Today is a very exciting day, a very exciting day… and yet, a very sad day.
“Hmmmm…what on earth is she talking about?” Let me explain. I just finished the last requirement for my second DTM. I just feel so great to have completed my second DTM. It feels wonderful, truly wonderful and I can hear all of you say, “Way to go Brenda, Great job Brenda, Congrats Brenda!”
But there is sadness.
Theme meetings are fun – for the club, the Toastmaster and our guests.
This year, to celebrate Toastmasters’ 95th anniversary, we decided to host
themed Open Houses throughout the month of October. We wanted to
encourage guests to attend and to keep on building up our great club.
We brainstormed ideas to make coming to a Toastmasters meetings easier.
At the Fall Toastmasters Leadership Institute (TLI) on Saturday October 26, Joanne McDowall delivered a fabulous presentation on club coaching. “Club Coach – the Agent of Change”. Joanne outlined pretty much everything you need to know about, well, being a club coach. Since I had already committed to writing an article about that topic for the District blog, I decided to embrace the opportunity to share my experience as a club coach so far this year.
A challenge was given to the Division Directors, of which I was one, and that was to find a potential new club for their Divisions.
The process of starting a new club has taught me many things. Ask for help, stay positive. Ask for more help. It’s truly amazing, as many of you know, if you ask for help in anything at Toastmasters, toasties will step up. And that has certainly been the case with my startup journey. Many times I’ve thought about giving up, and each time a member of the district stepped up with generous guidance.
This past Spring, with a fortunate placement at the District 64 International Speech contest, l became eligible as a contestant for the Region 4 quarterfinals. The new rules for 2019 required District winners to be judged via a video selection, and only one of Region 4’s nine Districts’ representatives would move on to the semifinals of the Toastmasters’ International World Championship of Public Speaking, held in Denver.