On one hand, it is fortunate that I had a bit of rest leading up to the Division contest on November 3. During the Area contest, a huge amount of the burden was on me to find volunteers and attendees, while advising the Contest Chair and Chief Judge who were coordinating the agenda. This time around, I did some promotion of the contest among my clubs, but didn't have to worry about managing the volunteer roster or agenda.
On the other hand, this period wasn't entirely peaceful, as the individuals managing this contest were far less organized and timely than our team during the Area contest. As Area Directors, we received flurries of last-second "emergency" emails and requests. This unfortunate lapse in leadership no doubt left certain people, such as contestants and volunteers, less than satisfied with the event. For example, contacting people less than a day before the contest to provide key details and materials is disrespectful. The coordinators could have reached out one or two weeks in advance, especially to contestants, who were known as early as October 13 when the Area contest ended. Moreover, a sloppy event with unprepared participants and disorganized agenda isn't much fun for attendees.
To be honest, the lack of preparation showed in the quality of the event. Previously, I noted that the Area contest was one time when I could see my efforts come to fruition. The venue was packed with an overflow of 20 people in standing room only. That's for an event that featured just 13 clubs (Area 20 and 21). This time, we had about one-third the number of attendees at the same venue for a Division event comprised of 26 clubs. Most of these were the District leaders and functionaries running the contest, rather than members of the participating clubs. Nevertheless, a number of those members that did show up were from clubs in my Area. They were in good spirits as our Area competitors took first place in both the Evaluation and Humorous Speech contests.
I still strongly believe that individual club members should run their own special events, as they did in our Area contest, rather than expecting the same group of people who "have to be there" to do everything. Indeed, this culture of "just get the Area Directors to do everything" is pervasive throughout the Toastmasters hierarchy. I also suspect it is a primary reason most Area Directors refuse subsequent leadership roles.
To make the Area Director experience a bit more palatable during the hard times, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of a strong team. Having an organized, well-informed, and communicative Division Director, alongside fellow Area Directors who manage their fair share of the responsibilities, makes the system reasonable for everyone. Of course, there are additional factors, such as processing times and protocols all the way up to WHQ and then down to the District leaders, that come into play. Once any of these pieces, big or small, starts to slip, the burden on Area Directors spirals out of control, since they are stuck with the majority of the tasks and given the fewest resources.
Seeing the contrast between what was accomplished by our team at the Area level compared to the Division level makes me all the more grateful for the people I worked with to execute the Area contest.
Future Area Directors beware - the people you work with make a big difference.