The standards used to evaluate after-dinner speech in forensic contests are explored in this paper. The central thesis of this theoretical article suggests that the standards generated by the Second National Conference on Forensics for the evaluation of public address are applicable to the contest event of after-dinner speaking. The paper argues that there is room for additional standards of evaluation but those standards ought to receive field testing before judges use them for a decision in a round of tournament competition. The principal data base of the study comes from published materials on the evaluation of forensic speakers. The paper calls for future research dealing with the exploration and testing of potential critical standards in the evaluation of after-dinner speakers. (SKC)