Recognizing and Avoiding Barriers to Objectivity

Other helpful reading:

• Duties of a Chief Judge
• Duties of Speech Contest Judges

As a speech contest judge, don’t award higher or lower marks because you think:

• The first or last speaker was the best.
  Treat each speaker the same.
   
• Let’s help the underdog.
  Keep personal feelings and relationships out of the contest.
   
• Halo effect (giving higher marks in many categories because one was especially high).
  Give marks only for performance in each criteria on the Judges Guide and Ballot. (A great voice does not necessarily mean good speech development.)
   
• Reverse halo (giving lower marks in many categories because one was especially low).
  Give marks only for performance in each criteria on the Judges Guide and Ballot. (A poor voice does not necessarily mean poor speech development.)
   
• Second time around (you heard the speech before).
  Judge the speech like it’s the first time you heard it.
   
• Give someone else a chance.
  Ignore past successes or failures.
   
• The speech, its development, or delivery style are not your Club, Area or Division norm.
  Rate the speech on its unique merits, not on how you "normally do things."
   
• Prejudices and personal preferences.
  Whether you agreed with the speaker's opinion or liked their style of delivery is irrelevant.