Contests continue virtually despite worldwide quarantine.

By Sherry Kuiper, DTM, District 18 Public Relations Manager

In a world crippled by coronavirus, many things have come to a halt, but not everything.

Not Toastmasters.

Stay at home orders may have stopped the club meetings, but it certainly did not stop the Toastmasters spirit.

In true Toastmasters fashion, members adapted to the circumstances and dove right in to figure out the best way to use technology to keep moving forward.

And they did it without missing a beat.

It did not take long for Toastmasters to move to the video conferencing platform, Zoom, and start holding meetings online.

Not only meetings, but speech contests.

COVID-19 hit right in the middle of the spring contest season, which is the cornerstone of Toastmasters.

In the spring, the International Speech Contest is held starting at the Club level then moving through the Area, Division and finally the District.

The District winner gets a shot at the prestigious title World Champion of Public Speaking.

Toastmasters simply were not going to let a pandemic get in the way of those plans.

This year’s District 18 International Speech Contest Winner, Alka Bromiley, delivered her winner speech titled “Be Silent No More,” which shares the story of her personal experience of domestic violence and empowers others in similar situations to reach for help and share their own stories.

For the contest, Bromiley represented Phase II Advance Toastmasters, but she is also a member of three other Toastmasters Clubs in District 18: Annapolis Toastmasters, Chesapeake Toastmasters and Hydrosonics Toastmasters; all of which are in Division C in the Annapolis, Maryland area.

The 2020 World Champion of Public Speaking contest was scheduled to be held in Paris in August.

But while a visit to the City of Light would be nice, that is not the goal.

Bromiley sees the online speech contest as an opportunity to get her message out to not just those who attend the convention but a worldwide audience.

“It’s phenomenal delivering a speech to an audience of 2,000 people,” said Bromiley. “However, that message you want to get out there, you can still get out that same message with impact online to more than 2,000 people.”

While Toastmasters are used to getting up in front of crowds, which can be an intimidating experience itself, virtual contests have their own share of moments that can be a little nerve-racking to the speaker.

“Then came the Division speech contest, which was the first online contest, and that’s when everything changed,” said Bromiley. “You are no longer standing in front of an audience where you can see their reactions and experience those reactions. You can’t get the audience to participate.”

When delivering her speech in front of the audience, Bromiley had audience participation, part of which everyone would chant “be silent no more” back to her. 

It was clear to Bromiley that audience participation was not going to work in the new online format, which caused her to rewrite portions of her speech.

If that isn’t challenging enough, there are a slew of other, more technical issues to factor in before delivering an online speech.

“Now I have to worry about if my lighting is good, I have to make sure my audio is good,” Bromiley said. “I have to make sure that my gestures fit into this little screen and that my speech is just as effective online.”

All of these challenges are not a bad thing; in fact, Bromiley says making these adjustments has made her a more creative and more confident speaker.

Bromiley now moves on to the regional round and is excited to be a part of this virtual moment in Toastmaster’s history.

“As sad as it is, not going to Paris and having that comradery,” said Bromiley. “With the fun and frivolity of it, which is all part of the excitement, I believe that we can do just as good of a performance for the contest online.”

Bromiley must make it through the regional and semi-final rounds of the International Speech Contest before making it to the World Championship of Public Speaking.

Logistics for the world championship contest are still being worked out at this time.

Visit District 18 Toastmaster online at http://www.toastmasters-d18.org to learn more about Toastmasters and updates on the World Championship of Public Speaking.