This Week's President's Message

Hello 3 Talkers!

In last week's message I wrote about focusing on building our membership and for us to start to think proactively about "who can we invite to the next meeting?". The easiest way to get started on that is to think about who can benefit from Toastmasters or from our club specifically?

Some of the answers that come to my mind include:

People who are writing or publishing a book (even self publishing) because they will be looking for speaking opportunities to sell their book. As we have seen from some of the ads in TM magazine speaking and writing go hand in hand. Authors need to speak to sell their books and speakers get more credibility from having written a book.

People who are laid off and looking for work. Toastmasters is an inexpensive way for them to add skills and value to their resume. In many careers, good presentation skills are a valuable asset. Also the better a person becomes at communicating in front of people the better they become at presenting themselves.

People who have a cause that they care about. Maybe it's saving the rainforest or endangered species, rallying to keep our oceans clean. In TM they can learn the skills to Persuade With Power (speech no. 9 in CC manual) to present the best case for their cause.

People who have aspirations to run for a political office. As our own Richard Baker wrote about in an article which appeared in the June 2010 issue of TM Magazine, what he learned in TM was immensely helpful to him on the campaign trail.

Stay at home moms and dads. People who choose to stay at home to raise their families still like and need to have creative outlets where they can be stimulated, learn new things and of course share what they have learned with the rest of us.

I am sure there are more that you can think of, I have touched upon just a few. Who are the people you know that get passionate about issues they see in the news or issues happening in the world of sports? TM speeches provide a wonderful platform and safe place for them to express their passion and/or point of view. The point is TM and public speaking is a wonderful avenue and outlet for creative self expression.

The challenge is that some of these people may not know or even be thinking about how TM could help them and be fun as well. When I worked in a retail store, we had a principal called "man in the desert selling". Let's say you came across someone who had been lost in the desert for days and as they're nearly ready to pass out they squeak out in a raspy voice "water! water!" Well of course you would get them some water, but would that be all that you would do? You might get them a chair to sit in, offer them some food, call an ambulance or drive them to the hospital, offer to call someone for them etc.

In the examples mentioned above, those people are somewhat like the man lost in the desert, all they may be focused on is that they need and want a job, or to write and get their book published, or to get funding for their campaign. They may not be thinking about how TM could help them present themselves better to prospective employers, customers, voters etc.

It's our job to share with them our experience and invite them to that opportunity.

RECOGNITION!

1.Congratulations to Steve Bolton on completing his Ice Breaker Speech. We look forward to many more.

2. As I mentioned above, Richard Baker has an inspiring article that is published in the June 2010 issue of Toastmaster magazine.

3. Let's be sure to support and encourage Chris Battista who is in the final miles of completing the requirements for the highest and most honored award in Toastmasters, that of Distinguished Toastmaster. (APPLAUSE!!)