CSTAND Award Luncheon

Becky DeGreeff - Participant Observation
“Midwestern Nice” at CSTAND Award Luncheon

The Communication, Speech, and Theater Association of North Dakota (CSTAND) holds an annual conference each September in Mandan, ND at the Seven Seas Hotel. A mixture of high school and college teachers, coaches, and instructors attend the conference. I attended the conference for the first time September 11-12, 2008 as a presenter on an invited panel of North Dakota State University graduate students. After the panel presentation, I attended the annual Regional Coach of the Year Award Luncheon held from 12:15 – 1:15 on September 12th. As a newcomer I was not familiar with any of the nominees or winners. However, all meals were included in the registration fee making that the main reason I attended the luncheon. I suspect the “free” meal was also the main motivation for most of the conference attendees and participants.

I arrived at the luncheon with my colleagues from the panel presentation as other luncheon attendees were filtering into the banquet room and finding places to sit. The room was set up banquet style with 18 round tables, each with eight place settings. Following the theme of the conference, the room was decorated with movie posters, a popcorn machine complete with filled bags of popcorn to snack on, and movie memorabilia including vintage ball gowns. At the end of the room opposite the main entrance, two buffet tables were set up to allow four serving lines. As everyone filtered into the room, the hotel staff was bustling around hurriedly setting out the food.

The room was buzzing as those in attendance were looking for a place to settle. Amorette, Nigel, Bob and I wandered slowly through the tables until we were invited to join a few other individuals from the University of Mary in Bismarck, ND who coach forensics. Eric, the head coach, noted, “this is the NDISL (North Dakota Interstate Speech League) table.” Amorette leaned over to tell me in a hushed voice that the high school people and the college people rarely intermingle socially during the conference. The exception to the rule seemed only to apply to the “legends” in attendance. These famous CSTAND individuals could be seen working the room moving from table to table to visit briefly with a mixture of conference attendees until eventually finding a place to settle. As we took our seats I overheard bits and pieces of conversation from the tables near ours. Rhetoric and politics appeared to be the topic of discussion at the table to my left while high school politics related to teaching seemed to be the topic of discussion at the table to my right.

As the tables began to fill, many had one or two unoccupied place settings. Those still arriving appeared to be unsettled as they struggled to find acceptable seating, especially if they were with a party of three or four. Phrases such as “Nora, this is going to be your chair, you can sit with Sue” and, “Do you have an open seat? Would you mind saving that one for me?” were heard over the buzz of multiple conversations. The table where I was seated had one unoccupied chair. A rather large woman who appeared to be leading a small group of women inquired about the seat. We told her it was open and she was welcome to use it. However, she found another table with two open seats so she thanked us then decline the seat. Eric lowered his voice and said sarcastically to the rest of us at the table, “We missed an opportunity, we could have networked with high school coaches.” It became very apparent to me that although everyone was behaving very civilized and in a polite fashion, the lines were clearly drawn between those affiliated with high school speech and theater and those affiliated at the post secondary or university level.

Soon it was time to eat. An announcement was made that the lineup for the buffet table would start with the table located closest to the starting end of the buffet. From there it would move to the table to the left and continue around the room. The organized dash for the food began with each table jumping up to get in line as soon as the last person from the preceding table was almost safely established in one of the four food lines. A moment of confusion paused the flow to the buffet table after the first row of tables was in line. Attendees were not quite sure if the order of the tables should follow a zigzag pattern or a left to right pattern. When there was no movement from the left-hand table in the second row, the zigzag pattern was adopted. Despite overhearing many comments related to hunger, everyone was conscientious of the order established and resisted sprinting to the food line. It almost felt like the walk to the line was deliberately slowed down so one would not appear to be too anxious to eat.

Once we moved through the buffet line and were seated, everyone at our table engaged in polite conversation while eating. Comments related to ruining the diet and the quality of the meal were plentiful. As the awards luncheon was only scheduled to last one hour, the MC began the program before approximately 90% of the guests were finished eating. Everyone in attendance quickly hushed giving attention to the speaker while consciously trying to finish eating in an exaggerated quiet manner. Shortly after the program began, the staff began to clear the plates of those who went first as quietly and inconspicuously as possible practically mouthing to the diners, “are you finished?” before removing the plate and dining utensils.

The program followed a very traditional format. The MC (who I believe was also the acting president) was introduced. He then introduced the 2nd VP. Polite applause followed with side comments springing up around the room. The program continued with the presentation of awards to the regional speech coaches of the year. Several awards were presented. Recipients were asked to come forward, receive their award, and then line up against the wall so a photo could be taken with all the winners from each region. Several awards were distributed. Polite clapping followed the announcement of each name. I was surprised to see several award winners walk to the podium to receive his or her award dressed very casually, some were even wearing blue jeans. This dress code was in complete contrast to the attendees seated at our table where everyone was dressed professionally, mostly in suites.

As the awards continued, the attendees started to get restless. Side conversations began to spring up quietly around the room. When a winner was announced from Harvey, ND, I overhead a hushed comment under the breath announcing, “this is Paul Harvey, good day” followed by “forgive me, I’m getting goofy”. Individual winners from individual regions continued to be announced. After the third region finished, the photos were taken, and the fourth region began, I overheard a comment under the breath, “oh my God” from the table directly behind me. It became apparent I was not the only person in the room patiently waiting for the continued string of names, applause, and photos to end. A cell phone rang out causing everyone in the room to turn glancing in the general direction of the ring. A woman was seen frantically trying to silence her phone. She did not appear to be aware of the disapproving glances she received from many around the room.

The last three awards were distributed. The recipients were two women and one man with a large white Santa-type beard. They were posing for their picture off to the side as the MC was giving closing remarks. Suddenly laughter erupted. Everyone turned to see the three recipients smiling for the camera with one woman sitting on each knee of the gentleman in a classic Santa Clause pose. The MC, not exactly sure how to handle the unexpected interruption, quickly ended the program unofficially dismissing the attendees.

The noise level immediately rose as many individuals started getting up from their tables while others took out cell phones to check messages or make a call. The MC suddenly realized he forgot to make an announcement for the silent auction that was taking place along the side of the room. He loudly attempted to regain the attention of the attendees quickly making the final announcement. He was able to gain the attention of some but most ignored his efforts. The event officially ended and the attendees began to move out of the room chatting in small groups in much the same way they entered with the high school people grouped together conversing and the college people conversing among themselves.