Chief Judges' Jobs: Finding Room, Chairs, Distributing Leaflets. Counting Winning Votes

Recovering from being Chief Judge at a Toastmasters contest. Even when the organising committee do all the paperwork, it takes days of hunting for judges, sending out directions to the venue, co-ordinating with others on the organising group.

What could go wrong? How do you put it right? A small club's president has to find contestants. The Judges' jobs are to judge fairly.
The Chief Judges' job is not merely to have a casting vote if there is an even number of judges.  You could make numbers uneven. But you still need a tie breaker. Because the points awarded are 3,2,With several contestants, some not placed with enough points, you could still have the top two with even numbers, tied 1st runner up, or tied third runner up.
It is most disheartening to be persuaded by a panic stricken friend to be a judge and then to be told you are not needed after you have told family and friends you have been asked to be a judge. Especially if two contests are on the same day and you have already told one group you will attend and another group that you cannot.

Reading Aloud
I thought reading aloud, getting the judges to read aloud would be good. It enables you to relax for a minute. It gives others something to do. It makes sure at least one of them has read the instructions.

The trouble is that the judge you pick might read fast, or quietly, or gabble, or read in Singlish. You might want to repeat or paraphrase, or ask another judge to paraphrase. Or ask them why they think that rule is in place; or whether they agree with it.

Novice Judges
If you have new judges, or those uncertain how to mark, you advise them.


Judging Papers
The Judges are told to destroy their papers afterwards. At some area contests you have a contestant from each club and ideally at least one judge from each club, or if two from some clubs, you want two from each club.

Tie Breakers
One of my judges or ballot counters or door-keepers, asked me, "Surely nobody would ever query the veto vote? Has it ever happened?

Yes, I'm sure it has. In all the contests worldwide since 1924, with these rules in place. You might think otherwise at first, as a newcomer to the organisation. Toastmasters has a policy of welcoming everybody, praising everybody, sandwiching any bad news between two pieces of good news, positive thinking and speaking. You get the impression that everything in life, or if not in 'real life' but the rehearsal of toastmasters, goes well. Behind the scenes, once you become higher up, you meet more competitive people, and people with more experience, and more 'judging' types (on the Myers Briggs personality type scale).

Then you find that people are simmering and competition.

The tie breaker judge is not revealed and not briefed with the others. Their vote is collected separately.

A few years ago, in an impromptu speaking contest, I tied jointly with another speaker. I was excited, an extravert and an newcomer, more animated and adamant. The other speaker was senior, an introvert, more softly spoken and with a considered response.

We knew the tie-breaker judge was the Chief Judge. The other person was voted the winner and went to the Area contest. One of my friends from my club insisted to me that I was better and, 'You've been robbed!' I thought that was very kind of her to console me.

You can see that of all the contests I have been in, this is one, where I nearly won, which I remember.
I could have been openly angry, confrontational, challenged the judge or judges at the time or afterwards.

Or simply held a festering grudge for years, never co-operating with the person who had been chief judge and always voted against them judging contest, not voting for them as a committee member.

Or I might have turned in on myself, losing confidence at any event where they were present, losing heart in any contest where they were a judge. At meetings, conference calls, AGMs, not speaking up at any meeting where they were present. Or refusing to join in any event they organised, the contest, the picnic, the ball, the Christmas party at their club.

In some clubs there is an aggressive person, convinced they will get to the top, keen for accolades in their job. At higher levels, competition is even more keen. Three levels of contests, club, area, district (then to the USA for semi-finals and finals). Winners at area level hope to win the District level, wanting a free trip to the USA, awarded to the district winner.

Finding Judges

I already knew from being a judge in several competitions that you often find people drop out at the last minute. (They may have very good reasons. They are sent overseas on business. Their children need to be taken to birthday parties and lessons. Their family goes away for the weekend. A family member falls ill. They fall ill.) I have also been co-opted as a judge in the past when a less experienced newcomer.

What have a I learned? What is a success? Appealing to people you know, appealing to people high up in an organisation for help, using social media.

Briefing Judges

What would I and others have to add next time to improve matters? Ensure that the 'holding briefing room is the same throughout the contest. Or that everybody knows where to find the second room.

Have enough chairs for all judges, ballot counters and door guards.

You brief the judges in one room. Go back and find it's locked. The tally counters are in another room. You are all chasing around looking for each other.

Have enough chairs in the briefing room for all the judges, tally counters and door guards.

It is difficult to brief three different lots of people when you have only enough chairs for five or six sitting round a table, no place to sit down and sort the three lots of admin papers they fill in, two, three, four, five lots of judging forms and for them to fill in,three lots of instructions, others looking out of the window admiring the view, half with backs to you, and others in groups in corners or in the corridor entrance by the door plus coming and going to get food and drinks and find toilets accessed through locked doors with password and lost late arrivals.

Counting Votes For Contest Winners

With five or fewer contestants it can be quite easy, especially if you have one brilliant clear winner and one person who could not answer the question or was disqualified for going over time. I had learned from a previous contest when I was tally counter, that you count the numbers up and down, and the chief judge checks the arithmetic of the others, counting both up and down. (It may be obvious what I mean. In case it isn't. Supposing you had only three judges, allocating 3 and 3 and 4 marks. (Their choice of first place gets three marks, their choice of second place gets two, third place gets one.) 

Counting down you would add three and three makes six and four makes ten. Adding upwards in the column you add four and three makes seven and three makes ten. On a third check you would multiply all the same numbers, two threes are six, no others to multiply, add the leftovers, four, six and four is ten. That way if you mistakenly thought that three and three was seven, or more likely that seventeen and five was twenty seven, and you made the same mistake twice, you would add or multiply differently the second time, or the chief judges and tally counters could count aloud as a check if they got different tallies, until they found the error and agreed the result.
Angela Lansbury, CL, ACG