Voting
The Sergeant At Arms will distribute voting slips towards the end of the meeting that will have provision for you to write your choice of the following:
- Best Assignment
- Best Supportive Assignment
- Best Speaker
- Best Evaluator
The meeting agenda displays which is an assignment and which is a supportive assignment.
Perpetual awards will be presented to the winner of each category. The trophies for these awards must remain with the club’s equipment, i.e. they are not to be taken home.
To make a decision about who delivered the best performance for each category, it should be remembered that members are not competing against each other, but rather against their own previous performance. You may have the situation where one of the four speakers is a very experienced Toastmaster and another is a brand new member delivering the “Icebreaker”. It is quite probable that the new member could win the award, if he/she achieved all the objectives of the speaking project and displayed considerable effort to do a good job, while the experienced Toastmaster showed no significant improvement over
his/her previous performance.
The same principle applies to all categories, as there will often be experienced members up against new members. It is important to consider all aspects of the speakers when making your choice. Other awards presented at each meeting are the:
- Best Table Topic award
- “Ice Camel” award (not current)
- “Bottom of the Harbour” award (not current)
The Table Topics evaluators decide who delivered the best Table Topic response for the evening.
A bit of history of the old awards
The Timer decides who will receive the “Ice Camel” award. The “Ice Camel” award is presented to the speaker who spoke for the longest time, over the time limit of the speaking project (also includes Table Topic answers). It is not desirable to receive this award. We should plan to finish each speech within the time limits of the project. However, it is a tradition of Miranda Toastmasters to present this award to point out to the recipient in a light hearted and humorous manner that he/she should plan to present the next speech within the time limits. (The trophy received its name from a speech titled “Ice Camel” delivered many years ago by a Miranda Toastmasters member, Frank Chapman. Frank’s speech, which lasted for 27 minutes, was supposed to be a 5-7 minute speech.)
The Table Topics Master decides who will receive the “Bottom of the Harbour” award. The “Bottom of the Harbour” award is presented to the member whose Table Topic answer, completely avoided the subject of the Table Topic. (Refer to “Table Topics” in your Communication and Leadership manual.)