Toastmasters in the Community

 Today was "Dundee Day", an annual street festival in the neighborhood where one of my Toastmasters clubs meets.  As a part of the community, our club hosted a booth at the festival.  At the booth, many people (mostly kids) engaged with club members as we asked them to speak into a microphone and share their name along with a story, joke, or what they liked about Dundee Day.  In return, they got to pick a prize from our table.

I saw a wide variety of reactions to this "ask" to speak up.  Some were excited to speak to speak; some needed encouragement before realizing it wasn't so scary; some outright declined the opportunity.  In all cases, though, we got to show people a taste of what Toastmasters is about:  giving people a platform to find their voice and helping them become better communicators in a positive and encouraging environment.

When Toastmasters, or any organization, can go beyond our normal meetings and get out into the community, we can reach new people with our message and what we have to offer.  We also get to have fun with the new people we meet!  Plus, I learned a lot of great new jokes.  My favorite was:  

Q: "Why did the potato cross the road?"

(scroll down for answer)

.



.

.

.

A: "To get to the other sides."


Let's all get out into our communities and have some fun!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Two Legs

At last weekend's District 24 Toastmasters Conference, one of the guest speakers, Dr. Dilip Abayasekara, talked about the importance of the "two legs" of excellent Toastmasters club meetings: 1. Emotional Experience 2. Educational Progress This was an "ah-ha" moment for me because it perfectly captured what I love about Toastmasters:  I get to form real connections with my fellow club members as we support one another ("emotional experience") while also learning new things and improving my speaking and leadership skills ("educational progress").  These two "legs" reflect that we have both emotional  and educational  needs that Toastmasters can help fulfill. For those who are Toastmasters members, Dr. Dilip gave us two questions to ask after each meeting to make sure we are fulfilling both of those needs: 1. Do I feel emotionally enriched? 2. Am I learning and improving? If you find you cannot answer "yes" to both question...
Read more

Thankful for Toastmasters

As the US holiday of Thanksgiving approaches, I reflect on what I am thankful for.  In addition to my faith, my family, my job, and of course my cats, Toastmasters is also on my list of things to be thankful for.  Here are my "top 5" reasons to be thankful for Toastmasters: 5.  A chance to share my passions (such as my family, job, and cats) through speeches 4.  Seeing the creativity of those who come up with fun meeting themes and table topics 3.  Learning new ideas from the presentations of others - members know so much about so many different things! 2.  Meeting people I would have never met had I not joined Toastmasters 1.  Endless opportunities to improve myself and help others improve! If you'd like to see all there is to be thankful for with Toastmasters, I'd be happy to invite you to join one of my clubs, or you can find one that's right for you at  https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club .
Read more

Partnership

Yesterday I attended a Toastmasters workshop on "corporate clubs," meaning Toastmasters clubs that are fully supported and managed by a corporation.  The workshop, led by Pat Johnson, DTM, PIP, emphasized the importance of the corporation  partnering with Toastmasters in this effort.  Rather than simply "allowing" the club to exist, the decision-makers in the corporation actively work with the Toastmasters leaders to ensure the educational program provided by Toastmasters is effective at their corporation. This got me thinking about the difference between "allowing" something and actively partnering with others to make it successful.  If I think something is a good idea but I'm not really invested in it or I have higher priorities, I might "allow" someone else to work on it - I won't get in their way and I might even offer advice - but I won't be active in making it happen.  There is no "partnership" and no "ownership...
Read more