Rapid City, SD: Top 5 Toastmasters Club

Rapid City, SD
Meets 2 PM Eastern Time on Third Sunday
Attendance: 9 members and 2 guests

Oops!

That was my overall reaction after my online trip to the Top 5 Toastmasters Club in Rapid City, SD, recently. For the first 15 minutes of the meeting, club members had a business meeting to discuss whether to meet in person or online next week. That's an important discussion that needs to happen, but, in my opinion, that's not appropriate during a regular meeting. I can only imagine the unfavorable impression that could make on someone visiting a Toastmasters meeting for the first time. I have to admit that I'm against having business meetings in general during the regular club meeting time. 

But the oops didn't stop there. It took another 15 minutes for the scheduled speaker Myra to work out technical issues. First, we couldn't hear her. Then we couldn't see her on the screen. Finally, Myra was able to start her speech at 2:30 PM, 30 minutes into the meeting. And even then, her video was intermittently on and off. Sometimes we could see her and sometimes not. Despite all that, she soldiered on and "recovered amazingly," in the words of the Toastmaster of the Day Kathleen. Myra's speech evaluator, Mallory, also pointed out that Myra cleverly inserted her frustration into her speech, which was about a water main breaking at her home.

When I visit different Toastmasters clubs, I try to view them through the eyes of a guest, especially someone who knows nothing about Toastmasters. How would guests have viewed this club? Maybe a guest would have appreciated the kind, gentle approach the meeting host and others took during the meeting as they tried to help the speaker with her technology issues. Or maybe guests would have become impatient while the club was working out those issues. Or maybe they would have thought the club should have shown more professionalism in its meeting. I don't know.

If I were to give this club advice, I would recommend that all speakers arrive at least 15 minutes before the start of the meeting to address any technology issues. At my home club, we have our Zoom room open 30 minutes before the meeting starts. I used to work at UPS and there they stress that you pre-trip your equipment and make sure everything is working before you go out on your route. Pre-tripping equipment would also help our online meetings avoid issues.

I can't say I had a good experience at this club meeting. However, I am ever mindful that Toastmasters is an educational organization and members are always learning new things. I wish Top 5 Toastmasters nothing but the best as they push forward into the future.


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