I attended a meeting today at a club that has more than 20 members. However, only 2 members were present - both of them new - plus 6 guests! It was my area visit. Nobody knew what to do, there was no agenda, no roles filed, anything. I guess it was because of the summer time.
Anyway, the guests and even new members had some questions and after the meeting I sent them a bunch of resources. I thought that it would be a good idea to start collecting resources for guests and new members. It would be very easy to just provide a single link to all the guests. If the situation that happened today happens again, every member that attended the last meeting would be able to share that link with the guests.
Most of the Toastmasters resources are free in digital form. There are also websites and online resources that are not included on the Toastmasters International website nor the District 36 website. I hope that I will collect most of them here. I will create a page with all the resources soon.
I will definitely include:
All About Toastmasters
New Member Form
Ice-Breaker Speech
Toastmasters International website
Toastmasters International Video Library
District 36 website
District 36 Facebook page
YouTube Channel with the previous World Champions in Public Speaking
Toastmasters blogs
Do you have any Toastmasters resources that you think would be helpful for guests/new Toastmasters? Share them in the comments below! The new resource page is coming soon... Thank you!
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Thursday, July 16, 2015
How I Track Area 56 Toastmasters on Google Maps
When I received my area assignment, I was a little overwhelmed and lost in the locations, times and dates when those clubs meet. I decided to create a Google Map where I listed all my clubs, and a Google Calendar where I added all the clubs meetings for the whole year. In this post, I will show you how I created the Google Map and next time, I will share how I created the Google Calendar.
First, you need a Google account. If you already have a Gmail address, that's all you need. If you don't have a Google account, you can create one at Google.com. The process is straight forward and if you need help, let me know and I can write another post about it.
Once you have a Google account, go to www.google.com/mymaps. You should see the following:
Click on "Create a new map". First, change the name of your map in the top left corner where it says "Untitled Map". When you click on "Untitled Map", you get a pop-up window where you can add a new title and description. You can do the same for "Untitled layer" and change it to something more meaningful.
Now it's time to add your clubs. In the search box, type the address of the first club. Google will find the address and drop a pin. Click on the pin to add the location to your map.
You can see, that it says the address. However, I would like to see the name of the club instead. To change that, click on the pin on the map and click the pencil to edit it. Now you can change the title and also the pin itself if you wish.
Repeat the same steps for all your clubs. This is how my area 56 map looks like:
Now I can easily see where is each club located, I can get directions and see how long it will take me to get there.
Did you find this useful? Let me know!
First, you need a Google account. If you already have a Gmail address, that's all you need. If you don't have a Google account, you can create one at Google.com. The process is straight forward and if you need help, let me know and I can write another post about it.
Once you have a Google account, go to www.google.com/mymaps. You should see the following:
Click on "Create a new map". First, change the name of your map in the top left corner where it says "Untitled Map". When you click on "Untitled Map", you get a pop-up window where you can add a new title and description. You can do the same for "Untitled layer" and change it to something more meaningful.
Now it's time to add your clubs. In the search box, type the address of the first club. Google will find the address and drop a pin. Click on the pin to add the location to your map.
Once added to the map, the location should appear on the left under your layer. In my case, it's under Area 56 Toastmasters Clubs layer.
Repeat the same steps for all your clubs. This is how my area 56 map looks like:
Now I can easily see where is each club located, I can get directions and see how long it will take me to get there.
Did you find this useful? Let me know!
Knowledge Portal for Toastmasters - Especially Area Directors
I have heard of Toastmasters a long time ago during a networking event. At that time, I was studying to get my bachelor's degree. My English was not perfect at all, but I could write, speak, and understand pretty well. I was looking for ways to improve my speaking skills. However, it took me another couple of years to finally become a Toastmaster.
My Toastmasters journey started in October 2011 when I joined Tally Ho Toastmasters club in Potomac, MD. I was hooked immediately! I really enjoyed coming to the club every other week. I prepared some speeches and always felt so energized after delivering them.
I was a Toastmaster on and off since 2011. I became the Vice President of Education which I really enjoyed. The VPE is a very important role, but I was really excited to help other Toastmasters to succeed and to help my club to become a distinguished club.
During the years, my schedule changed and I got a new job, so I was forced to change Toastmasters clubs as well. I was a member of other two very strong clubs - Vagabond Toastmasters and IFC Toastmasters.
Besides being the VPE for my club, I also presented at couple of TLIs and participated in competitions. I still cannot believe that I got to the District 36 finals for the humorous competition in 2014! That was a major win for me.
I work for the World Bank Group - International Finance Corporation - as Knowledge Management Consultant. When I was selected as the Area 56 Director, I immediately started taking action and preparing for my role. That's when I got an idea - I could use the knowledge from my job at Toastmasters and my new role! And that's why I decided to write this blog.
Here you will find my ideas on how to make the job of area director easier, how you can help your clubs, and how I manage the workload. I would love to collaborate with others and come up with ideas that will help not only Area Directors, but also other Toastmasters.
When I attended the first training for Area Directors, I found out that the knowledge that our previous Area Governors (that's what they have been called until this year) is nowhere to find. If you would like some advice, you would have to contact the previous Area Governor or search online. Of course, there are many manuals on the Toastmasters website, however, the secrets and methods are missing. Hopefully this blog will become one of the resources for Toastmasters.
Let's get started! Let me know if you have any lessons learned or advice for us - the new Area Directors - or other Toastmasters roles. I'm happy to share your post here or link to your blog or website. Let's collaborate, learn from each other, and have fun!
My Toastmasters journey started in October 2011 when I joined Tally Ho Toastmasters club in Potomac, MD. I was hooked immediately! I really enjoyed coming to the club every other week. I prepared some speeches and always felt so energized after delivering them.
I was a Toastmaster on and off since 2011. I became the Vice President of Education which I really enjoyed. The VPE is a very important role, but I was really excited to help other Toastmasters to succeed and to help my club to become a distinguished club.
During the years, my schedule changed and I got a new job, so I was forced to change Toastmasters clubs as well. I was a member of other two very strong clubs - Vagabond Toastmasters and IFC Toastmasters.
Besides being the VPE for my club, I also presented at couple of TLIs and participated in competitions. I still cannot believe that I got to the District 36 finals for the humorous competition in 2014! That was a major win for me.
I work for the World Bank Group - International Finance Corporation - as Knowledge Management Consultant. When I was selected as the Area 56 Director, I immediately started taking action and preparing for my role. That's when I got an idea - I could use the knowledge from my job at Toastmasters and my new role! And that's why I decided to write this blog.
Here you will find my ideas on how to make the job of area director easier, how you can help your clubs, and how I manage the workload. I would love to collaborate with others and come up with ideas that will help not only Area Directors, but also other Toastmasters.
When I attended the first training for Area Directors, I found out that the knowledge that our previous Area Governors (that's what they have been called until this year) is nowhere to find. If you would like some advice, you would have to contact the previous Area Governor or search online. Of course, there are many manuals on the Toastmasters website, however, the secrets and methods are missing. Hopefully this blog will become one of the resources for Toastmasters.
Let's get started! Let me know if you have any lessons learned or advice for us - the new Area Directors - or other Toastmasters roles. I'm happy to share your post here or link to your blog or website. Let's collaborate, learn from each other, and have fun!
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