Category: Toastmasters

Mentoring Matters

One of the characteristics of a successful club is that the club retains many of the members who join. A dynamic mentoring program for club members is one of the keys to success.

The Vice President Education (VPE) is responsible for ensuring that club members make progress toward their speaking and leadership goals. A club mentor coordinator can partner with the VPE by serving on the education committee and match up mentors with mentees.

When a new member joins the club, a mentor should be assigned right away. Regular communication between the parties helps get everyone off to a good start and continues the momentum. The mentor will find out the particular goals of the mentee and discuss strategies to achieve them.

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Meet the Area Directors: Kevin Lombardi

Name: Kevin Lombardi

Position: Area 44 Director

Club(s): Speakers of the House

Other positions: Immediate Past President of Speakers of the House

How long have you been in Toastmasters? Since July 2015

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Get Your Own Grit

“Nope, I’m not available Mr. President. I’m traveling this week to North Carolina on the 1st of September and I won’t be able to attend toastmasters meeting this week on the 5th. Will see you in 2 weeks.”

That was me telling my club president that I wont be able to attend our  club meeting as I’m travelling to North Carolina on holiday this week for 10 days. The good thing about Toastmasters is that it is everywhere you go. For me, Toastmasters stand for continuous education and self development. In most, cases we do not excuse ourselves from what others enforce on us to comply such as our job responsibilities, but we regularly excuse ourselves from our own self development.

Jim Rohn, one of the most respected success gurus, says, “Formal education will make you a living; self education will make you a fortune.”

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Register for Upcoming Training Session: Mentors Mentor about Mentoring

Toastmasters is based upon the tenet of learning by doing and improvement via practice and evaluation. Throughout the Toastmasters journey we learn as we help others to learn. Nowhere is this more evident than in club sponsoring, mentoring, and coaching.

Please join District 83 on Saturday, September 23, 2017 at 1-2:30PM at the Clark Library, 303 Westfield Avenue, Clark NJ, for a session on:

  • How to Sponsor a Club and Help it Charter – Anne Gilson, Club Quality Chair
  • How to Mentor and Advise a New Club on Procedures— Manny Reyes, Program Quality Director
  • How to Coach a Club to Transform it From Struggling to Distinguished — Lynda Starr, Club Growth Director

    Please register on TM83.org before September 18.
    If you have any questions, please reach out to Lynda Starr by email at lbstarr@optonline.net or phone at 201-320-1752.

Reasons to Attend the Fall Conference

Why did you join Toastmasters?

If you became part of Toastmasters to expand and enhance your career opportunities, the Fall Conference may be a first-class, high-return investment of your time.

At our Fall Conference, you will see and hear some of the very best speakers in our District, and indeed, some of the very best speakers in our world-wide Toastmasters family. You will be able to spend one-on-one time with them, to learn how they put together an award-winning talk and how they developed the skills that have brought them to the level of communication excellence.

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Why I am a Toastmaster

Five years ago this week, after a lot of research and with a heap of trepidation, I visited Old Bridge Toastmasters for the first time. I felt a little awkward going to something where I didn’t know anyone, but the people were friendly enough.

They had this interesting program where you could earn awards for completing different sets of tasks. It appealed to me as a nerd, but there was no way I would ever be able to summon the courage to do all of this. 40 speeches? I couldn’t possibly have that much to say. Be a club officer? Maybe one day, I could build up the courage to run for Sergeant at Arms. Serve as a district officer? Terrifying! Mentor someone? I have nothing to offer anyone, I thought.

And yet, when we had an open house two months later, I offered to be the guinea pig and give my first speech. When it came time to elect officers, I took a deep breath and ran for Vice President of Education. As my confidence grew, I took on more. Metaphorically speaking, a crawl became a walk became a run.

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From Author to Toastmaster

I first joined Hunterdon Speak Easy toastmaster club in March of 2016. I had just published my first book and was feeling very shy about speaking to the general public about it, so a few people encouraged me to seek out a Toastmasters club. I went to two other clubs in the district 21 area before deciding on Hunterdon Speak Easy, and I have to confess that it was the warmth and support that quickly encouraged me to become a member. Within a year, I had not only defeated my fear of public speaking but also earned a CC while working to complete a CL simultaneously. I also found myself participating in contests and taking on roles I normally would have been too shy to accept. 

My continued attendance and participation has enhanced both my speaking and leadership skills. Joining Toastmasters was a terrific decision for my professional and personal development. If you’re reading this and not quite sure about becoming a toastmaster, I will simply encourage you to trust the process. It works!! 

How to Keep Existing Members Motivated

“I’m getting new members, but how do I retain my core team to support the growth?”
 
This is a firsthand plight of a club President. If you were a club president or part of the core team, you know what this means.
 
What makes people stick to a club? There is no single answer for this. Each person has their own unique needs and wants when they join a club or a social circle. Following are some key ‘needs’ my core team and I thought of while I was a president of Parsippany Toastmasters club. As the current VP PR I think about it more.
 
* Need for affiliation – why do some of us prefer a ROLEX over an unknown brand or why do we prefer BENZ/BMW over another? Simple answer is some of us get satisfaction and self worth thru association with a brand. Most of us have this in ourselves to be associated with a brand. Therefore, make the brand stand out so tall and valuable so that the members want to be part of it.
 
* Need for achievement – some of us need to achieve and that’s our top priority. The inner drive pushes us until we active are satisfied. The club which gives more opportunity to its members will stand out and appear more attractive to these kinds of members. Remember, its not about you. Its about them.

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Meet the Division Directors: Rachel Nuber

Name: Rachel Nuber, DTM

Position: Division I Director

Club(s): Germinators Toastmasters in Area 93

Other positions: Various club officer roles and former Area Director

How long have you been in Toastmasters? 10 years

What are your plans for the district/area/division?

As Division Director, I plan to support the District, Division I, and its Areas in their goal of achieving distinguished status. And support the members of Division I to achieve their fullest potential.

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Reaching Out to Millennials

“Seasoned” members of Speechmeisters Toastmasters.

I recently dropped my eldest daughter off at college. She is a dedicated student academically, but I tried to convey to her the importance “soft skills” play in the game of life, namely communication. Uwanna Ikaiiddi from Study Breaks wrote, “I would argue that it is the single most-important skill in our modern world…A huge part of communication is not only doing it in the first place, it’s also knowing what situations call for which type of communication methods.”

 
Born in 1998, my daughter could be considered a Millennial. She pursued music and theater in school, so she is no stranger to speaking before an audience, and therefore more comfortable communicating than many of her generation. Studies cite the lack of leadership and communication skills in current college graduates. Useful skills that can be learned, practiced and nurtured in Toastmasters.
 
For one recent graduate, Shahil, a frustrating freeze at the podium during grade 9 prompted him to join Toastmasters as a college freshman. Even more daunting for Shahil was the fact that English is not his first language. Shahil grew up in Nepal and came to the US to attend University.

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