Everything a competition season runs on, in one place
Every feature below is scoped to your organization's hierarchy automatically - build it once at the national level, and states, regions, and chapters inherit the right slice of it. Most of what's below replaces a tool you're already paying for separately.
🔒 New: the only CTSO platform with a built-in lockdown browser - see how it works →
One login instead of several separate tools
None of the tools below are bad tools - they're just tools built for a general audience, not for a CTSO's specific hierarchy and season. Bringing them together under one platform is usually the fastest, most tangible win of switching to CTSOManager.
In place of a separate newsletter tool
Scoped, templated newsletters with full send history and analytics - no separate email marketing subscription to keep synced with your member list.
In place of a manual billing spreadsheet
Fee items, automatic invoicing, and a full payment ledger replace the "who's paid, who hasn't" spreadsheet most CTSOs still track by hand.
In place of a printed conference map
An interactive floor plan with turn-by-turn wayfinding, on any phone, no app or printing required each season.
Build the season once, run it everywhere
Set up a conference, and everything underneath it - rooms, schedules, events, rosters - lives in one connected place instead of a folder of spreadsheets.
Conference & event scheduling
Build rooms and time slots by hand or auto-generate an entire conference's schedule at once, with true interval-overlap conflict checking across every room and judge.
Event options, your call
Every competition is a simple checkbox table: judged or tested, team or individual, open registration, and whether it accepts a student file upload - toggle what applies, nothing else to configure.
Bulk import everything
Events, rosters, rubrics, and test questions all support CSV bulk upload with a downloadable template, so a whole conference's worth of setup doesn't mean hundreds of clicks.
Volunteer & judge job board
Post volunteer jobs per conference; judges, alumni, and volunteers sign up directly, and required job sign-up can gate a chapter's registration until it's covered.
Teacher self-service judge sign-up
Event managers assign a teacher as a judge directly, or post a judging position to the job board for teachers to claim themselves - both run through the same conflict-of-interest check, so a chapter can never judge an event it's competing in.
Live day-of status
A running view of every judged event's progress at a conference - ahead of schedule, on time, or behind - so staff know where to send help before it becomes a problem.
Judge assistance requests
A judge taps one button to request help, and it's automatically routed to the nearest available support staff for that room - no radio or hallway search required.
Post-deadline change requests
A teacher can request a roster or event change after registration closes, and an event manager approves or denies it from a single queue instead of an email back-and-forth.
Emcee scripts
Write and merge an awards-ceremony script per contest, or generate one merged script for the whole conference automatically from your results.
Room blocks that fill themselves out correctly
Chapters claim rooms directly, existing blocks fill before a new one opens, and the event manager always has a clean report of who's staying where.
Room block management
Set up hotel room blocks per conference, with capacity rules that fill an existing block before opening a new one - no manually tracking which rooms are still available.
Advisor self-assignment & chaperone signup
Advisors assign their own students to rooms and sign themselves up as chaperones directly, instead of emailing a room list back and forth with the event manager.
Room assignment report
A single report shows every chapter's room assignments for a conference, ready for check-in or a quick headcount.
Never lost, never late to the room
Upload a floor plan, drop a few pins, and every student, judge, and parent can find their way there - on their own phone, no app required.
Interactive floor plan builder
Upload a floor plan image or PDF and drop pins for competition rooms, entrances, and other points of interest directly on it - no separate app or paper map needed.
Multi-floor, multi-building support
A venue can span several buildings and floors; every floor plan lives under its building automatically, and switching floors or buildings is one click.
Turn-by-turn wayfinding
"Find my way" walks anyone step by step to a specific room from wherever they start, including which floor and building to head to first.
In-browser GPS directions
A live route draws right on the page using the visitor's own location - distance, ETA, and turn-by-turn steps included - no app to install, with a Google Maps button always available as a second option.
One tap from the schedule
Every event on a student's or judge's schedule links straight to directions for that room, and the map itself works the same way from any pin.
Off-site tour meeting points
Pin an off-site tour or activity's meeting point on the map right alongside competition rooms, so groups leaving the venue know exactly where to gather.
Rubrics, scoring, and standings that stay honest
Judges score against a real rubric, standings compute live, and the system won't let a tie slip through by accident.
Digital rubrics, three ways
Build a rubric by hand, bulk-upload criteria by CSV, or upload an existing rubric PDF and let it auto-parse into editable criteria for you to review before saving.
Conference-wide rubric ZIP
Bulk-upload rubric PDFs for every judged event at a conference in a single ZIP file instead of one at a time.
Click-to-score judging UI
Judges select rating levels directly on the rubric, leave per-criterion and per-team notes, and see the same rubric format your organization already uses on paper.
Close-for-the-day locking
Event managers can lock scoring for a contest once a day's judging wraps, and unlock it again if needed - no accidental late edits.
Tie-blocking on finalization
Standings compute live as scores come in, but finalizing is blocked while any place is still tied - the results page shows exactly which place and competitors need resolving first.
Teacher-gated feedback release
Judge notes and scores go to the chapter advisor first, who decides when to release them to students - never straight to a student's inbox unreviewed.
PowerPoint awards export
Export awards-ceremony slides for one contest or an entire conference, in placement order or alphabetical, complete with a built-in animated 5th-to-1st reveal.
Branded presentation templates
Save your own slide templates so every awards deck and emcee script export already matches your organization's branding.
Point-range scoring & judge notes
A rating level can be a range instead of a fixed number - judges pick the range, then fine-tune with a slider - and every rubric has its own private notes field just for that judge.
Non-blocking autosave
Every score and note saves in the background as a judge works, so a dropped connection or an accidental tab close never costs them their progress on a rubric.
Side-by-side media viewer
For file-upload events, a judge sees the submitted file right next to the rubric - no switching tabs or downloading anything to review a student's work while scoring it.
Judge section timers
Built-in setup, presentation, teardown, and Q&A timers keep a judge on the event's actual schedule without a separate stopwatch.
Online testing built for a real testing room
Timed, accommodated, and resilient to the things that actually go wrong on competition day.
Timed test windows
Event managers build a question bank by hand or CSV bulk upload, then open a scheduled test window for competitors to take it in.
Accommodations built in
Extended time and read-aloud support apply automatically for any student with an accommodation on file - not a separate process to remember.
Connectivity-drop handling
A dropped connection doesn't cost a student their test - the system detects it, records it, and lets an event manager reopen the attempt if needed.
Idle & focus-loss auto-submit
Configurable auto-submit on idle timeout or tab focus loss, with the reason surfaced back to the student so there's no confusion about what happened.
Reopen requests
Students can request a reopen if something goes wrong; event managers see every request in one queue and decide from there.
Auto-grading with team rollup
Objective questions grade themselves instantly, and team-event scores roll up automatically from each member's attempt.
Reach exactly who you mean to reach
Newsletters that are scoped to your hierarchy from the start, so a chapter advisor can't accidentally email the whole state.
Scoped newsletter composer
Compose and preview a newsletter, then send it to exactly the chapters, regions, or conferences you choose - and only the ones you're allowed to reach.
Multi-group sending
Send one newsletter to several groups at once instead of repeating the same message send by send.
Reusable templates
Save any sent newsletter as a template and start your next one from it - useful for the announcements that go out every season.
Full send history
Every newsletter you've sent is on record, with the actual groups it went to - not just a count.
Calendar & automatic reminders
Post an event to the shared calendar and everyone it's relevant to gets an automatic email reminder as it approaches - opt-out available per member, honored everywhere reminders go out.
Text message alerts
Students and parents opt in to get a text when their presentation is coming up next, and can text back to a judge's assistance request with a live two-way conversation - no separate texting app or phone list to manage.
Your real org chart, built into the platform
National, state, region, and chapter - each level manages itself and everything below it, never the level above.
Full hierarchy management
Create and manage states, regions, and chapters directly, with every account and chapter request automatically routed to whoever should approve it.
Public request forms
A public "request an account" and "start a new chapter" form means new advisors and chapters don't need to be manually onboarded one by one.
Role-based access control
National admin, state admin, regional admin, chapter advisor, teacher, judge, student, alumni, board member, officer, and more - each role sees exactly what it should.
Google, Microsoft & Clever sign-in
Members can log in with their existing Google account, work/school Microsoft 365 or personal Outlook account, or Clever - instead of one more password to manage.
Sitewide quick search
Jump straight to a chapter, conference, event, or student from anywhere with a keyboard-driven quick-search.
Your own branded instance
Every organization on CTSOManager gets its own colors, logo, and look - your members never see anyone else's branding, and you never see theirs.
Regional manager assignment
A state advisor can assign specific regional event managers to a chapter's teacher accounts, so every chapter has a clear point of contact even when a region has more than one manager.
Code of conduct & required acceptance
Upload a code of conduct at any level of the hierarchy - national down to a single chapter - and every student must agree to every applicable code that applies to them, with a fresh acceptance required whenever any of them is updated.
Virtual national chapter
Students without a physical school chapter nearby can join a virtual national chapter instead, so no interested member is turned away for lack of a local program.
See how it's going, and keep the books straight
Hierarchy-scoped analytics
Engagement, newsletter reach, and activity, broken down by level - a state sees its regions and chapters, a chapter sees only itself.
Fee items & invoicing
Set conference fee items, generate chapter invoices automatically from registrations, and track everything from issue to paid.
Payments, refunds, and a full ledger
Record payments and refunds against any invoice, with a running payment ledger so nothing gets lost track of mid-season.
Recognize the work that happens outside the competition floor
Torch Awards tracking
Members log service, leadership, and activity hours against a national catalog of recognized activities, with a review-and-approval workflow built in.
Alumni & volunteer network
Alumni build a skills and judging-interest profile and find state-level volunteer opportunities directly - an easy on-ramp back into the organization.
Accessible on every page, not bolted on
Built in from the start, not added as an afterthought.
Sitewide text resizing
Every page supports on-page text resizing, available wherever a member is working.
Read-aloud mode
A built-in text-to-speech reader is available site-wide, and applies automatically during testing for students with a read-aloud accommodation.
Mandatory alt text
Images uploaded into newsletters and other content require alt text before they can be published, so accessibility isn't optional or forgotten.
Live site translation
Switch the whole site into another language, including real content members have entered themselves - not just the menus and labels - with translations cached so nothing is machine-translated twice.
Grow the organization, not just run the season
A recruitment pipeline built into the same system your chapters already use, instead of a spreadsheet that never gets updated after the first month.
Recruitment & engagement CRM
Track prospective members and new chapters through a real pipeline - prospect, contacted, interested, applied, converted - scoped to your hierarchy, with an activity log and one-click conversion straight into a real onboarding link.
Interactive chapters map
See every chapter in your organization plotted on a map, useful for spotting recruitment gaps and planning regional outreach.
Social media auto-posting
Automatically post updates to your organization's Instagram, keeping a public presence current without a staff member manually posting every announcement.
Run the exhibit hall without a separate system
Booth reservations & sponsorship tiers
Vendors reserve booths and sponsors pick a tier directly through the platform for any conference you run.
Badge designer & printing
Design attendee badges with a drag-and-drop layout builder, then print single badges or the whole roster at once.
Vendor lead capture
Vendors scan an attendee's existing check-in QR code with their phone, log an interest rating and notes, and export their leads as a CSV afterward - no separate lead-retrieval hardware to rent.
Item shop & attraction ticket sales
Sell merchandise or attraction tickets with optional inventory caps directly through the platform, folded straight into a chapter's conference invoice.
Sell ad space to your sponsors
Sell a top banner, dashboard card, or sidebar slot to a sponsor and schedule exactly when their ad runs - a new revenue line your organization controls directly, with no third-party ad network involved.
Run officer elections the same way you run competitions
Officer election module
Candidates run against real student accounts, not free-text names, and online votes tally side by side with any manually-entered ones.
Delegate applications & self-nomination
Members apply to become a voting delegate, and eligible students can self-nominate for open positions right from their own ballot page.
Reusable bio-question templates
Save a set of candidate bio questions once and reuse it for every election instead of rebuilding the form each cycle.
Advisor-gated results release
Election results stay hidden until an advisor explicitly releases them - and can be pulled back if something needs correcting.
Competitive transcripts
A printable, PDF-ready record of every competition a student has entered - placements and awards included - across every conference they've attended.
The only CTSO platform with a built-in lockdown browser
We checked every other CTSO platform on our comparison page - none of them offer a lockdown browser or live proctoring flags. On CTSOManager, both are built in and turned on by default for every online test.
Browser lockdown for testing
Fullscreen enforcement, tab-switch and blur detection, and blocked copy/paste, right-click, and developer tools - available on Windows, Mac, and ChromeOS with no extra software to install.
Live proctoring anomaly flags
Every lockdown violation lands on an event manager's dashboard in real time, so a wandering tab gets caught during the test - not discovered after scoring.
Scantron score import
Import paper-test results straight from a generic CSV or Apperson-format scan file instead of hand-entering scores.
Judge disqualification with explanation
Disqualifying a judge requires a written reason on record, and a disqualified judge can be reinstated if needed - never a silent removal.
AI content-authenticity scanning
Judges and event managers can run an on-demand AI-content scan on a student's submitted file right from the scoring page, with tiered plans so it scales from a single conference to every submission an organization receives.
Enterprise-grade security, without an enterprise price tag
SSO / OIDC for any organization
Connect Azure AD, Okta, Google Workspace, or any standards-compliant identity provider - not limited to a single hardcoded login option.
Clever & ClassLink rostering
Sign in with Clever directly, and sync school rosters through Clever or ClassLink instead of a manual CSV upload every semester.
Two-factor authentication
Authenticator-app-based 2FA with recovery codes, plus a "remember this device" option so staff and admins aren't re-verifying on every login.
Bring-your-own-key encryption
Organizations that need it can supply their own AWS KMS encryption key for sensitive credentials instead of relying solely on platform-managed encryption.
Background check tracking
Track volunteer and judge background check status in one place instead of a side spreadsheet nobody remembers to update.
Uptime & error monitoring
A dedicated health-check endpoint for external uptime monitoring, plus real-time error monitoring behind the scenes, so problems get caught before members notice them.
Conference day, and every day after it
QR check-in, self check-in & digital badges
Scan attendees in at the door, let them check themselves in, and print single or bulk digital badges - all from the same check-in record.
E-signature waivers
In-house electronic signature collection for waivers, required before check-in, with no separate e-signature subscription needed.
Support ticket system
Members submit support tickets with file attachments, staff pick up and reply from an assignee queue, and status stays visible to everyone on the ticket.
Built-in knowledge base
Categorized help articles for every feature and workflow, visible to the right roles, so most questions get answered without opening a ticket at all.
Customizable dashboards
Every member can show or hide the dashboard sections that matter to their role - judging, managing, teaching, competing, finances, and more.
Reusable conference task templates
Save a conference's manager task list as a template and apply it to next year's conference instead of rebuilding the checklist from scratch.
Connects to the tools you already use
Public REST API & webhooks
A full OAuth-secured REST API with real-time outbound webhooks, for anything the built-in integrations don't already cover.
Zapier, Slack & Power Automate
Native Zapier and Power Automate connectors plus Slack notifications, so CTSOManager plugs into workflows you've already built elsewhere.
Canva, Google Drive & OneDrive
Push a presentation into Canva and pull the finished design back in as a template, and attach files straight from Google Drive or OneDrive anywhere uploads are accepted sitewide.
Real Google Calendar sync
A genuine two-way OAuth connection to Google Calendar, not just a one-way feed link.
Want to see how it fits your organization?
Every feature above is scoped to your hierarchy from day one. Let's talk through what your CTSO needs.