Competition Participation and Voting Terms

Competition Participation and Voting Terms

1. Parties and Definitions

1.1. Organiser: WORLDEF, Business Cluster, Building 3, BCB3 315, Third Floor, 11 17th St, Umm Ramool, Dubai CommerCity, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, [email protected] ("WORLDEF").
1.2. Platform: the website at topvoice.worldef.com and the connected WhatsApp line.
1.3. Competition: speaker selection competitions organised as part of WORLDEF events. Current competitions:

• WORLDEF Prime Antalya 2026
• WORLDEF DUBAI 2027
• WORLDEF Istanbul 2027

1.4. Contestant (Candidate): a natural person who applies to a competition as a speaker.
1.5. Voter: a natural person who votes for contestants through the Platform.
1.6. Jury member: a person appointed by WORLDEF for each competition who casts an approve or reject vote on applications.
1.7. Phase: a stage of a competition: Registration, Voting, Winners, Closed.

2. Eligibility

2.1. Contestants must be at least 18 years old.
2.2. Contestants may register on the Platform with an email one-time code, Google, LinkedIn or WhatsApp. Connecting WhatsApp or LinkedIn is optional.
2.3. If WhatsApp is connected, verification is done with a one-time code sent to the number, or by the contestant sending a message to the WORLDEF WhatsApp line through the link provided by the Platform.
2.4. A person may apply to more than one competition. Each application is assessed separately.
2.5. Applications can only be made during the registration phase of the relevant competition. After the registration deadline, applications and contestant sign-up for that competition are strictly closed. No exceptions are made after this date.
2.6. Contestants declare that the information in their application is accurate, current and their own. If a false statement is found, the application is rejected or the contestant is disqualified.

3. Assessment and Approval

3.1. Applications first go through an AI-assisted preliminary assessment. This assessment is only a recommendation to support jury members. The final decision is always made by people (jury members and WORLDEF administrators).
3.2. The AI preliminary assessment compares the information written by the contestant with speaker profiles from past WORLDEF events.
3.3. WORLDEF sets the number of jury members for each competition. An application is approved only with the approval of all jury members assigned to that competition at the time of application. Jury members appointed later are not required for earlier applications. A jury member who is removed is no longer required for pending applications.
3.4. Contestants are informed by email at each jury approval.
3.5. Jury members may withdraw their decisions. WORLDEF administrators may finalise, approve, reject or cancel the process at any stage.
3.6. A rejection is held for 72 hours after all jury members have decided. The decision can be changed during this period. At the end of the period, the contestant receives a personal, reasoned rejection notice by email.
3.7. A rejected contestant cannot apply again to the same competition. They may apply to other competitions.
3.8. WORLDEF sets its assessment criteria and makes its decisions at its own discretion.

4. After Approval: Profile Page and Editing

4.1. The approved contestant's first name, last name, photo, title, company, country, biography, talk title and abstract, and social media links are published on a public profile page on the Platform.
4.2. Until the voting phase starts, the profile page is visible but votes cannot be cast.
4.3. While awaiting approval, contestants may change their photo and biography; talk details cannot be changed. During the voting phase only the photo can be changed.

5. Voting Rules

5.1. Votes can only be cast via WhatsApp or LinkedIn. Votes cannot be cast by email.
5.2. Voting via WhatsApp: the voter messages the WORLDEF WhatsApp line, shares the link of the contestant they want to vote for, and confirms with "Yes".
5.3. Voting via LinkedIn: the voter signs in with their LinkedIn account and casts their vote.
5.4. Each account may vote for up to 5 different contestants in each competition. Only 1 vote may be given to the same contestant. WhatsApp and LinkedIn accounts count as separate accounts.
5.5. The voter's first and last name are taken from their WhatsApp profile name or LinkedIn profile.
5.6. Contestants may vote for themselves.
5.7. No manipulation: collecting votes through fake accounts, bots, bulk accounts, buying votes, automation or similar means is prohibited. WORLDEF reserves the right to review and delete suspicious votes and to warn or disqualify the contestant concerned. Deleted votes are shown as a count in the public history.
5.8. Voting results are published live on the Platform.

6. Withdrawing from the Competition

6.1. Contestants may withdraw from the competition at any time from their panel on the Platform.
6.2. On withdrawal:

• The contestant's profile page is closed and redirected to the competition's main page.
• All votes received by the contestant are deleted. Voters who voted for this contestant get their vote back.
• The withdrawal is shown in the public decision history with a masked name and the number of deleted votes (example: "N\\\\ İ\\\\ withdrew from the competition, 245 votes deleted").

6.3. A withdrawal cannot be undone.

7. Transparency and Public Information

7.1. The competition is run transparently. The following are shown publicly on the Platform:

• Profile information of approved contestants,
• Only the number of pending and rejected applications,
• The decision history (approvals, rejections, withdrawals, number of deleted votes) with short summary reasons.

7.2. The identity of people who are not approved or who withdraw is never disclosed. In the decision history these people are shown masked, with only the first letter of their first name and last name (example: "N\\\\ İ\\\\"). No personal data such as email, phone, company, city or photo is shared.
7.3. Only the last 100 events are shown in the public decision history. Older events are not shown publicly and are kept in WORLDEF's records.
7.4. WORLDEF decides for each competition whether jury members' names are shown in notifications and in the decision history. If not shown, wording such as "Jury member 1" is used.

8. Phases and Calendar

8.1. The phases and dates of each competition are announced on the Platform. Phases change automatically at the announced date and time.
8.2. WORLDEF reserves the right to change dates when necessary and announces any change on the Platform.
8.3. Preview links are only for WORLDEF's internal review, are valid for 6 hours and do not count as public publication.

9. Prizes

9.1. The number of winners and the prizes (stage slot, ticket, certificate, etc.) are announced on the competition page for each competition.
9.2. Prizes are not transferable and cannot be exchanged for cash.

10. Past Competitions (Archive)

10.1. Contestant pages of completed competitions (for example Istanbul 2026) may remain online as an archive together with their results.
10.2. A contestant in the archive may request removal of their page at [email protected].

11. Intellectual Property

11.1. Contestants declare that the photos and texts they upload are their own or that they have the right to use them.
11.2. Contestants allow this content to be used on the Platform and on WORLDEF social media accounts, during the competition and in the archive, to promote the competition.

12. Limitation of Liability

12.1. WORLDEF is not liable for outages or errors in WhatsApp, LinkedIn or other third-party services.
12.2. WORLDEF's liability for intent and gross negligence is reserved.

13. Changes, Disputes and Effective Date

13.1. WORLDEF may change these terms; changes take effect on the date they are published on the Platform.
13.2. These terms are governed by Turkish law. The courts and enforcement offices of Istanbul have jurisdiction over disputes.