Once Upon A Time Toastmaster Club Lewisville, Texas

6/28/20

 

My husband and I are avid readers.  I admit he is the more intellectual reader. Each morning he enjoys his coffee and reads the Lexington Herald-Leader and Courier-Journal online and on Wednesdays he enjoys the weekly newspaper dropped off by an actual paperboy.  His choice of books are Pulitzer Prize winners, while my tastes in books run the gamut from Silas House to Michael Crichton. No book is out of bounds as long as I am enjoying it.  Imagine our excitement when fervent readers, such as ourselves, ran across Once Upon A Time, who described itself almost as a book club. My husband and I  jumped at the chance to see what this club was all about.

 

We were greeted enthusiastically almost like we were old friends who met previously between the well-worn pages of a favorite novel.  “Where the Crawdads Sing” was the book for this month’s discussion.  The Table Topics questions loosely revolved around the book but I was able to answer a question deftly even without ever reading the book.  Great job to the two speakers for casually working in scenes from the book as they delivered their Ice Breaker speeches.  Fifteen minutes was devoted to conversation about the book at the end of the meeting.  That discussion was so interesting and lively, I knew I would be getting a copy for that book for myself.  It sounded right up my alley.   

 

The evaluators used two different evaluation methods.  Andres, the visiting area director, used the” Roses, Thorns, Rosebuds” method. He said, for example, the first rose: the speaker had good transitions, for the second rose: the speech had good organization. The thorn would be how the speaker could improve and the Rosebud is something to challenge the speaker.  I had never heard of this method so I was thrilled to be learning something new.  The second evaluator, Sara, used the “What I heard, What I saw, What I felt” method.  I have seen this method used a few times.  Both evaluators gave some valuable insight in their evaluations. 

 

Kudos to this specialty club for combining the best of my two worlds, the love of reading and speaking(Toastmasters).  Next month the book they will be reading is “Bluebird, Bluebird" by Attica Locke.  Time to make a trek to the library or a purchase online, because my husband and I may just end up joining in for the discussion next month.

Top 5 Toastmasters Club Rapid City, South Dakota

6/29/20

 

Many people are getting restless right now in the United States with the sheltering in place due to COVID-19. Despite a rise in cases, people are wanting to get out and do.  Businesses and swim parks  are beginning to open back up. People are beginning to attend events.  Some patrons are wearing masks, some are not. Some are social distancing, some are not.  Some believe cases are on the rise, some believe they are overblown.  Some believe it’s all a political hoax.  

Much of what people believe depends on where they get their information and with whom they surround themselves.  However, all people seem to be doing what they believe is right for them depending on the information they hear.  

Top 5 Club is no different.  They are trying to determine if as a club they should start meeting in person and if they do,  what would it look like.  Steve and I were silent observers as they volleyed back and forth the pros and cons of meeting in person next week.  Is it safe to meet inside? If they do meet inside should they wear masks or social distance?  Is it safer to meet outside?  A hybrid club was even mentioned and quickly dismissed. Where could they meet if they meet in person?  Some had some strong opinions that conflicted with each other.  One member definitely was not ready to have an in-person meeting.  Another one definitely wanted to meet in person but could not wear a mask.  These conflicting opinions mirror the outside Toastmaster world confusion.  There was no agreement after the end of the debate and as a group decided to meet online next week and see how it goes.  That is what most of us are doing with our lives: wait and see. 

 

Top 5 used a platform called Webex that was unfamiliar to me.  Steve and I began playing around with it to try to  figure it out.  Some had a lot of difficulty with it.  Especially the speaker for the day.  For 20 minutes the host tried to help her get her sound to work. She finally called in on a cell phone but lost her picture.  She eventually gave up and delivered the speech with no picture except here and  there.  I'm not sure why members had technical difficulty.  The host never figured it out.  I think I still vote for Zoom so far as the best platform I have seen for Toastmasters meetings.

 

One thing I really like about this club is it seems to give chocolate enticements.  Of course, at this online meeting they were giving virtual chocolate.  Virtual chocolate for saying the Word of the Day, "argot" (which I don’t think anyone said), and virtual chocolate for best table topic answer(which was ME!).  This kind of chocolate is good for my waistline. 

 

Although the members were friendly and seemed to have "bought in" to the Toastmaster program, background research showed they had no educational awards this year.  I am not sure why.  The speaker gave an Ice Breaker in Pathways so I guess she is starting out.  What about the rest of them? They have 13 members and records show 12 new members joined this year.  Is that the reason for no educational awards?  All they all new?  Why the turnover? Only one officer went to training and the officer list was not submitted on time.  Another piece of business is that they are currently looking for a Vice President Education.  No one wanted to volunteer. Maybe they aren't as "bought in" as it seems on first glance. 

Living Truth Center Toastmasters Cleveland, Ohio

6/28/20

 

The Toastmasters educational program hadn’t been upgraded for nearly 40 years: thus the creation of Pathways, the new educational online program designed to bring Toastmasters into the 21^st century. It was created to introduce relevant topics such as like writing a blog, managing webinar, and creating a podcast.  

Most clubs have embraced this new technology.  Members sometimes struggle with the user interface, but most press on with help.  In fact, our Vice President Education meets with a great deal of our members when they hit a snafu on Pathways.  Sadly, Living Truth does not seem to have embraced Pathways that well.  This club has 12 members and 4 new members.  They have 6 legacy awards and no Pathways awards.  Are the new members being trained in Pathways?  The club president did mention that this summer maybe they could have a Pathways orientation at one of their club meetings.  This is really doing a disservice to the new members. New members have no option; the only educational system they are allowed to use is Pathways. So do the new members have to wait until this summer to speak or begin their educational path? Has the club reached out for help from the district? 

 

Their website was the bare minimum.  They had a small picture in front but nothing eye catching. No "Meet Our Members" section.  I was glad they started on time, but was surprised to hear at the end someone say “Tony would really be proud we started on time!”. Does that mean they usually don’t?  They are slated to end at 8:30 and ended at 8:45.

This is an hour-and-a-half meeting and was surprised that they had on the agenda four long speeches.  One was scheduled to be 20-30 minutes and another one for 10-15 minutes.  However, maybe this fits into the time frame perfectly.  The speeches were interesting and educational. Topics were “Giving Effective Feedback”, “Parliamentary Procedures” and “Handling Challenging Situations”. The other speaker left the meeting before it was her time to speak.   The evaluators gave really good feedback.  In Eugene’s evaluation he mentioned the speaker could have employed the facilitation technique IEEI (Inform, excite, empower, involve). I had to look it up to see what it meant)

 

One cool thing that I found out is this club recently received a trophy from the district for having all seven officers trained.  Never heard of that before, but getting a trophy certainly can be a motivator.  When we logged into the meeting 15 minutes before the meeting started, they were having an officer meeting with their Division Director.  It was interesting to me. However, for non-Toastmasters visitors, I am not sure they would be interested in seeing how the sausage is made so the officers may want to consider having this meeting in a breakout room when it gets close to meeting time or have it at a different time. 

 

As my husband and I travel to different clubs, we don’t mind participating in roles or not participating in roles.  It doesn’t matter to us, however, I really hate it when I see members taking on double and triple role duties instead of asking help from fellow toastmasters from other clubs.  At the start of the meeting, the president said they had empty roles to be filled and she was already Toastmaster of the Day and Timer but would be an evaluator if needed.  Tamara was speaker and general evaluator.  Steve and I piped in and offered to assist as needed.  She politely thanked me but said we were guests and she didn't want to make a guest do it.  

I appreciate her not burdening a guest, however, in Toastmasters I think it is perfectly acceptable since so many meetings are interchangeable in the format, plus how exciting it would be to learn a role a little differently from someone outside the club.  But they didn’t ask us to help and we were perfectly content to be silent observers.  (By the way, the timer forgot to put the timing cards up for most of the speakers, was it because she was overwhelmed having other roles also?)

 

There were some members that seemed more knowledgeable about zoom than others and that’s probably the same across the board with all toastmaster clubs. We were greeted well at the meeting and members laughed and seemed to get along well.  They seemed like a very friendly group.  Although it was a fun meeting, as with any club there are always areas for improvement.  

 

In my limited observation as a visitor, I would suggest the club do consider the following:

1. Dress up your website, make it enticing for viewers, that may be what causes people to attend or stay away.
2. Be mindful of time-start and end on time if at all possible.
3. Embrace Pathways (ask for help if needed).
4. Instead of doubling up on roles, ask for help from visiting Toastmasters. If they are like me, they will feel honored to be asked, to be able to contribute. 

 

Good luck Living Truth Center Toastmaster, may your club continue to thrive!

Blue Nile Toastmasters Memphis, Tennessee

6/28/20

 

This club knocked it out of the park!  It really impressed me.  The meeting ran smoothly and efficiently.  It was organized and professional.  We were greeted warmly and felt welcome.  Everything you could want in a Toastmaster club was there.

 

Before the meeting, I did research on this club. They had a nice picture on the website that made me think I would like this club immediately.  Stats show they have 20 members and are President;s Distinguished.  They started off by putting the agenda in chat which is helpful to all. They worked out the times of speeches and filling roles before the meeting started and they started on time.  They began by telling us the house rules; mics off when not speaking and explained to the speaker how to pin the timer.

 

Both speakers were good, but the first one really wowed me.  He spoke of a trip to Egypt that he and his father took.  The second one told us about her High Performance Leadership project which was a seminar about how to be a better listener.  She gave us time after her speech to ask questions (probably to see if we were listening)

 

This club has much to be proud of.  They have 7 DTMs in their club and two outgoing area directors and one incoming director.  Some people have multiple DTMs. One person even has 5 DTM's!  The general evaluator and evaluators gave spot-on comments.

 

One area of improvement which the incoming VPPR mentioned is there is no link to Zoom on their webpage.  That’s the reason my husband and I had some difficulties getting to the club.  But I think that is one of the first orders of business that he is going to rectify.

 

This is definitely a club all clubs should aim to be like.  Great job Blue Nile Toastmasters!!

Aero Achievers Toastmasters Wichita, Kansas

6/24/20

 

My husband says Toastmasters is a Life Long Learning Laboratory. He just adores alliteration.  But when I think of a group of people who has taken that laboratory literally, it would be Aero Achievers.  They are a group that really wants to learn and grow individually and as a club.  In every action, in every word spoken, the members seemed to pick up on new ways to improve their club.

 

At first, I didn’t think we would be able to get to Kansas like poor Dorothy stuck in Oz. One club in Kansas we contacted is not having any virtual meetings anymore; they have gone back to having meetings in person. Two clubs did not respond to emails to attend their club. But finally we hit the jackpot with Aero Achievers.  And the jackpot it was!  They embody what a Toastmasters club should be in professionalism, in adaptability, in friendliness and organization.  

Although they only have 11 members, they have 15 educational awards. 15!  I mean these members are really working the program, which is evidenced when they had three speakers and three evaluators with so many roles not filled at this meeting.  Poor Vickie, club president doubled and tripled up on the roles of speaker, general evaluator, evaluator, and ah counter due to last minute crises of members not being able to attend.  I probably would have cancelled the third speaker and third evaluator to spread the roles around.  But I have to hand it to them.  They handled it with ease and Vickie and others navigated the roles seamlessly.

 

Before the meeting began, Dale responded to Steve’s email and asked if we would be willing to serve in roles.  We, of course, said we would help in any way they needed.  Steve served as one of the speakers and I was an evaluator…for VICKIE!  There were 11 people that attended the meeting and five were visitors.  The meeting did start late due to technical difficulties.  Zoom kept kicking us out of the meeting or not letting us in. Vickie said maybe its because their club has a shared account within her division.  With all the positives about Zoom, this may be something that needs to be explored.

 

One difference I saw in this club is that they not only vote for Best Speaker, Best Evaluator and Best Table Topics response, but they also vote on Best Facilitator, which would be between the Toastmaster of the Day, Table Topics Master and General Evaluator.  I have never seen a club vote on Best Facilitator, but I guess it stands to reason these people might want to be recognized too.  They make a big deal out of giving people awards. In their physical club they have a traveling trophy and at the end of the year they recognize whoever has been voted THE BEST  the most times  through the year and I assume gets further recognition.

 

All in all, I think Steve and I lucked out that we couldn’t visit the other Kansas clubs, otherwise we wouldn’t have found such a jewel.  Definitely a club worth going back to if we get the time.  It’s also a club I would recommend others to visit.  Maybe help their membership numbers but most importantly you will be entering a life long learning laboratory.  You will be the one learning and growing at this club.

One State Street Toastmasters Hartford, Connecticut

6/24/20

 

Is Zoom the best platform to use for online Toastmaster meetings?  That’s the question I asked myself when I saw that One State Street Toastmasters was using Microsoft Teams as their platform for their Toastmaster meeting.  After being part of the meeting, in my opinion YES!!! Zoom is much better than Microsoft Teams.  This club meets at the workspace and I assume many were using work computers and that is why I, as a guest couldn’t see their faces.  I couldn’t see the first speaker and I would hear the timer chirp in every now and then with “green”, “yellow”.  There was no visual-no lights, no cards, no colors.  The people that I did see on video I assume were using the computer outside of the workspace.  But that is just conjecture, I don’t know for sure.  But even the “circles” of participants had only their initials so we didn’t know their names. Maybe it’s a privacy issue.  In any event, to me, it made me feel disconnected from the other participants at the meeting.

 

One State Street Toastmasters has 15 members and 13 educational goals.  Wow 13 educational goals! They are definitely working the legacy and Pathways programs!  They use WordPress for their website which to me is not enticing to the eye.  However, they do have a FAQ section which contains good information about Toastmasters.  There was a rushed feel to the club as with many midday meetings. They had two speakers and two Table Topics responses, and barely finished on time, this is probably due to having 10 guests and them taking time to introduce themselves

 

They took time to explain all the roles, which was good for visitors who had never been to a Toastmasters club.  One thing I really liked was people used chat a lot.  They put the WOD and meeting sections in chat but the best part is they used chat to “encourage” each other.  Some of the chats that I read: “great report,” “thanks,” “point well taken,” “great feedback,” “great virtual background on your screen.”

 

In person, this meeting probably POPS, but online I didn’t come away with a good feeling.  Again, though, this could be due to  the online platform they were using.  So my vote is still ZOOM for the best platform to use for online Toastmasters meetings.  Go on, convince me otherwise.

Twilight Toastmasters Brigham City, Utah

6/25/20

 

Friendly and upbeat is how I would describe this club.  Although they only have seven members and four educational awards, they press on with confidence.  Steve and I logged on 15 minutes early and there were two members already there. They quickly greeted us and began a conversation.  As other members began to arrive, we were introduced to all the other members. That has never been done before.  Although I wouldn’t be able to remember all the others names, I appreciate the effort.  

We had 11 attend the meeting including 3 visitors (Steve and me).  The other visitor said she would be joining the club soon.  The person that gave her Ice Breaker speech had just transferred from another club.  This means the club had 100% attendance; you rarely see that.  But I can understand it.  They had friendly banter before the meeting and throughout.  They all acted like old friends and quickly swooped us into their friend circle. I felt very wanted.

 

Peggy, was quick to respond to Steve’s email about coming to our club.  That should be a given, but  you would be surprised at how many people do not respond.  Could this have anything to do with poor attendance at other clubs?  Peggy said we were welcome to join their meeting and they had the roles of evaluator and speaker open and would we like to fill those roles.  We quickly responded that we would be happy too.  We looked forward to taking part in this meeting.  After the meeting, Peggy sent an email thanking us for attending and inviting us back anytime.  Sometimes people forget those little gestures that could mean so much to a visitor.  It could be what makes a person go back and actually become a member.

 

 

They had two speakers, including an Ice Breaker, which was fantastic.  The speaker checked all the boxes in the compelling way a speaker should speak.  The second speaker was completing his 10^th speech in the Competent Communications (CC) manual which is supposed to be an inspirational speech.  He gave a PowerPoint presentation about how to do PowerPoint presentations and committed three primary power point presentation faux pas.  He had way too much information on each slide, the font was too small and barely readable in some slides and he read off each slide for his presentation.  Big no-no’s for me.  This definitely was not an inspirational speech. However, in Toastmasters you get credit for doing the work, not in how well you do it.  So kudos to him for completing his CC and from his comments it sounds like he took a LONG time doing it. 

 

Although, I thoroughly enjoyed the club meeting, they really are struggling in membership.  From this one meeting, it isn’t obvious why and I don’t know their history.  However,  here are a few thoughts from my limited experience:

 

1. Work the educational program.  Another long time member mentioned that she still has not completed her CC. 
2. Dress up the website; make it more compelling to visitors
3. Don’t wait on others to log on.  When the meeting is supposed to begin at 8:00, then begin promptly at that time.l
4. Make better use of the chat feature. After the speakers, spoke the Toastmaster of the Day, said “we don’t usually do this but you can put a love note in chat to tell the speaker how they did-not anything bad.”  First, use chat more frequently and put “feedback” in chat for the speaker.  We are here at Toastmasters to help the speakers get better not give them lollipops.  They can’t improve if they don’t know what to improve in. Feedback is not bad.  That attitude needs to change.  I used to hate giving evaluations when I first started Toastmasters.  I didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.  After a while I realized, I was hurting them more by telling them they were great instead of giving them constructive feedback in a positive way, which I have figured out is harder than it looks. 

 

So kudos to Twilight Toastmasters to a good meeting!  Keep up your energy and welcoming open arms and may your numbers increase.