{"id":497,"date":"2017-09-11T08:15:34","date_gmt":"2017-09-11T12:15:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tm83.org\/blog\/?p=497"},"modified":"2017-09-09T10:21:50","modified_gmt":"2017-09-09T14:21:50","slug":"497-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tm83.org\/blog\/497-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Area Directors: Paul Ireifej"},"content":{"rendered":"

Name:<\/strong> Paul Ireifej<\/span>\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Position: <\/strong>Area 62 Director<\/span><\/p>\n

Club(s):<\/strong> AT&T Middletown Toastmasters<\/span><\/p>\n

What are you<\/span>r <\/span><\/a>plans for the district\/area\/division?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I have three priorities for Area 62. First, I want to improve club climate in all of my clubs. Club climate determines if guests become members and if members are retained and developed. Club climate has to do with the learning environment provided by your club and member interactions. Second, I want to promote participation in club contests. Contests are a great way to sharpen your speaking abilities and delivered a practiced, polished speech that you don’t normally prepare when working through the standard manuals. Also it exposes you to delivering a speech in front of new audience members (if you get to area, division and district levels). Third, I want to focus on goal setting and planning to achieve Distinguished club status. If you plan ahead and set yourself up for success, your club can be distinguished. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Why did you join Toastmasters?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Five years ago, my manager at AT&T suggested it as a way to improve my speaking abilities. He noticed that I struggled with speech even during our weekly 1-on-1 meetings! I joined reluctantly (mostly peer pressure!) and struggled to speak at all during my first several meetings. I eventually completed my CC in three years<\/span><\/span>! It wasn’t until I competed in my first contest that I fell in love with Toastmasters. I’ve been hooked ever since and aggressively pursue my advanced communication and leadership awards.<\/span><\/p>\n

What advice do you have for new members?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

 Go to every meeting<\/span>. Even if you don’t speak. Even if you shy away from Table Topics. Even if all you do is Word-of-the-Day or AH Counter week after week. Go consistently and eventually you will deliver your Ice Breaker and it will be the best day of your life!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Name: Paul Ireifej Position: Area 62 Director Club(s): AT&T Middletown Toastmasters What are your plans for the district\/area\/division? I have three priorities for Area 62. First, I want to improve club climate in all of my clubs. Club climate determines if guests become members and if members are retained and developed. Club climate has to do … Continue reading “Meet the Area Directors: Paul Ireifej”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,126,50],"tags":[236,71,7],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tm83.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tm83.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tm83.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tm83.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tm83.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.tm83.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":501,"href":"https:\/\/www.tm83.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497\/revisions\/501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tm83.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tm83.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tm83.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}