I visited another club today, and watched them do an officer installation. They did it from a manual.
It took some searching, but I did find it. And that was a moment of: 'oh, yeah, I should have remembered that!'
It was right there in the Club Leadership Handbook! Rev 4/2013, starting on page 60
http://www.toastmasters.org/CLH
However, this is an abbreviate script -- as it does not spell out the summary duties of the roles in the script.
I also like to add a note to the VP/Ed to be aware they also have a vote at the district business meeting.
One thing for club officers to remember: you can do your officer lists before your induction ceremonies!
If you do your election early enough, you can ask your Area Governor or other District official to come in to officiate the induction - to make it seem even more official!
Friday, June 28, 2013
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Club Officer Induction
Wednesday 6/26/2013,
A couple of weeks ago, I was asked as a representative of the District to do an officer installation at the newest club in the division. I thought it was the changing of the officers, as it was that time of year for all the clubs, however I realized afterwards that this was actually the first official time they were assigned their roles, as everyone stayed in the positions they were holding.
I was very honored to be asked to be a part at this level, even before I completely, officially take on my new role. I was especially glad to take part with this club, as it was the first time I took part in a demo meeting, which started me down the road to my expanded role with the district.
My fiance came along to observe the meeting. She recognized a couple of the officers who had come along to that last TLI, getting skills before the club was completely finished being chartered.
It started as a pretty normal meeting. It was in a nice big room, just big enough that there was value using the wireless microphone. There was only one speech. It was an icebreaker. In fact, just about every speech in the club is an icebreaker. This makes sense with a brand new club with over 30 members, you would pretty much have everyone working through their icebreakers to get started.
Never having done an installation before, I was planning to google it to find out the process. Just before I did, another Division Governor helped me out by sending along some sample scripts she had used (thanks again!!). It turned out I didn't need the script, as the club thought ahead and had provided one to me!
I learned a little more about the process of induction and asking the officers to accept their roles, and members to accept their roles as well. Surprisingly, I had never seen it in my first club, in spite of being voted into officer roles twice. Thus it gives me something else I can take back to my first club to add to the experience.
Note to self: when involved with new clubs, find out about initial officer installations, and make sure that is something they have covered or if they still need it done.
A couple of weeks ago, I was asked as a representative of the District to do an officer installation at the newest club in the division. I thought it was the changing of the officers, as it was that time of year for all the clubs, however I realized afterwards that this was actually the first official time they were assigned their roles, as everyone stayed in the positions they were holding.
I was very honored to be asked to be a part at this level, even before I completely, officially take on my new role. I was especially glad to take part with this club, as it was the first time I took part in a demo meeting, which started me down the road to my expanded role with the district.
My fiance came along to observe the meeting. She recognized a couple of the officers who had come along to that last TLI, getting skills before the club was completely finished being chartered.
It started as a pretty normal meeting. It was in a nice big room, just big enough that there was value using the wireless microphone. There was only one speech. It was an icebreaker. In fact, just about every speech in the club is an icebreaker. This makes sense with a brand new club with over 30 members, you would pretty much have everyone working through their icebreakers to get started.
Never having done an installation before, I was planning to google it to find out the process. Just before I did, another Division Governor helped me out by sending along some sample scripts she had used (thanks again!!). It turned out I didn't need the script, as the club thought ahead and had provided one to me!
I learned a little more about the process of induction and asking the officers to accept their roles, and members to accept their roles as well. Surprisingly, I had never seen it in my first club, in spite of being voted into officer roles twice. Thus it gives me something else I can take back to my first club to add to the experience.
Note to self: when involved with new clubs, find out about initial officer installations, and make sure that is something they have covered or if they still need it done.
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Icebreaker and Officer
I am very proud of my fiance. Tonight she stood up and did her icebreaker speech!
I had given her some ideas of how she could connect a bunch of thoughts about her life for her first speech, taking bits of stories she has told me and others. Her first few drafts basically followed my suggestions.
However, in the last week, she turned it around, and really made the speech her own. I am really glad and impressed that she was able to come up with a version that was really her own speech. Yes, I did offer an idea or two and some minor tuning, but it was her speech.
For an icebreaker, I thought she did really well. Yes, she was mostly on notes, but I know many people are for their first speech - I certainly was. She has lots of the right things going on in her speech. She can learn to enhance them as time goes on. Good starting body language and gestures. Decent eye-contact when not looking at notes. She moved around, not being rooted to one spot. Her facial expressions and vocal variety shows she has a good amount of the foundation of Toastmasters. I can not see any obvious gaps in her abilities, so I really look forward to seeing how she continues to grow.
However, not only did she do her first speech tonight, she also was up for an officers role in the club: secretary! I too was up for a role: president. I went up and told them I wanted them to pick one of the 2 other people, as I was already taking on a lot. Deb stood up and told the club that she was comfortable with the role of secretary, having filled it before with our Geocaching hobby.
I overheard the voting as they were counting for the secretary position. It sounded pretty promising. We waited for the counting of the votes. There was a delay in that the Sgt. at Arms position ended in a tie, and the other roles did not solve the tie. The club had to re-vote for the 2 people that had tied before we heard all the results.
In the end, Deb did get secretary. I am very proud and happy that she is already taking on a bigger role in Toastmasters! Way to go Deb!
I also got some nice thoughts from my 20yo son who managed to join us for the first time at a Toastmasters meeting. He complimented me, and indicated he was willing to visit again. I am not sure if he is hooked yet, but it was nice to have him come along to see a little of what it is about.
Family time at Toastmasters - what could be better?! :)
I had given her some ideas of how she could connect a bunch of thoughts about her life for her first speech, taking bits of stories she has told me and others. Her first few drafts basically followed my suggestions.
However, in the last week, she turned it around, and really made the speech her own. I am really glad and impressed that she was able to come up with a version that was really her own speech. Yes, I did offer an idea or two and some minor tuning, but it was her speech.
For an icebreaker, I thought she did really well. Yes, she was mostly on notes, but I know many people are for their first speech - I certainly was. She has lots of the right things going on in her speech. She can learn to enhance them as time goes on. Good starting body language and gestures. Decent eye-contact when not looking at notes. She moved around, not being rooted to one spot. Her facial expressions and vocal variety shows she has a good amount of the foundation of Toastmasters. I can not see any obvious gaps in her abilities, so I really look forward to seeing how she continues to grow.
However, not only did she do her first speech tonight, she also was up for an officers role in the club: secretary! I too was up for a role: president. I went up and told them I wanted them to pick one of the 2 other people, as I was already taking on a lot. Deb stood up and told the club that she was comfortable with the role of secretary, having filled it before with our Geocaching hobby.
I overheard the voting as they were counting for the secretary position. It sounded pretty promising. We waited for the counting of the votes. There was a delay in that the Sgt. at Arms position ended in a tie, and the other roles did not solve the tie. The club had to re-vote for the 2 people that had tied before we heard all the results.
In the end, Deb did get secretary. I am very proud and happy that she is already taking on a bigger role in Toastmasters! Way to go Deb!
I also got some nice thoughts from my 20yo son who managed to join us for the first time at a Toastmasters meeting. He complimented me, and indicated he was willing to visit again. I am not sure if he is hooked yet, but it was nice to have him come along to see a little of what it is about.
Family time at Toastmasters - what could be better?! :)
Sunday, June 23, 2013
My first Toast as a Toastmaster
I've done a bunch of speeches so far, at least 15 in manuals, and a few that I've done without getting manual credit.
However, today Sunday 6/23, was my first time giving a Toast at a wedding!
My step-daughter got married up in Denver, 10 years to the day from their first date. The ceremony itself was classy, touching and relatively brief.
During the reception, they made more time for speeches that you might normally expect during a wedding. I was included in the list of people that could speak if they wanted.
I've said it not that long ago: I am not at the point in Toastmasters where I stand up and say I want to speak. I still had to push myself to take on opportunities. I guess that has now changed: I really am a dedicated Toastmaster now: I wanted the chance to add my voice praising their union.
I think I'm getting a little too confident though, as I wrote the speech on the ride up there. I knew I was comfortable with being able to offer some thoughts off the top of my head, but I did want to do something more. I didn't want to put on a comedy act, or embarrass them or give long stories of how I knew them. I wanted to give some sort of story or inspirational thoughts.
I wanted my thoughts to give them some positive advice for their marriage. And yet I wondered to myself: who am I to give marriage advice? I could talk about some things to avoid. I could share with them warning signs of problems. Yet who would want that as a wedding toast? That is not positive. Thus, I needed an idea that would give them strength and positive thoughts.
As I sat there in the back of the car, with conversation ebbing and flowing around me, staring at the blank paper, with the pen in my hand, it didn't take long for a thought to come to me. It was a vision of waves on an ocean shore. Yet, how did it tie in? What did this have to do with a wedding in the hot, dry, fire-burdened Colorado?
Instead of rejecting it outright, I let the idea flow. The scene moved to the sand. How is a marriage like sand I wondered? Grains of sand can be like relationship - with connections forming and passing, like friendships coming and going with wind and waves moving some apart. Yet sand can stick together, perhaps in elegant sand castles. Yet even sand castles are not permanent.
However, there is a way sand can be permanent: when it is heated and becomes glass. This happens in nature, around volcanoes, called obsidian. This was used for weapons and tools in the past.
Glass can be thought of as delicate, distorting and cloudy. And yet it can be strong, like the pair - the couple - of panes of glass in an automobile windshield, or even bullet-proof-glass. It can be beautiful, like an etched crystal wine glass, able to ring out with a strong tone.
Then I realized that there was a strong, ornate use for glass: an hourglass! Reusing the sand from above, filling the timekeeper. I spoke about how it is important not to get caught worrying too much about the sand above, for the future, and not to dwell too much on the sand of the past. Instead, while keeping an eye on the future, make sure to pay attention to the sand passing through the center - the important moments in your life.
I though of how the marriage can be like a forge, bonding the sand together.
I wished the couple the strength, beauty and transparency that glass can represent.
I managed to do the speech without notes. I still need to work on making my conclusions more powerful and connected to the topics I presented. But overall, I was very pleased by my toast. The newly married couple also noted their appreciation afterward. That was the best reward!
I was happy and honored to be able to share that day with them, and be able to share in the nice way with the skills Toastmasters has allowed me to significantly improve.
However, today Sunday 6/23, was my first time giving a Toast at a wedding!
My step-daughter got married up in Denver, 10 years to the day from their first date. The ceremony itself was classy, touching and relatively brief.
During the reception, they made more time for speeches that you might normally expect during a wedding. I was included in the list of people that could speak if they wanted.
I've said it not that long ago: I am not at the point in Toastmasters where I stand up and say I want to speak. I still had to push myself to take on opportunities. I guess that has now changed: I really am a dedicated Toastmaster now: I wanted the chance to add my voice praising their union.
I think I'm getting a little too confident though, as I wrote the speech on the ride up there. I knew I was comfortable with being able to offer some thoughts off the top of my head, but I did want to do something more. I didn't want to put on a comedy act, or embarrass them or give long stories of how I knew them. I wanted to give some sort of story or inspirational thoughts.
I wanted my thoughts to give them some positive advice for their marriage. And yet I wondered to myself: who am I to give marriage advice? I could talk about some things to avoid. I could share with them warning signs of problems. Yet who would want that as a wedding toast? That is not positive. Thus, I needed an idea that would give them strength and positive thoughts.
As I sat there in the back of the car, with conversation ebbing and flowing around me, staring at the blank paper, with the pen in my hand, it didn't take long for a thought to come to me. It was a vision of waves on an ocean shore. Yet, how did it tie in? What did this have to do with a wedding in the hot, dry, fire-burdened Colorado?
Instead of rejecting it outright, I let the idea flow. The scene moved to the sand. How is a marriage like sand I wondered? Grains of sand can be like relationship - with connections forming and passing, like friendships coming and going with wind and waves moving some apart. Yet sand can stick together, perhaps in elegant sand castles. Yet even sand castles are not permanent.
However, there is a way sand can be permanent: when it is heated and becomes glass. This happens in nature, around volcanoes, called obsidian. This was used for weapons and tools in the past.
Glass can be thought of as delicate, distorting and cloudy. And yet it can be strong, like the pair - the couple - of panes of glass in an automobile windshield, or even bullet-proof-glass. It can be beautiful, like an etched crystal wine glass, able to ring out with a strong tone.
Then I realized that there was a strong, ornate use for glass: an hourglass! Reusing the sand from above, filling the timekeeper. I spoke about how it is important not to get caught worrying too much about the sand above, for the future, and not to dwell too much on the sand of the past. Instead, while keeping an eye on the future, make sure to pay attention to the sand passing through the center - the important moments in your life.
I though of how the marriage can be like a forge, bonding the sand together.
I wished the couple the strength, beauty and transparency that glass can represent.
I managed to do the speech without notes. I still need to work on making my conclusions more powerful and connected to the topics I presented. But overall, I was very pleased by my toast. The newly married couple also noted their appreciation afterward. That was the best reward!
I was happy and honored to be able to share that day with them, and be able to share in the nice way with the skills Toastmasters has allowed me to significantly improve.
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Evaluations are Free Advice
Recently I saw a General Evaluator giving a detailed report with some very good advice and some other advice that seemed a bit harsh.
He mentioned to the other evaluators that there is lots of value in making sure that they people they were evaluating were knew that the views they were sharing were their own opinion.
He emphasized the point by saying every person would give different version of critique, that an evaluation should not sound like the person represents the whole group, and that you can't say it is your own opinion often enough.
First let me say that the last part is not completely true. I've heard evaluations where they over-did they amount they emphasized that it was just their own opinion to the point where it seemed like they didn't even believe their own thoughts had any value.
Yet as a rule, it is important to make sure that those you evaluate realize that an evaluations are just suggestions, and just one person's view of things.
What struck me later is that this General Evaluator could really have used their own advice! He went on to comment on the performance of another functionary at the meeting. He had a number of critical things to point out. The points were all delivered in a helpful teacher-type tone, yet the message basically said this functionary did things wrong. And it was presented in a form that came across to me a little like he was representing the whole club against them.
At the end of the meeting, I made sure to give some additional feedback and perspective to the functionary to make sure they knew the did a decent job, and just to take the information as suggestions to do better in the future. It turns out it was only their second time in the role, and they had not been given a lot of details on how to do the role.
It reminded me of the first time in Toastmasters that I got an evaluation that rubbed me the wrong way. It took me some time, outside feedback, and a number of reinterpretations to get good value from the evaluation. That was the moment that I realized that you don't have to take every evaluation to heart. Just remember that the person is giving you their perspective of what they felt, and that there is almost always some value you can take.
Evaluations are free advice.
The value you get starts with what you pay: no cash value.
No matter how strong or harsh the evaluation sounds when you hear it, the views are simply one person's advice!
However, there is value in almost every piece of advice you get in Toastmasters.
Here is the important piece:
1) If it makes you feel bad, or feel like you did something wrong, you need to reject that internalization immediately, and look at it again!
2) When you can look at the information that comes with the critique as one or more things you can use to improve and do better the next time, then you have the value of the advice!
That is worth more than cash!
He mentioned to the other evaluators that there is lots of value in making sure that they people they were evaluating were knew that the views they were sharing were their own opinion.
He emphasized the point by saying every person would give different version of critique, that an evaluation should not sound like the person represents the whole group, and that you can't say it is your own opinion often enough.
First let me say that the last part is not completely true. I've heard evaluations where they over-did they amount they emphasized that it was just their own opinion to the point where it seemed like they didn't even believe their own thoughts had any value.
Yet as a rule, it is important to make sure that those you evaluate realize that an evaluations are just suggestions, and just one person's view of things.
What struck me later is that this General Evaluator could really have used their own advice! He went on to comment on the performance of another functionary at the meeting. He had a number of critical things to point out. The points were all delivered in a helpful teacher-type tone, yet the message basically said this functionary did things wrong. And it was presented in a form that came across to me a little like he was representing the whole club against them.
At the end of the meeting, I made sure to give some additional feedback and perspective to the functionary to make sure they knew the did a decent job, and just to take the information as suggestions to do better in the future. It turns out it was only their second time in the role, and they had not been given a lot of details on how to do the role.
It reminded me of the first time in Toastmasters that I got an evaluation that rubbed me the wrong way. It took me some time, outside feedback, and a number of reinterpretations to get good value from the evaluation. That was the moment that I realized that you don't have to take every evaluation to heart. Just remember that the person is giving you their perspective of what they felt, and that there is almost always some value you can take.
Evaluations are free advice.
The value you get starts with what you pay: no cash value.
No matter how strong or harsh the evaluation sounds when you hear it, the views are simply one person's advice!
However, there is value in almost every piece of advice you get in Toastmasters.
Here is the important piece:
1) If it makes you feel bad, or feel like you did something wrong, you need to reject that internalization immediately, and look at it again!
2) When you can look at the information that comes with the critique as one or more things you can use to improve and do better the next time, then you have the value of the advice!
That is worth more than cash!
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