For the speech contests, at the club level, then the area, to the division, and to the district, it is a long road for contestants and volunteers.  We all know how important it is to leverage volunteers’ time in order to host these speech contests.

Efficient Planning at the Area Level

At the area level, Division A Council was able to use the same volunteers in the morning to do 2 area contests, then in the afternoon, do the other 2 area contests. It was a long day, but the feeling of relief of accomplishment is amazing.  Here’s a shoutout to the Area Directors of Division A, as they put a lot of time collaborating and organizing the area speech contests.

A Unified Circle of Gold Session Approach

The same could be said for the COG session.  We did the table topics and international speech evaluations at the same time with the same volunteers.  We were all in the same room.  As we are all Toastmasters, after each round of evaluations, we would ask the room for additional feedback; everyone got a chance to comment regardless of whether they were a table topics contestant commenting on an international speech and vice versa.  It was a good way to get way more feedback from everyone present.  

A Shoutout to Geetha Nicodemus

Thank you to Geetha Nicodemus for handling Division A COG.  Once I recommended her, she did the entire show – booking venue, finding evaluators, contacting contestants, prepping timer cards, having a script, having table topics questions ready, switching up the criteria for each evaluator after each contestant’s speech, and preparing snack food and drinks during break time.  It was a lot of planning for one person.  Coming back to less is more.  We were able to handle all the evaluations for the contestants in one session.  We all got so much out of that.  The contestants will be well prepared at the District-level speech contests.

To leverage volunteers’ time, the area’s online contests were handled in one event.  All the areas for Division A were able to compete and do all their online speeches instead of breaking it up into two online contests for two areas.  

Collaboration Across Divisions

Lastly, the Division A area online contests will be handled the same way.  Division A noticed we did not have many contestants.  While we have volunteers to handle the speech, it was agreed with Division C to do our online contests together!  The event may be slightly longer, but to use the volunteers available, we will be able to complete more speech contests.  Both Division A and Division C collaborating and sharing volunteers make it much easier to plan and also to complete the speech contests.  In that same line of thought, Division A and Division C are doing the online COG together – why not?  

Here’s a shoutout to Saya Sanyal, who looked after the chief judge role for the area online contests for all of Division A, and will also do the chief judge role for the division contests for Division A and Division C.

I don’t want to discount all the efforts of everyone who helped out, volunteering for the speech contests at each level.  There are too many names to list, and a good portion of judges’ names that need to remain anonymous – TM rules. For the volunteers, you know who you are.  Give yourself a pat on the back as your efforts played a big role in running the speech contests.

The Habit of Stacking Efficiency

In summary, somewhat related to the methodology of habit stacking to find ways to get more done in the same amount of time, by leveraging the time of the same volunteers, completing speech contests can be done more efficiently and effectively.  Think about that the next time you are planning club officer training sessions, speech contests, or keynote speeches for multiple clubs/areas, or even planning tasks on large-scale projects at home or at work!  Leverage time if possible, and know that in certain situations, when used correctly, less is more can be quite powerful.

Stanley Vong
Division A Director 2024-2025