There are two club speech contests held annually. Winners of each contest proceed to the next Toastmasters level.
The International Speech contest provides an opportunity for members to put all their skills together into a performance that can take them as high as the International level. Speeches that win are typically motivational or inspirational in nature.
The Evaluation contest provides members an opportunity to display their evaluation skills. After listening to a "test" speaker, contestants are ushered away from the meeting, where they are brought back one at a time to present their evaluation. Winning evaluators often have shed their notes, tie their evaluation in with the meeting theme or speaker's theme, and often use makeshift props to carry their points.
The Humorous Speech contest is a place for contestants to be their funniest. Tall Tales contestants tell stories that are incredible and amazing, but not true.
The winners of all four contests move on to compete at the Area level, which consists of clubs in our immediate vicinity. Winners of the Area level contest move up to Division, and then District competition. The District competitions are excellent, since the competitors are the best from over 100 clubs from San Diego and Imperial counties, and parts of Arizona and Baja California.
Winners of the International Speech and Humorous Speech contests move on to compete at the regional level at the Region's annual business meeting. Winners of the International Speech contest at the regional level then move on to compete at the International level at the annual Toastmasters International convention.