IPSC 2023
We are delighted to announce that the IPSC finals will return to London in 2023.
Thank you for your ongoing support of the ESU International Public Speaking Competition. If you have any questions, please contact the competition organisers at education@esu.org

IPSC National Competition Registration Form
In order to take part in the IPSC, you must register your national competition using the form below by Tuesday, 28 February 2023. Registration form here.
Once you have held your national final, national champions then need to be registered for the IPSC itself. The deadline for this information is Friday, 31 March 2023. If for any reason you will not be able to share this information by the deadline please contact education@esu.org to see if we can make arrangements to accommodate you.
Once you have selected your national or regional winner, please share this link with them so we can collect their information.
The themes for 2023
As normal, there are two themes: the theme for national competitions and the theme for the international competition.
This year’s theme for national competitions is ‘Relations between nations are too important to be left to governments alone’ and may be used for national public speaking competitions.
This year’s theme for the prepared speech heats of the international competition is ‘You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression’. Those advancing to the IPSC final will be asked to give their speech on ‘Relations between nations are too important to be left to governments alone’.


The dates
The IPSC programme will run from Monday, 8 May 2023 to the evening of Friday, 12 May 2023.
The deadline for submitting preliminary registration forms is Tuesday, 28 February 2023. The preliminary registration forms should be completed by national competition organisers. The deadline for submitting participant registration forms is Friday, 31 March 2023. Information forms should be completed by participants.
The deadline for paying the IPSC subscription fee is Tuesday, 28 February 2023.
The IPSC subscription fee
As the IPSC returns to London, the IPSC subscription fee which covers accommodation, events, and other expenses for the week, will return to previous format. As such, the subscription fee for international ESUs will be £300, and for partner organisations £600.
Please register your participation using the form above, and you can then pay the fee using the appropriate link below.


The programme
We are delighted to be able to welcome IPSC participants to London once again. The programme will begin on Monday 8 May with an introduction and cultural sharing event in our headquarters at Dartmouth House. We will conclude with the grand final at the world-famous Royal Institution on the afternoon of Friday 12 May.
The full schedule of events, including the preliminary rounds will published in due course.
Competition rules
The first round of heats for 2023 will feature all of the participants giving impromptu speeches for our panels of judges. The results of this round will used to draw the semi-finals, where participants will give prepared speeches on the 2023 IPSC theme, ‘You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression.’
The winners of each heat will advance to the grand final.
For details on registration, payments, eligibility, the competition and disqualification click the link below the image.

Further information and reading
The links below will open up downloadable links to more specific competition information, should you need it at this stage.