Volunteering, Organization and Some Tips

I am a volunteer that invests one of my rare commodities, time, into things that might have an impact to an overall health of society. You just don't know where or when someone will use this knowledge to rock the boat. Why "to rock the boat"? If we don't rock the boat, we become complacent and that means that we are not alive anymore.

I organized a speech contest couple of weeks ago and below are my tips for all who might be doing it in the future.
I am writing this so that someone else who needs to organize a contest, could do it in an easier way, as so little was offered by the division in terms of tips and tricks for the contest organization.
They did organize trainings, and I give five thumbs up for that effort, but the content offered was...perhaps it is harsh to say useless, but that's how I felt, and as a matter of fact haven't attended any other trainings. I got turned off.

Contestant's orientation

Things that I learned:

1. Don't expect help from clubs in your area immediately

Problem here is in timing. The "semester" should start in September, and not in July. People are away in July and August and they don't care about Toastmasters during summer months (except hard-cores that have their lives revolving around toastmasters).

2. Don't expect help from people you never met and never talked to (for example when you contact people from judge's list)

Again, nobody is interested to do this if they are informed during summer. People don't respond well to strangers - this means that you'll need time to build relationships so that you can ask them for help.

3. Don't expect that anyone is responsible

This is volunteering and it needs time to establish cadence of accountability. People are different, and many of them don't have skills needed to do things they signed for. It is necessary to spend time to teach them about it, and especially to check if they have tools needed to do it.

4. Don't expect that anyone will do more

(Again, this is volunteering and it will take time to influence people to do more). Many thumbs up for those who actually DO more.

5. Expect that you'll have to do a majority of work

(And this is OK, as you are a main organizer). Once you know people in your area and depending on your leadership style, you might get people aroused to do more.

6. Don't expect that you'll get a good response (from presidents) during summer months (if you send any kind of request)

(However, establish a group rules on your first council meeting)

7. Focus to contact club's presidents in person

(Very important as that helps to build a relationship). Everyone needs to feel connection, real, not virtual connection. Of course, excuse is "no time", but time can always be given to things that matter.

8. Spend time with presidents, one on one

(To build a relationship)

9. Ask division governor (or anyone who "knows" the environment and people who can help) for help with judges recruitment

Chief judge orientation

10. Book a venue for the contest as early as possible (3 months earlier)

11. Try to get an experienced toastmaster to be your master of ceremony

12. Ask people that you know to help you

13. Helpers:

• Assign each club with a certain task - this is best done at Area Council meeting, where you can ask them what they think about it
• Contest Organizer (this will be you)
• Contest Chair (this also might be you)
• Greeter
• Registration desk
• Sgt.at Arms (it should be 2)
• Facility Chair
• 2 timers
• 2 ballot counters
• Try to get at least 8 helpers
• Plan for backups

14. Food

• Assign 2 clubs to do this
• One will bring food (snack food, doughnuts and vegetables) and plates, cutlery and glasses
• One will bring water and non-alcoholics drinks

15. Judges

• There should be 1 chief judge and 6 other judges. If you get less it is still possible to do it.
• Have the chief judge introduce the contest at the beginning. They are usually a veteran members with high level of authority, that can grab the audience attention.
• Ask clubs to get a judge each

Chief Judge Orientation

16. Invest time to talk with other interested members. Presidents won't show up sometimes, but their VP of Education, or VP of Membership, even Sgt. at Arms could show and as a matter of fact, become instrumental in the event organization.

17. During contest

• Come early
• Introduce yourself to people you don't know
• Use first impression to start building relationships
• Let everyone does their thing
• Be a connector and instil some humour
• Speak little, get to the point quickly, let your MC to do his/her job

18. Awards

• Give publicly awards for 1st and 2nd place. Third place and participants certificate could be distributed after the event.
• Fill out certificates before the contest, so that you only need to write the winners, 2nd and 3rd place names

19. Agenda

Get the agenda template from someone who already did it before. Ask your division governor for help.

20. Documents that you need

• Agenda: You'll need ~ 20 copies of agenda
• Sign-up sheet
• Ask 2 people to print it for you, so that you have a backup in case one of them can't make it

21. Create a collaborative dashboard where everything is recorded and everyone involved can update their status

Bottom line here is to invest time to BUILD RELATIONSHIPS. Problem here, though, is that the term is only 1 year long, and it is not possible to build a quality relationship in such short period of time. The term should last at least 2 years.

Back to the contest, certainly, there could be some other things that I didn't mention above, but this is a summary of everything I remembered that could help you to do it. 

Best thing is that you will have tons of fun, and that there are other ways of doing it.

Just do it. Explore it. Rock the boat. Live.