Saw a recent entry in the ToastmastersPrime Google group that is very interesting about myths in contests perpetuated by those who were supposed to be respected, whether by a current district officer or a long-time Toastmaster.  When LinkedIn’s The Official Toastmasters International Members Group had an entry last month about general Toastmaster myths, I did reply with a contest myth:

One myth I was told about a year after I joined Toastmasters was that the District contest winners CANNOT compete in their respective contests the following year.  The truth is that they can, unless they won both the District International Speech Contest and the World Champion of Public Speaking in which they can’t compete in that contest again.

There was also a recent discussion in the LinkedIn board about taking steps to hide who the contest judges are.  Some people take that very seriously, one past District 30 LGET tried to make Chief Judges at a couple of Division Contests instruct their judges to NOT raise their ballots – personally I thought she was “sweating the small stuff” and was trying to make a mark with her role as she turned out to be very ineffective in any of the Top 3 roles during her time.

Many of these myths and directives are NOT mentioned in the contest rulebook.  I’d be more concerned about whether the rules are being followed or not than dealing with the other stuff.  Of course Contest Chairs and other functionaries should apply common sense and fairness for the contestants when dealing with things not mentioned in the rulebook – especially if it affects contest judging such as displaying contestants’ Toastmaster designation in the program  (which BTW was part of another LinkedIn discussion).