On Monday, September 19, 2011, we had possibly
a world-first in the history of Toastmasters — for sure, a first for all clubs
involved. A joint meeting of three Toastmasters clubs using a video conferencing
systems facility with members located in Irving, Texas (Connection
Communicators Toastmasters), Atlanta, Georgia (Nokia Siemens Networks
SpeechMasters ), and Redmond, Washington (Create WOW! Toastmasters). We all
joined up in specifically-designed sound and video studios that provide
real-time, eye-to-eye conferencing with outstanding audio and no perceived
delay. Halo studios are connected by a dedicated network that enables any Halo
studio to connect to any other Halo studio — anywhere in the world, even to
other companies.
Plenty of planning went into making a common
agenda. The Toastmasters in Atlanta kicked the meeting off and each club
contributed with a speech. Each speaker was evaluated by a member in a
different city. We also held a short round
of table topics, with each club asking one question and in turn answering a
question from another club. All other
meeting roles were also distributed over the locations and the meeting ran
seamlessly in a well-organized Toastmasters fashion.
The technology does allow you to forget about
the location and get immersed in the speeches. It was an enriching
experience to collaborate and get to know the personalities of a diversity
of people. Our plans are to continue to have our virtual meeting between the
clubs every three months.
Larry Harmon
Connection Communicators
