First Impressions: Evaluating District 84’s 2011 Fall Conference Through Fresh Eyes

If District 84 Toastmasters only gets one chance to make a first impression, what impression does it make? It’s always interesting to hear what ‘fresh eyes’ have to say about a District 84 Conference. This year, several of our first-time attendees were willing to share their impressions, from heartfelt praise to thoughtful suggestions for
improvement.

Want to hear what they had to say?

Janet Beckles, President of ‘You Talkin’ To Me?’ Toastmasters Club, said “I have been a member of Toastmasters for about nine months and thus far I’m loving every minute of it! After hearing about the conferences and looking at the photos that are on the Suntalkers website, I knew I didn’t want to miss another one. Attending D84’s ‘Once
Upon a Time…A Fairy Tale Fall Conference’ as a First Timer just added to my excitement of being a Toastmaster.”

James Presley, CC, from PMI-NEFL Toastmasters, wrote “I very much enjoyed the conference. I enjoyed the evaluations and the humorous speeches. I joined Toastmasters when we started our club in June. I have since earned my CC and Ambassador’s pin.”

Unfortunately, work kept Alice Palmateer, Toastmasters at Twleve, from being able to stay for the Speech Evaluation Contest, or to attend the educational classes, but she said “I made it for the meals and the Humorous Speech Contest. I enjoyed that.”

“I was pretty happy with the Fall Conference,” Neil Peterson, CC, Area 23 Governor, indicated. “The speech contest was the most outstanding thing. I wasn’t expecting the quality of speeches to be that good, but the caliber of speeches was excellent!”

Neil also commented on the location, saying “Daytona Beach was very nice, with the beach outside and the ocean view. It was like a mini-vacation. It would be nice to have the conference at a beach location again.”

Of those that participated in the First-Timers’ events, some indicated that they would like to see the Saturday morning meeting time pushed back from 7:30 to 8:00am, but our First-Timer’s Contest winner, Mabel Burridge said, as a ‘morning person’, 7:30 was not a problem for her. Timing was the main reason given for not attending the First
Timer session.

The Three Levels of Enchantment scavenger hunt seemed to be well-received, with a number of first timers participating, and at least three competitors going all out to fill out their program plus find the ‘Magic Scrolls’. “The competition was real. It wasn’t boring,” Mabel laughed.
Goals our first-time attendees had for the conference included:

• Attend educational sessions
• Meet new people
• Share experiences
• Watch and learn from skilled speakers in the competitions
• See examples of experienced Toastmasters
• Learn more advanced communications skills
• Learn ways to leverage their time in Toastmasters to be more effective
• Network with other Toastmasters Clubs
• Enjoy the Daytona Beach location

No evaluation would be complete without some suggestions for tweaking our performance. While almost everyone enjoyed having a themed evening, there was some concern about overuse of the theme, particularly in describing the educational sessions. A couple of members noted that a clearer description of the sessions would
be helpful. Other observations and/or suggestions:

•  Almost everyone wished they could have attended educational sessions that were held concurrently
• Perhaps have a first time person paired up with an experienced person for a short mentoring session on what to expect from the conference and from Toastmasters in general, talking with the first time attendee about how to get engaged.
• Before the speech contest, perhaps have a short explanation for the less knowledgeable about approaches to evaluations, rather than just giving everyone an evaluation sheet in their program. Could there be a teaching moment here?

What’s next for these (now) ‘Old-Timers’? Will they be back?

Mabel is already working on her costume. Alice says she’s coming back to attend the educational sessions she had to miss this time. Neil is looking forward to the Spring Conference, when he’ll have time to attend the educational sessions he missed this time, thanks to manning the Hospitality Suite.

“I’m definitely going to the Spring Conference,” Neil said. “Our Division is in charge of Conference Book ads, which will be finished by the time we get to Conference.I’ll have a chance to participate in things in the mornings – I tried to make it this time, but I can’t do both late night and early morning. I look forward to going to the Saturday morning sessions in the Spring.”

James said, “Overall, I very much enjoyed the conference, and I look forward to attending others. My thanks go out to everyone who worked so hard to make it happen. I have a good idea how much work goes into these events.”

Given that the best evaluations on a strongly positive note, Janet provided a perfect wrap-up. “During the First-Timer’s gathering, it was said that you will never be a First-Timer again, so I made sure I enjoyed everything in order to have wonderful memories and be able to pass on my experience to others and encourage them
to attend, also. I’m looking forward to attending the Spring Conference and the International Convention, which will be here in Orlando! Do I sound excited? Does it sound like I’m hooked? You are so on the money if your answer is ‘Yes!’”