My Season

It’s a season I live for. It’s contest season.

It’s my season.

My season fell short last year due to COVID-19, ending at the area level. I had been looking forward to the Division contests, and they ended up being cancelled due to the pandemic. Same with the Spring conference. Pretty soon, all Toastmaster clubs would have to meet virtually.

We held our Fall Symposium online in September. I attended the awards ceremony that morning and heard my name being called for the Spirit of Toastmasters award. I was ecstatic, to say the least. A few months later at the Winter Club Officer Training, the three of us who won the award took part in a panel discussion to answer questions related to Toastmasters (membership, education, etc.)

Two years ago, quitting Giant Eagle was the right thing for me. It wasn’t going to work out, and that was OK with me. It meant I could keep my flexible schedule and take off for the upcoming speech contests. I attended all four division contests and the District conference. I had the time of my life. I was motivated to finish what I started and get my Distinguished Toastmaster award.

I finally got it in October of 2019 and we had the ceremony during our open house that same night. I even got a proclamation from Ted Kopas and got to meet Jessica Rafferty. Both unsuccessfully ran for office in Westmoreland County in the 2019 election.

Having the meetings via zoom provides a benefit if its own. An opportunity to attend speech contests from the comfort of my own home. I’ve been stepping out of my comfort zone and attending contests in other divisions. Area 13 Director Fred Vornbrock has even suggested that I visit clubs in other states or overseas. That’s going to eventually come for me.

My contest tour got kicked off on February 4 when I attended the Area 15 contest and it continued that weekend with Area 12 and my own Area 24. I’ve been reporting on the contests for Stylish and Trendy. I’ve also taken the winning speech and applied the material to my daily life. The table topics questions have all been awesome and I’ve used them for my blogs too. I just watched Aladdin Saturday night because Jim Teague won the Area 24 Table Topics contest with it. I’m still not sure what the answer to the question would be for me. Perhaps a Disney quiz will help me here.

My future plans this month include my District Leadership Committee work as well as some upcoming area contests. Area 13 is this Wednesday. I attended that contest last year and hoped that I’d see the winners compete in March at the Division level, but we know what happened there. Area 22 will be this Saturday and that will be the last contest that will decides who competes at the Division C contest. I plan on attending some dual area contests next week and possibly a couple in Division D the first week of March before we start the Division round on March 13.

This year is already setting a records. Most area contests attended in my Toastmasters career. Happy almost tenth Toastmasters anniversary. One thing’s for certain, I’m really enjoying myself with these contests even if it’s on a virtual platform.

It’s a season I live for. It’s contest season.

It’s my season.