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Table Topics Contest

Roles needed

  • Contest Master
  • Timers (at least 2)
  • Ballot Counters (at least 1)
  • Sergeant at Arms
  • Judges
  • Contestants

Table Topic question

The contest master needs to select a question to use before the contest.  All contestants will be asked the same question, so only one question is needed.  Some do's and dont's of a good table topics are:

  • Do select a question that is open ended so each contestant can take the question in their own direction.
  • Do select a question that is very general in nature.
  • Do feel free to bring props to use in your question.
  • Don't ask about controversial topics such as politics, religion, or abortion.
  • Don't ask questions involving specialized knowledge or trivia.
  • Don't ask questions about current events, pop culture, sports, or other news items, as one contestant may have followed the news more closely than another, thus giving him or her an advantage.

Need some help selecting a table topic question?  Here are some ideas.

  • Create a hypothetical situation and ask the contestant how they would handle it.
    • You just discovered a time machine and can go anywhere in time you want.  Where/when would you go and what would you do upon arriving?
    • If you could have a super power for one day, what power would you choose and what would you do with it.
    • If you could be an insect, what kind of insect would you be?
  • Ask about something in the contestant's past, but try to select a something for which everyone will have had experience.
    • Tell me about your favorite teacher.
    • Who has been the most influential person in your life?
    • What was your favorite toy when you were young?
  • Select a topic rather than a question and allow the contestant to take it in any direction they want.
    • Recycling
    • Courage
    • Colors

Eligibility requirements

  • Speakers must be members in good standing in a club in good standing

Contest master guidelines

  • Prior to the contestants must draw for speaking order.  For this you may write numbers on scraps of paper, wad them up, and have the contestants pick them from a bag or off a table top.
  • Open by welcoming everyone to the contest.
    • Announce the contestant order.
    • Explain how the timing will happen (green card at one minute, yellow card at one minute thirty seconds, red card at two minutes).  Tell the audience that responses less than 1:00 or longer than 2:30 will be disqualified.
    • Select a speaking area in front of the room and show it to the audience.  Speaking areas are usually the full area in front of the audience.  If a speaker walks beyond the boundaries of the speaking area, they will NOT be disqualified, but the judges may, at their option, give them a lower score as a result.
    • Ask all audience members to silence their phones, pagers, and any other noise makers.
    • Ask if there are any questions before beginning.
    • Have the Sergeant at Arms to escort all but the first contestant out of the room.
  • For each contestant:
    • Announce the contestant by saying their name, the table topics question, the table topics question, their name.  No other introduction should be given.
    • After the contestant finishes, return to the lectern and ask the timer for one minute of silence to allow the judges to mark their ballots.
    • The Sergeant at Arms should escort the next contestant into the room during the minute of silence.
  • After the last contestant, ask all judges to mark their first and second place winners on the bottom section of the ballots, tear off that bottom section, fold it, and hold it up for the ballot counter to collect.
  • Once the ballot counter has collected all the ballots, call the contestants up one by one for the interview section.  Each contestant should be asked a question relating to their response, to their interests, or to anything else about the person.  There is no timing on the interview questions.
  • After the interviews, recognize the individuals who filled the various roles - timers, ballot counters, the Sergeant at Arms, and judges.
  • Ask the timers if there were any disqualifications due to time.
  • Ask the ballot counter to announce the winners, second place, then first place.  Hand out ribbons to the winners.
  • Conclude by announcing when and where the area level contest will be.

Timer guidelines

  • There will be two timers.  The timers should sit next to each other during the contest.
  • All table topics are one to two minutes in length.
  • When timing the contestants:
    • at 1 minute hold up the green card and continue holding it up for 30 seconds.
    • at 1 minute 30 seconds hold up the yellow card and continue holding it up for 30 seconds.
    • at 2 minutes hold up the red card and continue holding it up until the contestant finishes.  Give no indication if the contestant goes over on time.
    • After the speaker finishes, give 1 minute for the judges to mark their ballots.  After the minute is up, hold up the green card until the contest master acknowledges you.  Also take this time to compare times with the other timer.
  • After all the speakers have finished, see if there were any disqualifications.  Any response less than 1:00 or greater than 2:30 will be disqualified.  Mark these on your timing sheets.
  • Announce any disqualifications to the contest master when asked to do so at the end of the contest, or if there were none, simply say there were no disqualifications.

Judge guidelines

  • Take a look at the judge's form prior to the contest.  The form gives you guidelines for what to watch during the speech.  Keep in mind these are only guidelines and you can, if you choose, use your own judgment when determining the placement of the speakers.
  • Before the contest begins, write the name of each contestant at the top of the form.  One judging strategy suggests writing the name of the first speaker in the rightmost column, the second speaker to the left of the first, and so on.  Then after you fill in scores for each speaker, fold the page over to hide those scores so that each speaker can be judged independently.
  • Once all contestants have presented, write in the names of the first, second, and third place winners (based on your scores or other judging criteria) in the space provided at the bottom of the form.  Tear off this section, fold it in half, and hold it up for the ballot counter to collect.

Sergeant at Arms guidelines

  • Prior to the contest, make sure that
    • all judges have a judging sheet
    • the timers have a timing sheet; green, yellow, and red cards; and a stopwatch or other timing device
    • you have a waiting room where the contestants can be taken while they wait their turn to speak.
  • When the speaking order is announced, make note of the order.  You will need it when escorting contestants out of and back into the room.
  • When the contest is about to begin, the contest master will ask you to escort all but the first contestant out of the room.  Escort them to the waiting room.
  • Keep an eye on the contest.  As each contestant finishes, escort the next contestant into the room.
  • After escorting the last contestant into the room, you may return to your seat.

Forms

The following forms will be used during the contest