{"id":532,"date":"2017-09-17T08:55:34","date_gmt":"2017-09-17T12:55:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tm83.org\/blog\/?p=532"},"modified":"2017-09-17T11:02:03","modified_gmt":"2017-09-17T15:02:03","slug":"what-i-learned-from-apex-toastmasters-nc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tm83.org\/blog\/what-i-learned-from-apex-toastmasters-nc\/","title":{"rendered":"What I Learned from Apex Toastmasters, NC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Its not easy to have consistently practice a discipline, but some clubs are great at this mantra. While I was on vacation in Apex, North Carolina, I dropped into Apex Toastmasters. From the moment I stepped in to the room, I felt the energy of positivity and achievement. I can’t explain the energy in words, but I can surely share the observations that stuck in my mind after the meeting.<\/span><\/p>\n

* Greet everyone like its the first time – No, not just the new members. Everyone greeted each other like they saw each other for the first time. Its safe to say that all members were emulating the role of a VPPR.<\/span><\/p>\n

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* Be on time – I am the first culprit as I didn’t practice this fully and completely to this very day in my club as a past club president. We were at least 5 seconds late. Apex Toastmasters started on time. When I say on time, I meant 7.15 pm<\/span><\/span> sharp. The sergeant-at-arms did a marvelous job by saying… 3 minutes more, 2 minutes more, 1 minute more…lets take our seats.”<\/span><\/p>\n

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* Welcome desk at the front – no one could miss that. All content with some files (I believe those were new member kits.) laid nicely on the desk. I should confess I was so enticed by the energy in the room that I missed to take an Agenda for myself.<\/span> 
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* Get the guests involved and make them feel valued – We all love to be acknowledged and appreciated. I was alone in a club with new faces ( and hearts) and its so easy to miss some aspects of visitor engagement. The 2 members sitting on either side of me had a quick casual chat and shared the Agenda (more towards my side). Its small things that matter that makes guests welcome.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

* Close doors on time and assign an  usher for the first 10 to 15 mins after the meeting starts – doors were shut and the usher made sure no one came inside while a segment (such as a speech) was in progress. What an impressive discipline. <\/span><\/p>\n

* Go through the roles and fill in all gaps in the Agenda prior to starting the meeting. – this was not done hidden, but formally. All of us have our own daily challenges and this might keep us away from the meeting with no prior notice. Just like a pilot going through a checklist of pre-take off checks prior to a take off, the Toastmasters browsed through the agenda and filled all roles. All members rose to the situation and readily accepted the assignments. I observed many taking notes for themselves as if each held accountability of each change. Need I say that I was impressed?<\/span><\/p>\n

Have a seasoned speaker deliver the 1st speech – this might or might not have be planned, however it was indeed effective to set the pace for the meeting and exhibit the breed of the club.<\/span><\/p>\n

I took mental notes to share these points so that each of our clubs can learn from each other and continuously improve.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Catch individuals, teams, and organizations doing great work.” <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Its not easy to have consistently practice a discipline, but some clubs are great at this mantra. While I was on vacation in Apex, North Carolina, I dropped into Apex Toastmasters. From the moment I stepped in to the room, I felt the energy of positivity and achievement. I can’t explain the energy in words, … Continue reading “What I Learned from Apex Toastmasters, NC”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,34,4,50],"tags":[248,249,247],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tm83.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532"}],"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\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tm83.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.tm83.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":543,"href":"https:\/\/www.tm83.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532\/revisions\/543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tm83.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tm83.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tm83.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}