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Welcome to Sun Life Speakers Corner - an open public club dedicated to creating better communicators and leaders out of all of us.
Fellow Sun Life Speakers Corner Toastmasters! (and of course, Guests/Visitors/Future Members)
Is third time the charm? According to the saying it is.
As I embark on my third go-around as Club President, I want – and need – to reiterate what I feel is very important. My theme for my year’s term is ‘Learn by Doing’. As club members know, I have repeated two words several times at meetings and in emails. Those two words are “Get Involved”. Another phrase I consistently repeat is, “It’s only an hour.” I’d like to follow that up with, “One hour a week.”
You may think to yourself, “But I am learning. I attend occasionally.” Is that good enough? Are you getting your money’s worth out of it? Is your company getting their money’s worth since they may have paid for your membership? Does your supervisor know how many meetings you attend? Getting involved is more than just attending the occasional meeting. You can’t get out of Toastmasters what you don’t put into it. Or let’s reverse that – you get out of Toastmasters what you put into it.
One hour a week, just one hour. Take on a role, do a speech request. Don’t shy away from being an Evaluator or the Toastmaster. Sign up, and LEARN BY DOING.
When you signed the application form and paid your dues for the first time, did you read the ‘Toastmasters Promise'? It has several points to it and I’d like to highlight three of them here:
- “To attend club meetings regularly.” We all know everyone is busy, but can the effort be made to your work schedule to account for this one hour a week? It’s up to you.
- “To prepare for and fulfill meeting assignments.” Coming to meetings and only doing roles is not fulfilling your Toastmaster potential. There’s more to the club than just taking on the Timer role, or the Grammarian role, or doing a Table Topics speech. Preparing, rehearsing and delivering formal speeches based on the Purpose Statement from your Path in Pathways are also important for a thriving club. Guests who visit and only see a partial club meeting may lose interest and not come back. We need the members to do speeches, to have at least one a week scheduled. Those who haven’t started yet, now’s the time!
- “To serve my club as an officer when called upon to do so.” For several years now, we have been putting out the request for new people to join the Executive Committee. Pratik has stepped up to be the VP-Membership – thank you! Seasoned members remain on the committee because they feel they have to… since nobody else is coming forward. We’re there to guide you, to support you, to lead you. We have Executive meetings once a month (if that) to organize the club’s events and make decisions. Attending Club Officer Training twice a year will help you learn even more, and it helps the club with its DCP points.
In the hopes that this has motivated you to “learn by doing”, let’s see it come to fruition. We're there to support you, to mentor you, to help you grow as a person.
I’ll see you at the meetings. Here’s to continued success in your Toastmasters journey.
Bruce Laing
Club President, Sun Life Speakers Corner
July'21-June’22 |
