Big Shoutout to TechTalk Toastmasters

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend a meeting of one of my area clubs, TechTalk Toastmasters, located on the NetApps campus in RTP.  TechTalk is one of those clubs that as an Area governor I won't have to worry about.  This last year, they were President's Distinguished, and there is no reason to think that they won't do so again this year.  They are a strong club, with three DTMs, plenty of members, and active recruiting.

Toastmasters Leadership Institute

This morning was District 37 TLI-East.  Lots of fun for Toastmasters who are interested in the Leadership Track. 

For those who aren't familiar with TLIs, those offered by District 37 include a session with officer training for the various officer roles (President, VP Education, etc.), as well as two additional session in which attendees are able to select from any of several (5 - 6) different classes on various topics.  This year, I was privileged to actual be a presenter (specifically, the Treasurer session), an I also attended sessions on How to Achieve Your DTM and Evaluate to Motivate.

Busy Busy

Yesterday, I was out at Schneider Electric Toastmasters in Knightdale.  Today, I was working out my handouts and lesson plan for this weekends TLI.  Tomorrow I am Toastmaster at my home club, B.C.P. 

A Toastmaster's work is never done.  :-)

Train the Trainer

I attended the Train the Trainer training today over at the Western Wake Library.  Looks like I'll be teaching the Treasurer Training at next week's TLI.

Signed Up

This morning, I signed up for the Train-the-Trainer session to be held this Saturday morning.  Purpose:  to become qualified to be a presenter at future TLI's.

Visited Talkers@Cisco

This morning, I took time from work to visit the Talkers@Cisco club.  I won't say that this is one of my struggling clubs, because they did get their DCP Select, and it looks like they have plenty of members and guests in attendance.  However, they didn't have a speaker lined up, and only one volunteered at the last minute.  Looks like a perfectly adequate club, but they need to work on their meetings.  I think I'll be making time to come back next month to see if I can help set them on the right path.

Visited Carylina Toastmasters

Yes, these are the folks who were my first Toastmasters club.  I served in three officer positions (SAA, Treas, VPE) during my time there. 

Part of my responsibilities as Area Governor is making sure that the clubs in my area achieve Distinguished status.  No worries with Carylina, since they are one of the strongest clubs in the state... over 40 members, and having achieved President's Distinguished for the last half dozen years.

Carylina presented three great speeches, including an ice breaker by a lady from India that you would swear was being presented by a CC!

5th Speech, Interpretive Reading Manual

Yesterday, I presented my 5th speech out of the Interpretive Reading manual, the Oratorical Speech, titled "The American's Who Risked Everything".  This was a historical rundown about the signers of the Declaration of Independence.  The speech I used was that made by Rush Limbaugh back at the 2008 GOP caucus.  Of course, when he made it, it lasted the better part of an hour, what with applause and so forth.  I figured from the transcript of the speech that as written, it would be around 25 minutes for me (minimum).  Since this project was for a 10 - 12 minute speech, I was forced to trim it down.  I did so, and even then needed to drop a paragraph near the end to bring it in at 12:20.  No loss, since this paragraph didn't really add much to the thrust of the speech.

My big problem as a speaker remains the fact that I prefer working from notes.  I know I can do it without, but I'm generally to lazy to do so.  As I begin to present speeches that count toward my 2nd DTM, I fully intend to get away from notes.

New Club Chartered Yesterday: Schneider Electric Toastmasters

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend the Chartering Ceremony  for Schneider Electric Toastmasters in Knightdale.  I've been acting as one of the club mentors for the last few months, and will continue in that role for a few more. 

As with most newly formed clubs, I can see that they are going to struggle for a while as they get used to the typical Toastmaster procedures, but they seem to have a reasonably solid user base at their company.  If they can continue to recruit new members to replace their inevitable attrition, they should do fine.