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Toastmasters Bay to Bay (a production of District 4 Toastmasters)

Toastmasters has helped people with their oral communication skills for 80 years. Some of the oldest Toastmaster clubs are in the Palo Alto area. This show proposes to be a showcase for Toastmasters wanting to perform in front of a video camera. Three objectives are proposed for this show

• A platform for Toastmasters wanting a chance to perform on camera as speaker, host and interviewers
• A Recruitment tool for non-Toastmasters
• A mouthpiece for messages from the District

 

Contents

Vision Set Design and Blocking Rundown Timing List of Graphics Crew Contacts Resources   Restricted Use of Toastmasters Logo Important Dates Feedback

 

Vision

In addition to providing a speaker's platform, we'd like to keep 2 other constituents in mind: non-Toastmasters (as a recruitment tool), and a District 4 (as a way to reach out to members and to build community).

 

Both an inexperienced and an advanced speaker will be in the first episode. The idea is to appeal to non-Toastmasters ("gee, I could do that!"), and to imply a path of growth. And of course to provide a platform for all ability levels to members.

 

At least as important as the speakers are good evaluators. The benefits of Toastmaster membership should be made obvious when the evaluator offers insights on improvement. An evaluation must strike a balance between being a "whitewash" and being too harsh.

 

Hosting and Interview skills are also on display, so the host must be chosen carefully.

 

Set Design and Blocking

• Light cyc curtain, with some blue accent drapes
• A lectern will be in middle of the set
• Two Toastmasters banners will be displayed on easels on either side of the lectern as backdrops.  These are yellow banners, appx 3x3feet
• 25-30 Studio audience members. There will be a mic for ambient applause but no audience participation
• Cameras will be situated so the audience can be seen from behind speaker, and looking toward speaker.
• Timing Lights. Toastmasters are accustomed to green/yellow/red signals denoting min/mid/max timing. There will be a timing light, along with a timing light operator. Speaker and evaluator will use this for time cues. Times will be 4:30, 5:00, 5:30. Host will receive time cues from Floor Director in the usual way (placards, whiteboard, hand signals).
• Movements
• Host moves on and off set camera right
• Speaker and Evaluator move on/off set from camera left
• While evaluator/speaker/host is off set, there is no need to have them in any shot
• Although there is a lectern on the set, the speaker and evaluator will not necessarily stay behind the lectern. They may roam in front.  Lighting design will account for area in front of the lectern to allow speaker movement
• Each speaker must notify director if any wide movements are in their speech so camera ops and director won't be surprised.

 

Rundown Timing

Time Remaining	Segment Time	Segment Description	Video
28:15	0:30	Show Introduction	Custom Leader with montage of TM clips, or animation
27:45	1:15	Welcoming Comments by Host	Host, Carl Thormeyer
26:30	0:40	Intro Objectives and Speaker	Host and graphics describing objectives
25:50	5:30	Speech - Connie Dimmitt	Speaker enters camera left. Host exits camera right. Various shots during speech
20:20	2:00	Interview	Host & Speaker. Speaker enters camera left, Host enters camera right
18:20	0:20	Intro Evaluator	Host & Evaluator. Speaker exits camera left
18:00	2:00	Evaluation - Jennifer Stephenson	Evaluator
16:00	0:30	Host intros Rollin	Host intros Rollin
15:30	3:00	Rollin	External Video on Lee Emerson Bassett Club
12:30	0:30	Welcome Back	Host
12:00	0:40	Intro Objectives and Spkr 2	Host and graphics describing objectives
11:20	5:30	Speech - Gopi Kallayil	various shots from 2 cameras
5:50	2:00	Interview	Host & Speaker
3:50	0:20	Intro Evaluator	Host, then Evaluator enter camera left, Host exits camera right
3:30	2:00	Evaluation - James Griffin	Evaluation of speech
1:30	1:00	Wrapup (incl. URLs, email, etc)	Host
0:30	0:30	Credit Roll	Credit Roll over long shot
0:00	--	BLACK

 

Comments regarding Rundown

• Speech should be on the short side, because it's difficult to hold interest on the tube vs. in person
• The Interviews right after the speeches allow Evaluator some time to prepare comments. Host will walk on set and conduct an interview, then invites Evaluator to present.

 

List of Graphics

• Tag - Carl Thormeyer, Host
• Tag - Gopi Kallayil, "Six Cups of Coffee"
• Tag - Connie Dimmitt, "China, Here I Come"
• Tag - James Griffin, Speech Evaluator
• Tag - Jennifer Stephenson, Speech Evaluator
• Objectives for Gopi: Persuade with Power
• Objectives for Connie: How to Say It
• lower 3d - District 4 Toastmasters, D4TM.org
• lower 3d - Toastmasters International, www.Toastmasters.Org
• lower 3d - Comments? Suggestions? Email us at TV@D4TM.org
• Title
• Credit Roll

   

Crew

• Director - Scott Van Duyne
• Switcher - Fred Bockman
• Sound - Steve Hall
• Graphics - Bill Lindemann
• Floor Director - Stan Ng
• Camera - Herb Atkins
• Camera - Danielle Fairbairn
• Camera - Cathy Keys

 

Contacts

Stan is the interim producer for the first show or two, just to get the show off the ground. We need another person to take on the Producer's role in the long run! Please volunteer.

• Producer: Stan Ng, Henry Miller
• Assoc. Producers: Rose Renwick, Sharon Corgile

 

Resources  

• Toastmaster Time, a public access television show which has been produced at Comcast/Fremont (District 57), on and off since around 1997. In its current format it has been steadily produced since around 2003. Producers are George Marshall and Alan Zoroaster and Gwen Todd. Stan has crewed on this show from time to time. See a sample episode on Blip.tv.
• TV Toastmasters, a public access television show produced in Kent, WA

  This is a chartered Toastmasters specialty Club, explicitly aimed at educating members in on-camera performance technique.

• TMTV, a past Toastmasters show produced at Foothill College (Guy & Deborah Ferry)
• Many Toastmaster Public Service Announcements. These are available from Toastmasters either on Youtube or on DVD's and can be used as PSA's.
• Local area Toastmasters who have produced or appeared on camera at The Media Center or at KMVT (Mountain View). Among them are Patricia Fuqua, Claire Mullen, Dennis Dawson, Ed Scott (a former Board Member of the Media Center). 

 

Restricted Use of Toastmasters Logo

Stan notified TI that we intend to do a TV show, and requested permission to use the TI Logo. That request was rejected, but the use of the trademark is permitted, with restrictions. The graphic design will have omit the TI Logo. Here is the reply from TI:

 

After speaking the Executive Director he has turned down your request for the Emblem to be used, however he has granted you permission to use the trademark “Toastmasters International®.”

Attached please find a copy of the standard release agreement (for any guest that appear on the show), the trademark to be used, and the disclaimer to put into the show. Please have individuals appearing on the show sign the release agreement. Insert the disclaimer in fine print during credits at the beginning and end of the show. Please use the attached trademark during any broadcasts.     

Please let me know if you have any additional questions or if I can be of further assistance.

Sincerely,

Ben Peterson

Paralegal

 

Henry will try to pursue this matter further.

 

Important Dates

Date	Item	Who	Comments
June 28	D4 TLI Table	Stan	Got 27 email addresses expressing interest in helping develop a show
July 22	Organizational Meeting	Stan	~13 RSVP's expected. These persons responded to Stans email announcing a tour, brainstorm and production meeting
August 20	Progress Meeting	Henry, Stan, Connie, Carl, Rose, Sharon	Progress on outstanding Tasks: Rundown, Talent booking, Graphics, Roll-in Production, name of the Show
September 3	Production Meeting	Henry, Stan, Karen Adams	Finalize Rundown, set design
~September 5	Recruit Crew	Stan	Fill all below-line people needed to pull this off!
September 6	Roll-in feature Done	Stan	3-minute feature on Lee Emerson Basset club
September 12	Opening Montage Done	Stan	Opening custom leader tape for the show
September 15	Taping Date	All	Confirmed Taping Date, a Monday evening. Studio available 5:30-8:00. NO OVERRUN PERMITTED as there is another show to be taped at 8pm. 5:00 - Crew starts set/lighting prep 5:30 - Dinner for Crew; Lighting continues 6:00 - Talent Arrives, rehearse movements and consult w/director 6:45 - Audience arrives ~7:05 - Taping begins ~7:45 - Wrap Party!

 

Feedback

• Very rushed at end because of 3 flaws
1. Rundown needs more pad at end. 1min was too little. Need 2+ minutes
2. It's okay to be ahead of schedule. Speaker 2 finished early but interview was stretched to hit a timing mark. Speech was just right, but interview dragged on.
3. Evaluator 2 could not see timing light so he didn't know he was over time. Place timing light in clear view of speakers. No need to try to hide the lights. (Point of reference: Presidential debate #2 actually incorporated timing lights into set design!)
• Stand Close together. When 2 are on set, they must stand almost shoulder-to-shoulder, uncomfortably close in a real world situation but necessary for tight 2-shots.
• Visible Cameras approach does not work for this show. We didn't care when cameras were in the shots. This turned out to be distracting so, avoid cameras coming into view.
• Evaluations are too short. 2 minutes turned out to be a big challenge. Expand to 3 minutes, and shorten the interviews to 1:30 max.
• Audience should be more engaged. Audience seemed aloof. This is because 1) we didn't allow applause for fear of lengthening the program and 2) audience mic was not turned on for most of show. We should allow applause but tell everyone not to applaud too long. We should also open the ambient mic to get audience reaction to speeches.
• Set looked spare. It looked good, but needs something extra. Haven't decided what yet. There was a comment that there were too many banners, but others said it looked okay.