This was an unusual club that we accidentally came across. This club's mission statement is "A group who care about advancing Toastmaster clubs". They are basically there to support area directors in the Northern Division of District 23. Although neither Steve nor I will be incoming area directors, Steve has agreed to serve as assistant club growth director this year and I thought we might hear some creative ideas. Also I am always on the lookout to steal ideas that can benefit my home club so I was excited to find out what this club was all about.
They have 15 members, however, at this meeting they had 26 in attendance. They had the 2 of the 3 district officers and incoming area directors from District 23. Steve and I and one other person were the only ones from another state. Elicia was from Texas and in chat she shared that she was using this club to visit the 50 states as we were. This fellow traveler said she was on state 27 same as us. She said she still needed to go to a Kentucky club and asked about coming to ours. She invited us to her club, but we have already been to Texas. However, as it turns out she is an area director and the club we visited is in her division. We definitely bonded in our common journey.
After the pledge and an inspirational thought, Stephen, division director and president of the club, spoke. His main point was to FINISH THE YEAR STRONG. He encouraged all leaders to help the clubs, areas, and divisions to get over the finish line with new members. Be "ambassadors" to other clubs and join them to help them become distinguished. In his speech, he did mention that they just started a new club at the FBI. I thought that was interesting. Also the FBI club is not allowed to have Zoom on their computers. So meeting right now is a challenge. He also gave some information about how to build clubs during COVID-19. That's something I think is a challenge for most all clubs at this time.
After the speech and evaluation, they basically had a division council meeting. The two members of the trio present spoke and the area directors gave their reports. I don't know if this club would be beneficial to those outside this division but I found it highly interesting. But I'm a Toastmaster fanatic so I enjoyed finding out that clubs like this do exist. Who knows maybe its something our district would be interested in?
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