1. Please take the blanking award out of the blanking bag before you
present it to the first and second place winner.
2. Please do not wait until the end of the month to schedule your area
contests. We run short of judges when you have six contests on a
Friday night.... and three of the contests are in different rooms in
the same building.
3. The book says that you need two stopwatches. Four work better....
* Two for the timing table
* One to act as backup and to time the one minute
* One for the five minutes during the evaluation contests
4. Save your best jokes for the spring contests and the bad jokes for
the humorous speech contests. You don't want to upstage the humorous
speech contestants.
5. The division A contest is in Lodi, CA. The division C contest is in
Orland, CA. They are 140 miles apart. If you want the district
officers to attend both contests, please allow plenty of time for
travel. Scheduling the Division C contest at 9 AM with six contestant
per contest AND having a raffle to pay for the room does not provide
enough time for officers and judges to make it down to the 1:30
Division A contest.
6. Make sure your table topic is vetted by the Chief Judge and contest
chair. They should not hear the topic for the first time when you
introduce the first contestant.
7. Do not, repeat, DO NOT publish the judge's names in the contest
program.
8. If you get all of the clubs/areas participating, plan for the
contest to run two-and-a-half hours. Don't try to say that it will run
two hours. IT WON'T HAPPEN.
9. If you want to intentially lose a contest, come to the contest in
casual clothing, have your checkbook in your shirt pocket, bring up
your water bottle, and keep holding up that water bottle while
answering the table topics question while never using it as a prop. It
says to me as a judge, "I want to lose this contest
intentionally." (And, yes, this happened at a division level contest)
10. Your contest photographer is your friend. Please allow him to take
the pictures of the contest.
1. In a contest with three or fewer contestants, announce only the first place winner - then give the second place person a call afterwards, and perhaps mail the trophy or present it at a club instead of 'sneaking' it to them in the back of the room.
2. Don't ever say - "the first place winner is, no surprise, ___________________"
3. Don't ever say, before awarding the winners, "Well, that's all folks. Oh, am I forgetting something?" or any other similar riff. It was never funny in the first place.
4. Don't talk during the minute of silence, Mr./Madame TM - not "good job", "wow", "Does someone have a tissue", NOTHING - its called a minute of silence for a reason. (You realize, of course Mr. Killen, I am scarred for life)
5. Please discuss with Eval and TTopic contestants where they should stand when you will be asking them the question, or introducing them. I'm tired of guessing.
6. Please, if there is more than one entrance, post a Sgt at Arms committee member at EACH ONE, and train them properly.
> 1. Please take the blanking award out of the blanking bag before you > present it to the first and second place winner.
> 2. Please do not wait until the end of the month to schedule your area > contests. We run short of judges when you have six contests on a > Friday night.... and three of the contests are in different rooms in > the same building.
> 3. The book says that you need two stopwatches. Four work better.... > * Two for the timing table > * One to act as backup and to time the one minute > * One for the five minutes during the evaluation contests
> 4. Save your best jokes for the spring contests and the bad jokes for > the humorous speech contests. You don't want to upstage the humorous > speech contestants.
> 5. The division A contest is in Lodi, CA. The division C contest is in > Orland, CA. They are 140 miles apart. If you want the district > officers to attend both contests, please allow plenty of time for > travel. Scheduling the Division C contest at 9 AM with six contestant > per contest AND having a raffle to pay for the room does not provide > enough time for officers and judges to make it down to the 1:30 > Division A contest.
> 6. Make sure your table topic is vetted by the Chief Judge and contest > chair. They should not hear the topic for the first time when you > introduce the first contestant.
> 7. Do not, repeat, DO NOT publish the judge's names in the contest > program.
> 8. If you get all of the clubs/areas participating, plan for the > contest to run two-and-a-half hours. Don't try to say that it will run > two hours. IT WON'T HAPPEN.
> 9. If you want to intentially lose a contest, come to the contest in > casual clothing, have your checkbook in your shirt pocket, bring up > your water bottle, and keep holding up that water bottle while > answering the table topics question while never using it as a prop. It > says to me as a judge, "I want to lose this contest > intentionally." (And, yes, this happened at a division level contest)
> 10. Your contest photographer is your friend. Please allow him to take > the pictures of the contest.
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Better yet -- If you're the contest toastmaster, save your jokes for your club when you give your manual speech. The TM should NEVER NEVER NEVER try to be the focus of attention. Your job is to facilitate the contest and keep the focus on the contestants. I absolutely detest the "warm up the audience" routines that I'm subjected to prior to humorous speech contests.
On announcing only first place: That would be a violation of the rules. I understand what you're trying to do, but let's go by the rules. To be honest, I would rather that the rank of ALL the contestants be announced. If you're in a contest, then you already know that there will be a first place ... and everyone else. Let's put on our big boy/big girl shorts and realize that being ranked last in a contest does not mean you are a bad person. However, that's not what the rules say, and we have to follow the rules.
My additions:
If there is a sound system, work out all the details of who will operate what and how the system works BEFORE the contest, not during the contest.
Also let the district officer responsible for the contest (AG, Div Gov, etc.) vet the Table Topics question. It is their contest.
On 4/27/08, RobertK <robert.kil...@mistweave.net> wrote:
I will note an exception to this. My Division Governor is an amazon
-- she is 6 foot 5. This is something that of course is immediately
obvious. As contest chair, I have seen her make jokes about her
height in a very appropriate way. She will be describing the
introduction of contestants and explaining the rules of clapping,
etc,, and will give an example -- "Contest Master Name -- Why I Don't
Play Basketball -- Why I Don't Play Basketball -- Contest Master
Name". It was well done.
On Apr 28, 12:59 am, "Mark Perew" <mpe...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Better yet -- If you're the contest toastmaster, save your jokes for
> your club when you give your manual speech. The TM should NEVER NEVER
> NEVER try to be the focus of attention. Your job is to facilitate the
> contest and keep the focus on the contestants. I absolutely detest
> the "warm up the audience" routines that I'm subjected to prior to
> humorous speech contests.
As contest Toastmaster, I do my own little spin on things. When I was
interviewing the contestants, my opening question would be a variation
of, "If it's Wednesday at 6:30 PM, where can we find you?" The answer,
of course, is the contestant's club. It's a slight variation of, "What
club do you belong to?"
However, I am also a stickler for the rules. That's why it seems that
I and a very long-time Toastmaster (who will hunt you down if you do
not turn in your proxies) are the permanent timers for the District
Contest.
This upcoming cycle, we are going to put on a class on how to conduct
a good contest in addition to the judge's training. Some of us are
getting annoyed at the mistakes made at the contests.
General category: A reminder to all contestmasters
Specific reminder: It's Not About YOU
As contest master, don't turn the "meet the contestants" interview
portion into a session of "stump the chump". I've seen too many
contest masters launch into Table Topics from Hell, just - it seemed -
to demonstrate how clever/witty/smart they were. They seemed to
delight in leaving the contestants scrambling for a response.
Not me. Whenever I'm in that role, I tell the contestants during the
briefing that I'm not going to try to stump them with any interview
questions. I'll tell them the requisite things I plan to ask (name,
club, how long a TM, TM educational level), and if I know what follow-
up question I'm going to ask, I give it to them in advance.
I know that probably violates the idea of making them think on their
feet, but I don't care. I know the feelings/emotions/anxieties that
contestants go through...I want to help them relax after they
compete. In other cases, if I can think of a simple follow-up
question based on their speech, I'll go that route. That's especially
the case if the question allows me to heap kudos/praise on the
contestant, or allows them to share a little more insight into who
they are.
Another...find a creative/fun/CONCISE way to handle briefing the
audience. I've seen too many belabor so many parts of the briefing,
the thought crossed my mind to stand up and say "ENOUGH ALREADY!!!
GET ON WITH THE CONTEST!!!" In some cases, it was the briefer (either
the TM or the CJ) wanting to thoroughly explain all the rules. In
others, it was about the briefer wanting to enjoy as much time in the
spotlight as possible.
<...stepping down off my soapbox...>
+===========================
Make it an AWESOME today, for a BETTER tomorrow!!!
Jim Key, DTM
World Champion of Public Speaking
District 50 Area 71 Governor
You're normally so relaxed, Jim, it's cool to see you get off on a
rant :-)
I think that in almost every contest in which I've ever taken part,
the contestant interview has usually asked a question that is derived
from the speech or the bio form, usually the latter. never been the
recipient of an odd table-topics type question.
You should have been at one of the Division International Speech
contests in D60 this spring Colin. The questions asked by the contest
chair were absolutely ludicrous; it made me cringe and was
embarrassing. When I saw that chair's name on a list of potential
contest chairs for the District contest, I promptly suggested that the
name be scratched and it was. It's someone who always manages to make
any and every occasion totally about him and he didn't even ask the
contestants which club they were from.
Phyrne
On May 1, 2:00 pm, Colin <colin.will...@gmail.com> wrote:
On May 1, 1:00 pm, Colin <colin.will...@gmail.com> wrote:
> You're normally so relaxed, Jim, it's cool to see you get off on a
> rant :-)
Believe me, Colin...I can rant with the best of them. I've simply
learned that I have to be very careful about when, where, and how I
rant.
As to the bio form, they are not universally used. Some districts use
them, but many don't. I've never seen them used at any Division
contest in my district. (Or at least I can't remember them being used
at any.)
+===========================
Make it an AWESOME today, for a BETTER tomorrow!!!
> 1. Please take the blanking award out of the blanking bag before you
> present it to the first and second place winner.
> 2. Please do not wait until the end of the month to schedule your area
> contests. We run short of judges when you have six contests on a
> Friday night.... and three of the contests are in different rooms in
> the same building.
> 3. The book says that you need two stopwatches. Four work better....
> * Two for the timing table
> * One to act as backup and to time the one minute
> * One for the five minutes during the evaluation contests
> 4. Save your best jokes for the spring contests and the bad jokes for
> the humorous speech contests. You don't want to upstage the humorous
> speech contestants.
> 5. The division A contest is in Lodi, CA. The division C contest is in
> Orland, CA. They are 140 miles apart. If you want the district
> officers to attend both contests, please allow plenty of time for
> travel. Scheduling the Division C contest at 9 AM with six contestant
> per contest AND having a raffle to pay for the room does not provide
> enough time for officers and judges to make it down to the 1:30
> Division A contest.
> 6. Make sure your table topic is vetted by the Chief Judge and contest
> chair. They should not hear the topic for the first time when you
> introduce the first contestant.
> 7. Do not, repeat, DO NOT publish the judge's names in the contest
> program.
> 8. If you get all of the clubs/areas participating, plan for the
> contest to run two-and-a-half hours. Don't try to say that it will run
> two hours. IT WON'T HAPPEN.
> 9. If you want to intentially lose a contest, come to the contest in
> casual clothing, have your checkbook in your shirt pocket, bring up
> your water bottle, and keep holding up that water bottle while
> answering the table topics question while never using it as a prop. It
> says to me as a judge, "I want to lose this contest
> intentionally." (And, yes, this happened at a division level contest)
> 10. Your contest photographer is your friend. Please allow him to take
> the pictures of the contest.
> 11. Please, please don't say "A drum roll please" before announcing > each award recipient!
> Joy
> On Apr 27, 9:10 pm, Mark <torchw...@gmail.com> wrote: > > 1. Please take the blanking award out of the blanking bag before you > > present it to the first and second place winner.
> > 2. Please do not wait until the end of the month to schedule your area > > contests. We run short of judges when you have six contests on a > > Friday night.... and three of the contests are in different rooms in > > the same building.
> > 3. The book says that you need two stopwatches. Four work better.... > > * Two for the timing table > > * One to act as backup and to time the one minute > > * One for the five minutes during the evaluation contests
> > 4. Save your best jokes for the spring contests and the bad jokes for > > the humorous speech contests. You don't want to upstage the humorous > > speech contestants.
> > 5. The division A contest is in Lodi, CA. The division C contest is in > > Orland, CA. They are 140 miles apart. If you want the district > > officers to attend both contests, please allow plenty of time for > > travel. Scheduling the Division C contest at 9 AM with six contestant > > per contest AND having a raffle to pay for the room does not provide > > enough time for officers and judges to make it down to the 1:30 > > Division A contest.
> > 6. Make sure your table topic is vetted by the Chief Judge and contest > > chair. They should not hear the topic for the first time when you > > introduce the first contestant.
> > 7. Do not, repeat, DO NOT publish the judge's names in the contest > > program.
> > 8. If you get all of the clubs/areas participating, plan for the > > contest to run two-and-a-half hours. Don't try to say that it will run > > two hours. IT WON'T HAPPEN.
> > 9. If you want to intentially lose a contest, come to the contest in > > casual clothing, have your checkbook in your shirt pocket, bring up > > your water bottle, and keep holding up that water bottle while > > answering the table topics question while never using it as a prop. It > > says to me as a judge, "I want to lose this contest > > intentionally." (And, yes, this happened at a division level contest)
> > 10. Your contest photographer is your friend. Please allow him to take > > the pictures of the contest.
> > 11. Please, please don't say "A drum roll please" before announcing
> > each award recipient!
> > Joy
> > On Apr 27, 9:10 pm, Mark <torchw...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > 1. Please take the blanking award out of the blanking bag before you
> > > present it to the first and second place winner.
> > > 2. Please do not wait until the end of the month to schedule your area
> > > contests. We run short of judges when you have six contests on a
> > > Friday night.... and three of the contests are in different rooms in
> > > the same building.
> > > 3. The book says that you need two stopwatches. Four work better....
> > > * Two for the timing table
> > > * One to act as backup and to time the one minute
> > > * One for the five minutes during the evaluation contests
> > > 4. Save your best jokes for the spring contests and the bad jokes for
> > > the humorous speech contests. You don't want to upstage the humorous
> > > speech contestants.
> > > 5. The division A contest is in Lodi, CA. The division C contest is in
> > > Orland, CA. They are 140 miles apart. If you want the district
> > > officers to attend both contests, please allow plenty of time for
> > > travel. Scheduling the Division C contest at 9 AM with six contestant
> > > per contest AND having a raffle to pay for the room does not provide
> > > enough time for officers and judges to make it down to the 1:30
> > > Division A contest.
> > > 6. Make sure your table topic is vetted by the Chief Judge and contest
> > > chair. They should not hear the topic for the first time when you
> > > introduce the first contestant.
> > > 7. Do not, repeat, DO NOT publish the judge's names in the contest
> > > program.
> > > 8. If you get all of the clubs/areas participating, plan for the
> > > contest to run two-and-a-half hours. Don't try to say that it will run
> > > two hours. IT WON'T HAPPEN.
> > > 9. If you want to intentially lose a contest, come to the contest in
> > > casual clothing, have your checkbook in your shirt pocket, bring up
> > > your water bottle, and keep holding up that water bottle while
> > > answering the table topics question while never using it as a prop. It
> > > says to me as a judge, "I want to lose this contest
> > > intentionally." (And, yes, this happened at a division level contest)
> > > 10. Your contest photographer is your friend. Please allow him to take
> > > the pictures of the contest.- Hide quoted text -
If anyone has any ideas on shortening the acknowledgements and awards
segment of the conference evening PLEASE post them here! There must
be a way to communicate to our DGs (we are TMs after all!) that a 2.5
hour dinner+awards presentation is inexcusable for an organization
that teaches meeting management skills.
This was the schedule:
5:00 - Int'l Speech Contest
6:45 - break to reset room
7:15 - Dinner
8:00 - Acknowledgements (notice the length here)
9:40 - Contest Awards
9:45 - Adjourn
I invited a colleage and reinstated TM to come to the contest and
banquet. He enjoyed the contest. But his words to me at the end of
the evening: "If you ever invite me to
one of these again, I'll throttle you!" How's that for a review?
I apologize to any District Officers who might read this and take
offense. But no one, not even those who are being recognized, can
sit
happily through 1hr and 40mins of acknowledgements. It is inhumane.
I realize I am standing on a very high and tippy soapbox here, but I
need ideas from you good people to help bring about a change in our
conception of the awards dinner.
(climbing down.)
Cheers,
Robert
On Apr 27, 9:10 pm, Mark <torchw...@gmail.com> wrote:
> 1. Please take the blanking award out of the blanking bag before you
> present it to the first and second place winner.
> 2. Please do not wait until the end of the month to schedule your area
> contests. We run short of judges when you have six contests on a
> Friday night.... and three of the contests are in different rooms in
> the same building.
> 3. The book says that you need two stopwatches. Four work better....
> * Two for the timing table
> * One to act as backup and to time the one minute
> * One for the five minutes during the evaluation contests
> 4. Save your best jokes for the spring contests and the bad jokes for
> the humorous speech contests. You don't want to upstage the humorous
> speech contestants.
> 5. The division A contest is in Lodi, CA. The division C contest is in
> Orland, CA. They are 140 miles apart. If you want the district
> officers to attend both contests, please allow plenty of time for
> travel. Scheduling the Division C contest at 9 AM with six contestant
> per contest AND having a raffle to pay for the room does not provide
> enough time for officers and judges to make it down to the 1:30
> Division A contest.
> 6. Make sure your table topic is vetted by the Chief Judge and contest
> chair. They should not hear the topic for the first time when you
> introduce the first contestant.
> 7. Do not, repeat, DO NOT publish the judge's names in the contest
> program.
> 8. If you get all of the clubs/areas participating, plan for the
> contest to run two-and-a-half hours. Don't try to say that it will run
> two hours. IT WON'T HAPPEN.
> 9. If you want to intentially lose a contest, come to the contest in
> casual clothing, have your checkbook in your shirt pocket, bring up
> your water bottle, and keep holding up that water bottle while
> answering the table topics question while never using it as a prop. It
> says to me as a judge, "I want to lose this contest
> intentionally." (And, yes, this happened at a division level contest)
> 10. Your contest photographer is your friend. Please allow him to take
> the pictures of the contest.
My preferred format is Dinner first, then contest, then 25 minute keynote (often the incoming DG message), then acknowledgements, then awards, with it going from 6:30 to about 9:30. Works pretty well then.
With conferences only twice a year, they do try to recognize as many as possible. I've seen a lot of awards given at the lunch hour, as well, during the meal, which is fine.
I don't mind a long event, as long as its done expediently and orderly. Its when they go long because of poor organization that I get irritated.
In Founder's, the usual pattern is that the long list of acknowledgements goes into the conference program. There just isn't time to thank everyone involved by name.
Also, sometimes the contest awards are done last, but not always. This year the contest results were announced, and then the DTM hug line was done. I like this as it does say "Contest are important, but working the full breadth of the C&L program and doing service to others is even more important."
On Sun, May 4, 2008 at 9:45 PM, Rich Hopkins <rich.hopk...@gmail.com> wrote: > My preferred format is Dinner first, then contest, then 25 minute keynote > (often the incoming DG message), then acknowledgements, then awards, with it > going from 6:30 to about 9:30. Works pretty well then.
> With conferences only twice a year, they do try to recognize as many as > possible. I've seen a lot of awards given at the lunch hour, as well, during > the meal, which is fine.
> I don't mind a long event, as long as its done expediently and orderly. Its when they go long because of poor organization that I get irritated.
Contest winners should be announced at the end of the
contest...period.
Look, there are many people who come to just the contest, who are not
Toastmasters and don't give two hoots for all our folderoll. Whether
leadership thinks that the contest is as important as educational
workshops or the business meeting or other conference items or not, it
IS (or at least could be) the top PR event of the conference. Why on
earth do we make people sit thru our banquets and award ceremonies to
find out if their loved one has won a contest trophy. It is just
shortsighted. We take our best PR moment and trash it. It's like
showing the end of LOST after the local news and Jimmy Kimmel.
If only the leadership banquet was as interesting as Kimmel or even
the local news.
On May 5, 12:51 am, "Mark Perew" <mpe...@gmail.com> wrote:
> In Founder's, the usual pattern is that the long list of
> acknowledgements goes into the conference program. There just isn't
> time to thank everyone involved by name.
> Also, sometimes the contest awards are done last, but not always.
> This year the contest results were announced, and then the DTM hug
> line was done. I like this as it does say "Contest are important, but
> working the full breadth of the C&L program and doing service to
> others is even more important."
> On Sun, May 4, 2008 at 9:45 PM, Rich Hopkins <rich.hopk...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > My preferred format is Dinner first, then contest, then 25 minute keynote
> > (often the incoming DG message), then acknowledgements, then awards, with it
> > going from 6:30 to about 9:30. Works pretty well then.
> > With conferences only twice a year, they do try to recognize as many as
> > possible. I've seen a lot of awards given at the lunch hour, as well, during
> > the meal, which is fine.
> > I don't mind a long event, as long as its done expediently and orderly. Its when they go long because of poor organization that I get irritated.
I agree with Michael, you shouldn't have to wait all night for contest
awards, and there are going to be friends or family members in the
audience who are not TMs. we should leave them with a positive
experience.
Generally our district contests go as follows:
6:00 - People start coming in to the banquet room
6:30 - food served
7:something - district officers start speaking, acknowledgements
7:50 - break
8:00 - contest begins; speakers speak; interviews while ballots
tallied; winners announced immediately when ballot counters are done.
It's usually all over before 10pm, then they have a governor's
reception thereafter
In the most recent contest the outgoing DG had remarks, then there
were acknowledgements, then installation of new officers. While the
contest was scheduled to begin at 8:00, it didn't actually start until
8:50. I wouldn't have minded so much, except I'd hoped my wife could
bring our 3-year-old son into the room just for my speech, as she
could last year, but they had no idea when the thing might get
underway and so they bailed out back to the hotel room. I didn't end
up getting up for my speech until 9:25 or so.
Counting ballots takes time. At the District Conference we had 16 judges (two per division) plus the tie breaker judge. You can't get through all that and double check it in 5 minutes. It is also good planning at higher levels to have something else going on to cover the time it would take to handle objections/challenges, ties, or any other irregularity that comes up. If you don't allow for that time and something does happen then you are left with awkwardness. If you don't need the time, then all the better.
I do think that leaving a good impression is communicating that while we enjoy conducting and participating in contests, the contest is not the primary focus of Toastmasters nor of the conference. There are a number of people who are turned off by the contests and ending the event with just the contests leaves them with a bad impression.
> I agree with Michael, you shouldn't have to wait all night for contest > awards, and there are going to be friends or family members in the > audience who are not TMs. we should leave them with a positive > experience.
> Generally our district contests go as follows: > 6:00 - People start coming in to the banquet room > 6:30 - food served > 7:something - district officers start speaking, acknowledgements > 7:50 - break > 8:00 - contest begins; speakers speak; interviews while ballots > tallied; winners announced immediately when ballot counters are done. > It's usually all over before 10pm, then they have a governor's > reception thereafter
> In the most recent contest the outgoing DG had remarks, then there > were acknowledgements, then installation of new officers. While the > contest was scheduled to begin at 8:00, it didn't actually start until > 8:50. I wouldn't have minded so much, except I'd hoped my wife could > bring our 3-year-old son into the room just for my speech, as she > could last year, but they had no idea when the thing might get > underway and so they bailed out back to the hotel room. I didn't end > up getting up for my speech until 9:25 or so.
I could be amenable to ending in some other way, it just has to take
into account that there are potentially a lot of non-TMs in the
audience, and be considerate of them.
I find this problem in meetings too. If we have guests, I generally
advise that if we keep the business portion of the meeting as brief as
we can. There's nothing worse than getting someone all excited
watching the speeches and then evals, and then killing everyone's mood
with the drudgery of a dragged-out business meeting at the end.
If it is dragged out drudgery, I agree. If its efficient, on-point, and under control, it can be yet another benefit to the visitor to see that they will learn how to do this in the real world.
I think its important in any TM environment, even at the National Convention, that many presenters, Toastmasters, candidates, SAA's, etc., are doing it all for the FIRST time - no matter how many times they've SEEN it done. That is part of the beauty of TM - the opportunity to do it wrong in front of a supportive audience.
Even as I add complaints to the way things are run, I have to remember to be supportive in order to stay true to TM, and the supportiveness people have shown me in my past screwups.
Yes - I know there are many who are simply perennial repeats in their roles, and imperfect practice makes for imperfect results, but overall, things probably go over pretty well.
> I could be amenable to ending in some other way, it just has to take > into account that there are potentially a lot of non-TMs in the > audience, and be considerate of them.
> I find this problem in meetings too. If we have guests, I generally > advise that if we keep the business portion of the meeting as brief as > we can. There's nothing worse than getting someone all excited > watching the speeches and then evals, and then killing everyone's mood > with the drudgery of a dragged-out business meeting at the end.
Rich, I agree entirely with your point on being supportive. I am
habitually the voice of restraint when emotions fly. This is an
unusual and uncomfortable position for me.
But at what point does someone need to stand up and say "the king's
naked!"? Perhaps it is because I had invited guests that I've reacted
so vehemently. Perhaps it's simply that I feel so strongly about our
program that I took the failing too personally.
But take heart, I have not merely vented here. I also have calls in
to the District officers to help come up with a strategy for improving
on it in the future.
Your comments will assist me in this process. Thank you all for your
contributions!
Robert
On May 5, 9:46 am, "Rich Hopkins" <rich.hopk...@gmail.com> wrote:
> If it is dragged out drudgery, I agree. If its efficient, on-point, and
> under control, it can be yet another benefit to the visitor to see that they
> will learn how to do this in the real world.
> I think its important in any TM environment, even at the National
> Convention, that many presenters, Toastmasters, candidates, SAA's, etc., are
> doing it all for the FIRST time - no matter how many times they've SEEN it
> done. That is part of the beauty of TM - the opportunity to do it wrong in
> front of a supportive audience.
> Even as I add complaints to the way things are run, I have to remember to be
> supportive in order to stay true to TM, and the supportiveness people have
> shown me in my past screwups.
> Yes - I know there are many who are simply perennial repeats in their roles,
> and imperfect practice makes for imperfect results, but overall, things
> probably go over pretty well.
> Rich.
> On 5/5/08, Colin <colin.will...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > I could be amenable to ending in some other way, it just has to take
> > into account that there are potentially a lot of non-TMs in the
> > audience, and be considerate of them.
> > I find this problem in meetings too. If we have guests, I generally
> > advise that if we keep the business portion of the meeting as brief as
> > we can. There's nothing worse than getting someone all excited
> > watching the speeches and then evals, and then killing everyone's mood
> > with the drudgery of a dragged-out business meeting at the end.
I've always understood that the contest is not the primary reason for
the conference. It is, however, our best PUBLICITY tool. And, yes,
some people don't like contests (or, it seems, any whiff of
competition). Some people don't like the Academy Awards either and for
much the same reasons. The movie industry, however, promotes the
awards because it brings people to the theaters.
I am not a contest stalker ;-). I have only participated in a few
contests over the years.
My argument has always been that the contests could be Toastmasters
top publicity tool to increase public awareness of our organization
and the importance of the communication and leadership training we
offer.
At every level we fritter that opportunity away.
On May 5, 9:58 am, "Mark Perew" <mpe...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Counting ballots takes time. At the District Conference we had 16
> judges (two per division) plus the tie breaker judge. You can't get
> through all that and double check it in 5 minutes. It is also good
> planning at higher levels to have something else going on to cover the
> time it would take to handle objections/challenges, ties, or any other
> irregularity that comes up. If you don't allow for that time and
> something does happen then you are left with awkwardness. If you
> don't need the time, then all the better.
> I do think that leaving a good impression is communicating that while
> we enjoy conducting and participating in contests, the contest is not
> the primary focus of Toastmasters nor of the conference. There are a
> number of people who are turned off by the contests and ending the
> event with just the contests leaves them with a bad impression.
> On 5/5/08, Colin <colin.will...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > I agree with Michael, you shouldn't have to wait all night for contest
> > awards, and there are going to be friends or family members in the
> > audience who are not TMs. we should leave them with a positive
> > experience.
> > Generally our district contests go as follows:
> > 6:00 - People start coming in to the banquet room
> > 6:30 - food served
> > 7:something - district officers start speaking, acknowledgements
> > 7:50 - break
> > 8:00 - contest begins; speakers speak; interviews while ballots
> > tallied; winners announced immediately when ballot counters are done.
> > It's usually all over before 10pm, then they have a governor's
> > reception thereafter
> > In the most recent contest the outgoing DG had remarks, then there
> > were acknowledgements, then installation of new officers. While the
> > contest was scheduled to begin at 8:00, it didn't actually start until
> > 8:50. I wouldn't have minded so much, except I'd hoped my wife could
> > bring our 3-year-old son into the room just for my speech, as she
> > could last year, but they had no idea when the thing might get
> > underway and so they bailed out back to the hotel room. I didn't end
> > up getting up for my speech until 9:25 or so.
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