6/18/20
I have traveled all over the world and finally found my club's doppleganger. What a refreshing surprise! I did the research beforehand and was looking forward to attending the meeting. The club has a very engaging website with pictures and videos of testimonials from Toastmasters members. They have an active Facebook page. They tick all the boxes of what makes a club successful and it shows. They currently have 23 members and are President's Distinguished. Their members are actively working the educational program (both the legacy and Pathways). I was chomping at the bit for this meeting to start.
We received a welcome email ahead of the meeting along with the meeting’s agenda and other information about roles at the meeting. All roles were filled and they would be having 3 speakers.
We arrived 15 minutes ahead of time and there were already 5 or 6 members there chatting. We were greeted warmly and ebulliently. Their Word of the Day was "ebullient" and I had to use it now, because that’s how we were greeted and treated throughout the meeting. All members who spoke, from Table Topic respondents, evaluators to speakers, creatively sneaked that word into their conversation.
I was happily surprised to see Bryan from WA and David from NY, whom we saw at last night’s zoom meeting in Mississippi. Nice to see fellow travelers again. Dave even invited us to go to Brazil with him tonight to another Toastmasters meeting.
The president mentioned the acronym POP (prepare, organize, plan). If your meeting doesn’t POP then it will fizzle. This meeting definitely POPPED and it was obvious all the behind-the-scenes work that went on before the meeting even happened. The meeting flowed well, all those who ran the meeting seemed very proficient with technology. This is the kind of meeting we all should strive to have.
While some clubs are not even meeting during this challenging time, this club not only continues to meet each week but is thriving. They even have online social events to keep up the enthusiasm of the members. Examples of a few social events they have had are a scavenger hunt, trivia night and a storytelling event. I really would have liked to watch how those were done. I’d like to do something like that with my club if I could figure out the best way to do it. The president said she would send me an invite for their next event on July 10th. I am looking forward to that.
They have an End of the Year celebration coming up the end of June. I was thrilled to hear about that. Our club has been having an end of the year party for the last five years but I haven’t really seen any other club (at least in my division) have one. Members need an opportunity to look back and celebrate all their hard work. And it looks like Bold & Blue has a lot to celebrate as does our club.
They are mentoring new members and growing them into leaders. Kimmie joined in October 2019 and she is chairing the end of the year party and is slated to become an incoming officer. Linsey, who joined in February 2020 has agreed to use all her technology prowess to be an administrative assistant to the club president. Great job of helping her gain her confidence. I see a club officer position in her future.
I can’t say enough about this fantastic club meeting and the 19 ebullient members who attended. (See how easy it was to slip that Word of the Day in.) The General Evaluator reminded the Table Topic master to ask members who don’t have a role a question so more members will get a chance to participate. With a large group such as this, we must be mindful of ways to give everyone a chance to speak.
After the meeting the president invited anyone who wanted to stay and chat for 15 minutes. Steve and I stayed and chatted a little. We found out the president is planning an event for the officers in the near future and will be having a trainer come from Montana. As incoming President this year, and with everybody online, maybe I need to think about that for my officer team. Just as they do, our club likes to tweak here and there to make our club even better.
So here’s to our doppleganger, I am sure we will see you in our future.
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