Toastmasters Archives | Toastmasters 101

Toastmasters Area Director: Is this your future?

Do you want to be a Toastmasters Area Director?

Our District 10 annual meeting is this Saturday morning. While we’re there, we’ll be electing our district leaders for the year – affectionately called the Trio – District Director, Program Quality Director, and Club Growth Director. Then the division directors are elected – in District 10, we have 5 divisions. But the most important member of the leadership team, the area directors, are not elected here. They are appointed by the District Director. Does that sound right to you? The most important members of the district executive committee are appointed?

INTRO

Are you interested in developing your leadership skills? Toastmasters is where leaders are made! We provide a fun and safe place for you to develop your public speaking and leadership skills at Toastmasters! This is Toastmasters 101 and I’m your host, Kim Krajci.

What is the role of the Area Director?

Continue reading “Toastmasters Area Director: Is this your future?”

Attend Your Toastmasters District Conference

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I find myself doing less and less in front of the computer right now. Maybe I don’t have the mental space? Maybe I’m too stressed? Whatever it is, I’m struggling with the idea of spending a day online for the upcoming Toastmasters District Conference.

Why should I?

Why should you?

INTRO

Are you interested in building your skills in public speaking and leadership? Then Toastmasters is for you. We teach both in a safe and fun environment where you’ll get immediate feedback to help you grow. This is Toastmasters 101 and I’m your host, Kim Krajci.

Toastmasters District Conference

Toastmasters International hasn’t reported the new membership numbers yet, but everyone expects that we’re down – just like everyone else int he world. But we also know that TI has done the work to help us get through this crisis – encouraging online meetings, permitting officer training to go online for credit, and moving the annual convention that was scheduled for Paris this year to a virtual conference – apparently at no charge.

But any conference, to me, is not so much about the speakers. Sorry, keynoters. #Sorrynotsorry. I can listen to your presentation later if it’s available. Frankly, any speaker needs to have unbelievable – and I mean that literally – unbelievable value to get me to sit down at a conference to listen to them. I find the breakout sessions have more value to me because I can choose. Continue reading “Attend Your Toastmasters District Conference”

Leadership in Adversity in Toastmasters

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What does leadership in adversity look like? What do leaders in adverse situations do?

This week was the most important religious holiday of my year. What’s normally a day of celebration and feasting with my extended church family was instead kept at home, in front of a screen.

No candles, no shouts, no procession.

But the following morning, we opted to create a physical event that met all of the existing regulations. We met outside. We socially distanced ourselves. Many of us wore masks and gloves.

For an hour, we were together.

Was it enough?

When we talk about 2020 and Toastmasters in the future, what are we going to say? Was it enough?

INTRO

Learning leadership skills takes us out of our comfort zones. Do you want to learn leadership skills in a safe environment without the risks of harming your career? Then Toastmasters is for you. Toastmasters is where leaders are made – we’ll introduce you to the foundations and give you the opportunities to grow your skills. This is Toastmasters 101 and I’m your host, Kim Krajci. Continue reading “Leadership in Adversity in Toastmasters”

Your High Performance Leadership Project in a Pandemic

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Today’s podcast is about your High Performance Leadership Project in a Pandemic – what to do when you are stuck.

TI Extends the Deadlines

Toastmasters International made a huge announcement last week right in the middle of my recording last week’s podcast. The big news? An extension has been made for those who are currently stuck due to the pandemic – the Advanced Leadership Silver award and the Distinguished Toastmaster Award in the classic education program have had their deadlines moved to 2021. Inside this extension is the Club Coach project – also extended into 2021.

What wasn’t extended was the deadline for the High Performance Leadership – which is part of the Advanced Leadership Silver award.

What’s a Toastmaster to do?

My suggestion? Pivot. Continue reading “Your High Performance Leadership Project in a Pandemic”

Mastering Online Meetings

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Mastering Online Meetings

Toastmasters are facing a lot of challenges right now. As we make the transition to mastering online meetings, we get to

Learn how to manage a meeting platform
Present projects with a remote audience
Plan out our path for us to achieve our goals.

Yeah, that’s not much, right?

What’s even more challenging is that your equipment is what you’ve got to work with. So how do you make that work?

Online Meetings

Good question. We can’t possibly address every single variant – this equipment, that platform. But what we can do is try to help you face your audience at the meeting with some confidence that you can do it.

So today, we’ll spend some time talking about how to learn your platform, presentation skills in the video format, and what your next project will teach you – a lot more than just what the Pathways instructions told you. Continue reading “Mastering Online Meetings”

Moving My Toastmasters Meeting Online

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In the face of all the advice to stay home, how do we Toastmasters meet?

Let’s talk about moving my Toastmasters meeting online. Let’s talk about moving all Toastmasters meetings online!

“When managing during a crisis first make sure that your people and the organization you are managing are going to be safe, then look for opportunities.

Periods of turbulence provide both large risks and large opportunities, so after you make sure that you and your people are safe from the risk of ruin, look for the opportunities. It is at such times most people pay the most attention to the risks than the opportunities, that at such times opportunities are greatest.” – Ray Dalio

via Harry Duran.

Welcome to the new world.

In the midst of all the panic, the crises, the lack of toilet paper in the stores, we find we can still function. It’s a matter of adaptation.

Becky Holland Fuller is president of Singing Sands Toastmasters Club in Michigan City, Indiana. I saw her post on the Official Toastmasters International Members Facebook Page about her club’s first online meeting last night and I immediately messaged her.

I HAVE TO TALK TO YOU!

We’re all feeling a bit at sea with the news from Toastmasters International that encourages online Toastmasters meetings. Many of us have been in webinars, some of us have run webinars. But how do you switch from an on-site meeting to an online meeting? How does that work? Continue reading “Moving My Toastmasters Meeting Online”

Contest Speeches and Ice Breakers

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Today’s episode is about contest speeches and ice breaker speeches.

According to Toastmasters International, I’ve given more than 8 Ice Breaker speeches.

According to the evaluations on my desk, I’ve given my contest speech 8 times in preparation for this week’s area contest.

I see a connection, and it’s not in how many times I’ve done the same thing.

INTRO

Do you want to overcome your fear of public speaking? Do you want to discover the leader inside you? Welcome to Toastmasters, in one hour per week, we can help you do both. This is Toastmasters 101 and I’m your host, Kim Krajci. Continue reading “Contest Speeches and Ice Breakers”

Membership Contests

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Where will you find a Toastmaster? Get new members in your club with membership contests.

I went to a story-telling conference last week and discovered that one of the other attendees is a Toastmaster. ( Hi, Alan!) Then I met another gentleman who has been in Toastmasters in the past.

You never know where you’ll find a Toastmaster – or someone who would like to know more.

Because of that, I’d like to ask a favor of you. If you like this podcast – would you tell one person about it? Someone who would like to know more about Toastmasters – or a current Toastmaster who needs to know more about the Pathways program? Thank you!

Why am I asking this?

Continue reading “Membership Contests”

Toastmasters Meetings: Why you should go

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Oh, not another meeting. It’s that time of year when we in the northern hemisphere know that spring is coming – months from now. We want to sink down into a warm blanket and sip something soothing and not leave until that groundhog’s prediction no longer matters. But there’s a Toastmasters meeting. Why should we go to Toastmasters this week? we ask.

Intro

Can you spare an hour a week to change your life? With Toastmasters, you can find the voice inside you and discover the leader you can become. This is the Toastmasters 101 podcast. I’m your host, Kim Krajci

Continue reading “Toastmasters Meetings: Why you should go”

Youth Leadership Program: Take Toastmasters out of the club

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Youth Leadership Program by Toastmasters – Is it time for you to take Toastmasters out of your club?

There are about a zillion good reasons to become a Toastmaster. Everyone has their own reason to join. But at some point, after you’ve witnessed what our training has done for yourself and for others, do you ever think – maybe it’s time to take Toastmasters out of my club and into my world? Continue reading “Youth Leadership Program: Take Toastmasters out of the club”