Tadbiran Awam Negara (INTAN) that is open to public service officers across Malaysia. Champions of past TYWTTT editions are not allowed to participate again. ION consists of four phases:
Phase 1 : Audition and Selection
Phase 2 : Coaching & Mentoring
Phase 3 : Semi-final Competition
Phase 4 : Final Competition
The Participants
ION is open to public service officers of all schemes of service and grades.
Phase 1: Audition and Selection
Audition is through video submission. Selected participants will be invited to participate in Phase 2.
Video Submission Rules
Each video should not exceed 3 minutes in duration and should not be edited or include jump cuts in the speech.
The speech must be delivered in the English language.
Video submissions should be uploaded in MP4 or MOV format through the Google Form.
Contestants should ensure they are within frame (visible from the waist up), with clear video and audio during the entire duration of the video.
Contestants are strictly prohibited from using AI or other sources of dictation for their video. It should feature their natural, unedited voice.
The deadline for submissions is 11.59PM, 30th April 2025. Any late submissions will not be entertained.
Contestants should ensure their speeches are aligned with the theme of the competition, and free from plagiarism or AI-generation.
Dates
Phase 1 runs from 24 Mac 2025 until 30 April 2025. The organiser reserves the right to extend the closing date
Phase 2: Coaching & Mentoring
Selected participants will participate in a two-day coaching and mentoring sessions to prepare them for the semi-final.
Phase 3: Semi-final Competition
The semi-final competition will be conducted on 28 May 2025.
Phase 4: Final Competition
Finalists will deliver their speech in front of a live audience on 29 May 2025.