DISTRICT 20 ONLINE SPEECH CONTEST BEST PRACTICES FOR ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Release 1.1: March 30, 2020 Compiled by: Cajetan Barretto
Toastmasters International
District 20 | Region 11
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Contents 1) Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 3 2)
Technology ............................................................................................................................................ 5
a. Use PC/Mac & get familiar with ZOOM ............................................................................. 5 b. ZOOM Licensing ................................................................................................................. 5 c. ZOOM Tutorials .................................................................................................................. 6 d. Internet ................................................................................................................................. 6 e. Audio.................................................................................................................................... 7 f.
ZOOM General Settings ...................................................................................................... 7
g. ZOOM Meeting Settings...................................................................................................... 8 3)
Logistics ................................................................................................................................................. 9
a. Team Structure ..................................................................................................................... 9 b. Team Coordination ............................................................................................................ 10 4)
Execution (Pre-Contest) ...................................................................................................................... 11
a. Setting up the Rooms (Host):............................................................................................. 11 b. Setting up the Waiting Room (Host): ................................................................................ 12 c. Admitting attendees into the Contest Hall (SAA/Co-Host):.............................................. 12 d. Room Assignment (Host): ................................................................................................. 13 e. Contestant Briefing (Contest Chair & Contestants): ......................................................... 13 f. 5)
Judges Briefing (Chief Judge & Judges): .......................................................................... 16 Execution (Contest): ............................................................................................................................ 17
a.
Opening the Contest & Ground Rules (SAA): .................................................................. 17
b. Contest Details (Master of Ceremonies): ........................................................................... 18 c.
The Contest (Contest Chair): ............................................................................................. 19
d. Speech Delivery (Contestants):.......................................................................................... 20 e. Ballot Marking (Judges): ................................................................................................... 21 f.
Enable/Disable Chat: ......................................................................................................... 21
g.
Ballot Collection (Judging Team):..................................................................................... 22
g.
Ballot Counting (Chief Judge & Tally Counters): ............................................................. 22
h. Announcing Results (Chief Judge & Contest Chair): ........................................................ 23 6)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) ..................................................................................................... 24
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1)
Introduction: The spread of corona virus (COVID-19) in 2020 has changed the global landscape overnight. Governments have rightly put restrictions on social gatherings that impacted everyone, including Toastmasters. Things that were unheard of suddenly became a reality. Things that were nowhere as popular suddenly moved from the background to the foreground. Online meetings and online contests are examples of this reality. Toastmasters International has authorized districts to conduct online contests. District 20 took the initiative early on to test the waters of online contests and to fine-tune the process for its divisions and eventually the DTAC (District Toastmasters Annual Contest). The district leadership, under the guidance of DTM Saleem Mohammed, created 2 large online mock contests with attendance of 200+. This document has been created based on the experience gained from these mock contests; the learnings can be directly applied for any club or districtlevel contest.
Approach an online contest as any normal contest with the same level (or more) of effort, preparation, dedication, and teamwork. Mohammed Saleem, DTM Program Quality Director, District 20
The leadership at District 20 envisioned an event that closely mimics a real-life contest and quickly assembled a team that was primarily made up of District Executive Committee members (EXCOM) to test and create a “best practices� document for the district and beyond. The technology chosen to host these contests is ZOOM. ZOOM provides all the features required to run an effective contest at an affordable price. The organizing team worked tirelessly for several weeks to train contestants, role players, and to sort out technology issues. This document is a distillation of all the information gained from the weeks of preparation and execution.
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The person selected to oversee an event of this scale was none other than our (RA) Region Advisor and past District 20 Director DTM Ali Shahbaz. DTM Ali has vast experience in conducting global online events and his colossal network of resources across the globe made these events truly global.
We have a unique opportunity to enhance our leadership, communication & public speaking skills on virtual platforms, let's excel beyond boundaries.
Ali Shahbaz, DTM Region 11 Advisor
DTM Ali wanted to carefully balance practical needs with technical challenges. The choices made in terms of contest preparation, role assignment and event execution all reflect this practical thinking. It is possible to automate tasks such as ballot, ballot counting etc. but we chose a process that does not require too much training on technology but instead mixes a careful blend of manual work and available technology.
Finally, the team that worked behind the scenes to execute these two events.
Rajesh Venugopal, TM D20 Logistics Manager
Khalid Abdullah, DTM Division B Director
Jahangir Khan, DTM Division C Director
Pon Sankar, DTM Division D Director
A V Murali Manohar, DTM Division E Director
Alifiya Lakdawala, DTM Past Division Director
Rohaina Tanveer, TM Area 17 Director
Sahar Al-Wardagi, TM Area 18 Director
Tabassum Ali, TM Area 19 Director
Cajetan Barretto, TM Area 21 Director
Mohamed Dashti, DTM Area 26 Director
Srinivas Chelapathy, TM Area 29 Director
Allen Paul, TM Area 30 Director
Faisal Jameel, TM Area 31 Director
Saira Ranj, DTM Asst. Director PQ Div-C
Abdul Waheed, TM Asst. Director CG Area31
Khalid Manzoor, TM District 20
Naeem Yousuf, TM District 20
District-104
District-114
District-20
Wafaa Salman, DTM District 20 Director
Abdullah Filimban, DTM District 104 Director
Mohammed Kunhi, DTM PQD District 104
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Mohamed Qahtani, DTM WCPS 2015
Saeed Abdullah, TM District 104
District 20 | Region 11
Erika Barretto Proof reading
Ahmad Al-Moudi, TM District 104
Harry Karanja, DTM District 114 TC Director
Farhan Nawab, TM District 104
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2) Technology This section describes the technology & licensing requirements to conduct online meetings.
a. Use PC/Mac & get familiar with ZOOM: Every role player needs to get familiar with the ZOOM app and its controls, especially in terms of managing the attendees, room assignment, troubleshooting technical problems of contestants etc. To install the application on your PC, go to www.zoom.com and download the app. The best way to get familiar with the app is to create your own ZOOM account and start hosting small online meetings with friends or your Toastmaster club. This will give you the confidence to manage your role on the contest day. Role players are expected to manage contests using a LAPTOP or a PC. Using a mobile phone to run a contest is not recommended.
Figure 1 ZOOM is a very simple-to-use application
b. ZOOM Licensing: ZOOM is a subscription-based solution. You will need to pay for the right level of service. For district level events, the following is recommended: 2 Hosts @ 14.99 per host/month. If meeting will have attendance of more than 100, then an add-on of 500 attendees at $65 per month may be needed.
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c. ZOOM
Tutorials: ZOOM has professionally developed training videos to help users understand various controls. It is recommended you go through the videos and learn. From a role player perspective, you need to understand everything about ZOOM, especially all the ZOOM settings, and how they impact the actual meeting.
☞
Professionally Developed Training Videos from ZOOM
d. Internet: Make sure you have a strong internet connection. A weak connection will make your video look pixelated and the audio will not be clear to the audience. Test your connection with a speed test from https://www.speedtest.net/. In addition to the speed, you also need stability in the connection. Run the test at different times to ensure you are getting consistent connectivity. You don’t want your video to freeze in the middle of your role and stop the contest!
Figure 2 Typical Speed of a 4G connection. Good for ZOOM contests
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e. Audio: As a role player, your audio should be top-notch as you are controlling many aspects of the speech contest. Audience and contestants must be able to hear your instructions clearly. Invest in good quality headset to speak. A wired headset is recommended since that delivers the best audio quality.
Figure 3 A wired headset allows you to speak clearly
f. ZOOM General Settings:
We recommend the following ZOOM settings to be configured. To modify the ZOOM settings, go to My Account->Settings
Figure 1 Configure ZOOM settings correctly
Chat Annotation Whiteboard Non-Verbal Feedback Breakout-Room Waiting Room
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: Enable : Disable : Disable : Enable : Enable : Enable for All Participants
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g. ZOOM Meeting Settings: When scheduling the contest, we recommend the following settings to be configured. To modify the ZOOM settings, go to My Account->Meetings
Topic & Description Date & Time Recurring Registration Meeting ID Meeting Password Video Audio Enable Join before Host Mute Participants on Entry Enable Waiting Room Only Auth. can Join Breakout Room Pre-Assign Record the meeting auto.
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: Details of the Contest : As per planned schedule : Disable : Disable : Generate Automatically : No (SAA will validate all in the waiting room) : Off for both Host & Participant : Both : No : Yes : Yes : No : Yes : Choose as appropriate
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3) Logistics: There is no difference between running an online contest compared to a physical contest. The same systems must be followed with additional processes to handle technology and failures related to technology. This document looks at only the logistics from the contest management. The other processes related to education committee, contestant selection etc. remains the same.
a. Team Structure: Division X used the following team structure. Sr#
1
2
3
Role Player
Backup
Moderator/Host
NA
At least 3 more
SAA (co-hosts)
At least 1 more
Timer
Responsibility Create Breakout Rooms, Assign contestants, contest chairs, SAA etc. to correct rooms. This is a full-time job. The moderator should not take any other role. • The Sergeant-At-Arms monitors the waiting room and admits only role-players and contestants before the start of the contest. • Manages muting/unmuting of attendees, switching off videos from attendees, and moving in and out of the breakout rooms to keep the contest moving smoothly. The Timer is a crucial role in an online contest. Contestants must learn how to PIN the timer to their screen and the backup timer must take over in case of technology failure. • The MC conducts the online contest like any contest.
4
Master of Ceremony
1
• A backup MC has an identical script. In case of technology failure, the backup MC continues from where the main MC stopped. • The contest chair conducts the online contest like any contest.
5
Contest Chair (per contest)
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• A backup contest chair has an identical script. In case of technology failure, the backup CC
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continues from where the main CC stopped.
6
7
Chief Judge, Tally Counters, Judges, Tie-Breaker Judge, Test Speaker
Contestants
NA
These work same as a normal contest. CJ appoints backups as is the normal protocol. Backups are used in case the person could not attend or comes across a technology failure
NA
Please see separate document for Contestants. Contestants follow different guidelines due to their role as performers.
b. Team Coordination: Division X setup the following tools for team coordination. Sr# Tool
1
2
Role
WhatsApp is an excellent group communication tool for sharing thoughts and new ideas. Division X team used WhatsApp extensively for contest preparation
ZOOM
Ad-hoc discussions and training sessions were conducted using the ZOOM application during the run-up to the actual mock contest. Separate training sessions were conducted for contestants and role players
c.
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4) Execution (Pre-Contest):
The big day is upon us. How does the orchestra of role players work together to pull off a contest that seems seamless and high calibre to the audience?
a. Setting up the Rooms (Host): The host creates the virtual rooms required for running a smooth contest. Division X used the following room structure. It is possible to combine some rooms to simplify the room structure, but this is up to the organizing team. For example, instead of having separate rooms for contest briefing and isolation (for table topics & evaluation), same room can be used.
Waiting Area Judges Briefing Room
Contestant Briefing Room (one for each contest)
Isolation Room
Ballot Counting (Restricted)
Protest Room (Restricted) Contest Hall
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b. Setting up the Waiting Room (Host): The host can customize the waiting room to let the attendees know they are at the right place. ZOOM customization allows the host to setup a logo and a custom text for the meeting.
c. Admitting attendees into the Contest Hall (SAA/Co-Host): Only 1 SAA is assigned the responsibility of admitting attendees into the Contest Hall. Before the start of the contest, the SAA monitors the waiting room and only admits the contestants and role players into the contest hall. This ensures that the logistics of assigning contestants and judges to the correct briefing room is simplified. Contestants and Role players are briefed beforehand to name themselves for easy identification by the SAA. We followed the naming convention shown below. Organizing
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committee is free to choose a naming convention that makes sense to them.
d. Room Assignment (Host): As the SAA admits the role players and contestants into the main hall, the host starts assigning the person to the appropriate break-out room. If a contestant is participating in multiple contests, the host will need to agree with the contest chairs and contestants regarding the order of the briefing as a contestant can be present in any one room at a given point in time. The contestant will have to be re-assigned in order to be briefed by another contest chair. If there are many common contestants, the organizers may choose to have a single briefing room for all contestants and contest chairs.
e. Contestant Briefing (Contest Chair & Contestants): Once the host assigns the contestant and the contest chair into the briefing room, all assigned participants will automatically get a notification to move into the briefing (breakout) room. The Contest chair proceeds with the briefing as would happen in a normal contest.
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Ensure all contestants are present (or their proxy)
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Review Contestant Eligibility Form (contestants should share these electronically)
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Instructs contestants on contest rules (as per TI contest rule book)
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Ensure technical setup is ready for the contest (audio/video test)
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Determines Speaking Order
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Instruct contestants on the timers & timing devices
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Exit to the contest hall
Due to the virtual nature of the briefing, the following 2 points require special attention:
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Speaking Order: Division X used a simple EXCEL file to allow the participants to virtually select their speaking order. During the briefing, the contest chair will request the contestants to choose one of the letters. In the example below, let us assume we have 4 contestants. As each contestant chooses the letter, the contest chair enters the name of the contestant against the letter.
Figure 4 Speaking Order Sheet.
Once all the contestants have chosen their letter, the ‘Speaking Order’ column is revealed to allocate the speaking order.
Figure 5 Once all the contestants have chosen the letter, speaking order is revealed
If you want the ready-to-use EXCEL file, click on the link below:
☞
Speaking Order
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Timers & Timing devices: Timing is a challenge in an online contest. Based on our experience, the following instructions should be given to the contestants in order to provide a practical solution on observing the time during a speech.
As per TI guidelines, all attendees are expected to switch off their videos (except the speaker and the timers). The speaker can use this guideline to his benefit by eliminating the clutter on the screen and retain only the video of the 2 timers. This is done in the video settings.
In the video settings, enable ‘Hide non-video participants’.
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The contestant can also make use of the ‘PIN VIDEO’ feature. During the briefing, the contest chair should brief the contestant on the main timer and the backup timer. Before starting the speech, the contestant must ‘PIN’ the timer. This will display the timer screen as your main view. To pin the timer screen, hover on the timer screen, click on the ‘…’ dot and choose ‘Pin Video’.
Figure 6 Pinning the timer will show the timer screen for the contestant.
In case of technology failure from the main timer, the contestant should keep an eye on the top of the screen for the backup timer who will take over the timer duties.
f. Judges Briefing (Chief Judge & Judges): The Chief Judge manages his team of anonymous judges, tie-breaker judge, and test-speaker along with the team of timers and ballot counters. Before the start of the contest, the host assigns the Chief Judge, Judges and Ballot counters to the Judge briefing room. The Chief Judge proceeds with the briefing as would happen in a normal contest.
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Ensure minimum judges are available as per contest rulebook
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Review and collect Judges Certificate of Eligibility & Code of Ethics
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Briefing as per contest rule book
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Ensure Judges have the ballot sheets
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Exit to the contest hall
Communication between the Judges and the Chief Judge is done using WhatsApp groups.
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5) Execution (Contest):
The judges and the contestants are briefed, and all role players and contestants have exited the briefing rooms and are present in the Contest hall. The online contest begins!
Figure 7 Contest in Progress. Participants’ videos are turned off.
a. Opening the Contest & Ground Rules (SAA): The Sergeant-At-Arms opens the contest by muting all the attendees, switching off all the videos and proceeds with the ground rules. A sample used by Division X is given below. You may adapt as per your needs Leaders, Toastmasters from around the world, we welcome you to the first of its kind Virtual Online ContestDivision X organized by District <xx>. I am <xxx> your chief SAA for today’s meeting. A few ground rules before we begin the contest1.Kindly make sure that your device – either laptop or phones are charged, and you have stable internet connection. 2. Kindly refrain from any side chats in the chat box especially when the contestant is giving a speech. 3.Kindly mute your mics and close your video when the role players or contestants are speaking. 4.Topics like sex, politics and religion are prohibited in this part of the world in a Toastmasters Contest. 5.All contestant are briefed on how they will be isolated during table topics and evaluation contest. 6. We can all clap by unmuting our mics after the contestant finishes his or her speech. But please refrain to start your video if not required. I will now read the district mission- “We build new clubs and support all clubs in achieving excellence.” With this I would like to introduce the master of ceremonies for today-<xxx>
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Figure 8 SAA opens the contest.
b. Contest Details (Master of Ceremonies): The SAA unmutes the Master of Ceremonies (MC). The MC kick-starts the contest as in a normal contest. Dignitaries may be asked to address the audience. If the MC will ask dignitaries to speak, it is advisable to make the MC the cohost. This will allow the MC to quickly unmute the correct dignitary and mute them once they are finished. The master of ceremony also details the mechanics of the online contest to the audience, role players and contestants. In addition to the introductions, the Master of Ceremony also lays down ground-rules of the contest. Even though the SAA has announced some of the ground rules, a few are repeated for emphasis. We used the following MC script. You may edit it as per your needs. 1.Let me quickly say- kindly ensure the connectivity to internet is stable. Any technical issues from your endespecially this is for our beautiful contestants- will result in your disqualification. 2. We recommend role players to use Laptops for clarity of THE VIEW. 3. If contestants are using their phone kindly make sure your calls are diverted. 4.All attendees are requested to keep their videos off and mics muted. 5. We repeat again kindly refrain from any side chat or comments. Especially when the contestant is speaking. If any toastmaster or attendee does not follow these ground/ house rules or causes disruption in any manner they will be removed from this virtual contest without warning. 6. When the contest is over the moderators will unmute their mics and applaud for the contestants. Similarly, while announcing the result the same pattern will be followed. 7. For today’s Contest – We are conducting – International speech contest AND Table Topics contest only. There will be 4 contestants and 5 contestants respectively. 8. We request everyone to log in with correct names for the host and cohost to recognize you eg- Chief Judge – DTM Ali Shahbaz Ali. Chief SAA TM Faisal Jameel. Your role followed by your name.
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9. If Contestants and role players are using 2 devices – main and back up – please name them main and backup accordingly. 10.In all the contests we will have two timers. Contestants are requested to pin the timer before they begin their speech. Contestants are also requested to remove all the non-video participants as briefed by the contest chair. This will ensure you can see the backup timer in case of any technical failure by the main timer. 11. Kindly note since this is a virtual contest the timing will begin for the contestant only after their initial thumbs up signal for the contestant. A few extra seconds will be given to you to set up your mics and screen before you start speaking. 12. Other ground rules will be explained by the respective contest master as and when the contest begins.
Figure 9 Master of Ceremony
c. The Contest (Contest Chair): The SAA unmutes the Contest Chair (CC) and the CC starts the contest. It is recommended that the CC is made the cohost to allow him to unmute and mute the contestants in the correct order. CC must agree with the SAA who is responsible for this task. Only 1 person must take this responsibility. Contest script will follow the normal guidelines. Please adapt the script as per your requirements. Other contests can follow similar structure for script. A sample script is available at the link below.
☞ The Contest (Contest Chair)
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Figure 10 Contest Chair
d. Speech Delivery (Contestants): The contestants deliver their speech, evaluation or table topic as agreed in the briefing. Instructions for contestants are available in a separate document “Best Practices for Online Contests – Contestants”. Please familiarize yourself with the instructions and get comfortable with the technology. Contestants cannot rely on audience feedback to adjust their speech delivery as all the webcams will be switched off and all audio devices will be muted. Adapt the speech delivery based on these circumstances.
Figure 11 A contestant delivering International Speech with props
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e. Ballot Marking (Judges): As in a normal contest, 1 minute of silence is observed after each speech for the judges to mark their ballots. Maintaining silence is not an issue as the SAA mutes all microphones. If any audience member unintentionally switches on the video, it can be stopped by the SAA monitoring the contest hall. The following notice may be displayed during the 1 minute of silence.
f. Enable/Disable Chat: During the critical phases of the contest (especially when the contest is in progress), we recommend disabling all CHAT. This is done by the host using the in-meeting control as shown below:
Figure 2 Enable/Disable chat during contest.
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g. Ballot Collection (Judging Team): At the end of the contest, Judges will use agreed protocol with the chief judge to submit their scores. Division X used a low-tech process that does not involve too much technology for ballot counting. If the judging team is tech-savvy, consider using automated tools. For example, the team at toastmost (https://contest.toastmost.org/) has devised a comprehensive ballot marking and ballot counting process using technology. However, it requires additional training for all the judges, timers and ballot counters. We used the following protocol for ballot collection. -
Judge compiles the standard Toastmasters ballot sheet and marks the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. See example below:
Figure 12 Ballot marking 1st, 2nd and 3rd place
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Judge takes a photo of the filled ballot and crops the photo to include only the winning entries along with his name and signature.
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Judge sends a WhatsApp messages to the Chief Judge AND the assigned ballot counters.
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The Tie-Breaker judge follows similar protocol except he will mark all the contestants and share the WhatsApp message ONLY with the Chief Judge.
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The Timer takes a screen shot of the final timings for each contestant and share WhatsApp message with both the Chief Judge and the Tally Counters
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Chief Judge and Ballot counters confirm with each other whether they have received all the ballots and timing sheets.
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Once all the ballots are collected, the Chief Judge instructs the host to assign the ballot counting team (CJ and ballot counters) to the ‘Ballot counting breakout room’
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The CJ and ballot counting team moves to the breakout room.
g. Ballot Counting (Chief Judge & Tally Counters): Ballot counting is done in the breakout room. At the end of the contest, the ‘host’ assigns the Chief Judge and the ballot counters to the breakout room. In the breakout room, the CJ and tally counters confirm they have received the ballots from all the assigned judges along with the timing sheets. The Chief Judge uses the ‘SHARE’ screen to create an EXCEL file that mimics the Toastmasters tally counter sheet.
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As the ballot counter reads out the scores, the Chief Judge compiles the EXCEL file and the ballot counter confirms the entry. Disqualifications are marked and the result compiled and agreed by the Chief Judge and the ballot counters.
Figure 13 Sample Tally Sheet using EXCEL
A sample Tally sheet is available for use at the following link below.
☞ Sample Tally Sheet h. Announcing Results (Chief Judge & Contest Chair): Once the results are finalized, the Chief Judge informs the Contest chair (using WhatsApp) the final standings. The Master of Ceremonies introduces the Contest chair who will announce the results in the reverse order as per Toastmasters protocol. That concludes the contest.
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6) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) We have compiled a list of FAQ raised by contestants, role players, and attendees for easy reference.
1. What if there is a technical issue during the speech which the contestant is not aware? (e.g. audio is not clear to the judges) Instructions from Toastmasters International regarding technology failure is as follows: d. If technology fails during the contest i. And the chief judge determine that the contest can no longer continue (due to a lack of contestants or contest officials), the contest will be reconvened later or time. ii. And only one contestant is impacted, the chief judge should pause the contest until the technology issue is resolved. The contestant should resume their speech at the point at which the technology failed and will be allowed 30 seconds extra overtime before being disqualified.
☞ Reference link from Toastmasters International 2. If the timer’s screen has a technical issue, and e.g., I don’t see the green cards but directly see the yellow or red card. No one else notices this but I will feel distracted. After my speech I tell the contest chair or the chief judge. Will I be allowed to repeat my speech? Please refer to the ‘Timer & Timing Devices’ in this document. Contestant is briefed on hiding non-video participants and ensuring both the main timer and backup timer are clearly visible to him/her before the start of the speech. The contestant will not be allowed to repeat the speech.
3. Can I use the Virtual Background feature of ZOOM? Contestants are not allowed to use the Virtual background. This is so because it may interfere with the clarity of your visual if done without an appropriate green screen.
4. Will my marks be deducted if I deliver my speech sitting down? Do I get extra points for delivering my speech standing up?
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There are no rules prohibiting delivering a speech sitting down. However, the following instructions from Toastmasters International are interpreted as requirements to deliver the speech standing up. The reference image also indicates that contestant must be visible at least from waist height. The contest chair explains the designated speaking area for the contest. They must be set to ensure that each contestant’s gestures and facial expressions will be captured by their camera and their voice will be clearly captured by the microphone.
☞ Reference link from Toastmasters International 5. Since there is no contest chair to help me, if I have a presentation, can I ask a family member to shift slides on the computer? The contestant must advise the contest chair during the briefing on the exact nature of the assistance provided, and the contest chair must agree to the assistance, prior to the contest.
6. If I am recording myself and my timing is different from the official timer (he disqualified me), can I protest by showing my recording as a proof? As per contest rule book, a contestant can raise a protest only on eligibility and originality. Disqualifications related to timing can be only raised by the designated timers immediately after the results are announced. 7.
Are the keyboard short-cuts I can use for controlling ZOOM? ZOOM options can be toggled on and off using keyboard shortcuts. For a list of all the shortcuts, click the link below.
☞ Reference link from ZOOM for Keyboard Shortcuts.
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