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A Message about Contests for Area and Division Governors
Take it from a past Area and Division Governor...
"It is NOT your role to conduct your Area or Division contest. It IS your role to only make sure that the contest happens and that it is conducted properly."
Let's face it. You only have a certain budget of time that you are willing to dedicate to Toastmasters. Don't spend a bunch of time on your contests. You have many other priorities such as club visits, demonstration meetings, getting new clubs chartered, officer training, well, you know the drill.
With that said, realize that it IS important, no I'll say it's absolutely crucial that you promote why contests are important to the clubs and try your darnedest to get each club in your area and division to hold club successful and professional contests and send their winners to the Area contests.
As mentioned on the contest benefits page, contests offer experiences to members in ways that no other part of the Toastmasters program can.
If you don't do your best to promote contests, members may be denied access to those experiences. Still, your emphasis as a district officer should be focused to getting clubs to hold contests, instead of you doing all of the work.
The same applies to your Area or Division contests. Promote their benefits, make sure they happen, but get other people to do the work. Maybe what I'm saying can be better understood by sharing the steps I used when I was an Area Governor.
- First, I looked on the district calendar to see when my Area contest was.
- Then, I identified how many contestants each club could send to my Area contest. Refer to the Intro and Requirements page for help with this.
- My next step was to contact another Area Governor in my division and say: "Hey, we both need a Test Speaker for our upcoming evaluation contest. The test speaker for my contest needs to be someone from a different area; so, I'll tell you what. I'll find a Test Speaker for your contest from my area if you commit to me that you will supply me with a Test Speaker for my contest from your area. I will need that person's name, phone number and E-mail address by xyz date."
After all, it's a lot more efficient use of my time to go to my own clubs (since I need to visit them anyway) and challenge someone to be a Test Speaker in another area than to show up as a complete stranger on the other side of town and try to get someone to come to my contest or pester a bunch of presidents in another area who don't know me to try to get someone reliable to commit to me.
To tell you the truth, it was even easier than that. I called a member of my own club (which was also within my area) and challenged her to the idea of being the Test Speaker for the area contest in a different area and she jumped at the opportunity. Of course, I made plans to be there myself to support her.
- Then I visited each club in my area and pitch the Area Contest. If my Area contest was scheduled for October, I would make this visit in late July or early August.
Why so soon?
Because part of this step includes getting each club to commit to having a contest and encouraging them to get the club contest date scheduled by the next meeting for sometime in late September, one to three weeks before the Area Contest.
The first club I selected to visit was a club that I had in mind to possibly host the Area Contest. Usually, I just asked the club president before the meeting starts if the club would consider hosting the contest.
Hosting involves setting up the room in advance including a couple of tables for district flyers and a lecturn and bringing snacks and drinks.
- Be prepared that you will eventually come across a club that has not held a contest or has never held one before. Excuses are many such as "Well, we only have 8 members. How can we have a contest?" or "Yeah, contests are fun but they don't really help a Toastmaster improve." I love that one!! Ha, Ha.
Have a complete list of contest benefits nearby to help you with that battle.
- Then it was time to recruit people. I needed to find a Toastmaster for the contest and a Chief Judge. (Note that I don't have to worry about the Test Speaker for my contest because that's up to the other Area Governor that I've joined forces with).
I would also take responsibility for finding two (2) people from each club in my own area to serve as judges. I didn't go through the brain damage of trying to find judges from outside my area for my area contest or outside my division for my division contest. Having two judges from each club for an area contest or two to three judges from each area for a division contest should be enough to eliminate bias.
Plus, it's up to the Chief Judge to dispell bias potential in the briefing. You'll have much better luck and will have to talk to far fewer people to get judges from your own neck of the woods.
- The Toastmaster for the event was then instructed that it would be his task to contact the winners from each club contest and tell them where and when to show up. A full version of the contest script from this web site was printed for the Toastmaster.
- The Chief Judge was then instructed that he was responsible for finding timers, vote counters, and the sergeant-at-arms. He was also to arrange for a light system and two stop watches. A full version of the contest script from this web site was printed for the Chief Judge.
- My final step (before the Contest Script took over) was to create a promotional flyer for my upcoming Area contest to pass out to clubs.
If there was a club meeting or club contest I could attend, I would ask for 30 seconds at the end of the meeting to pitch the Area contest.
When I was Division Governor, I would make a similar flyer and make a similar pitch to attend the division contest.
I've always been fortunate to have great turnouts at my Area or Division contests. Why? Because the clubs promoted the upcoming contests at every meeting and encouraged members to show up and support the contestants that were advancing to higher levels. But, that all starts with YOU, the one that needs to show by example how to promote a contest.
- Occasionally, I would check-in with the Toastmaster to make sure everything was still on schedule and if there were any questions. But, that's the main role you should play with contests after you've arranged for all of the key players. Know your contest format and be available for questions.
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Have questions or suggestions about how to conduct a contest?
Contact Marty through the webmaster link
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