Training Ideas
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When I became VPE of our club, it occured to me that the Toastmasters
programme put great emphasis on "learning by doing" whereby members
perform speeches and functions with others pointing out where they went
wrong (however you dress it up) together with suggestions for improvement.
Of course, there are excellent educational materials from Toastmasters
which are supplemented by our own meeting guidelines but the whole
process is essentially one of self-teaching.
Although this works quite well, it seemed to me that it would.be a good idea
to teach members how to do things right in the first place.
Consequently, we introduced regular educational spots (2/3 minutes) and
educational speeches (longer) covering all aspects of speaking and meeting
organisation.
These were (and are) presented at the majority of our meetings.
Since we started meeting weekly at the beginning of this year, we have
dedicated the first meeting of each month entirely to educational events.
Sometimes these are taken from the success/leadership series (we ran
3 "Evaluation Workshops" and 2 "Effective Leadership" workshops
during the last Toastmaster year) although we usually tailor these to
suit the local environment - in the case of evaluations, more workshop, less
waffle about boosting esteem, etc.
Other presentations completed or planned include:
Mind Mapping techniques
Negotiating Skills
Interpersonal Skills
Voice Workshop
Speech Preparation and development
Interviews techniques and business presentations.
Like our normal meetings, educational events attract a good attendance of
around 30 - where we want to limit numbers or a fee is chargeable,
additional meetings are held outside our normal schedule.
In June, we invited all of the newly-elected Officer from local clubs for our
own version of Club Officer Training.
We did this because I felt that the right time to train Officers was before
taking office rather than some time after the event.
Also, our training covered all of the practical aspects of running a club.
Rather than spending time on inspirational speeches and goal-setting, we
tried to demonstrate, from our own experience, how goals might actually be
achieved.
Subjects covered included:
Committee and club organisation.
Meeting planning and the role of the VPE
Financial management
Education and mentoring
Meeting organisation and timing
Marketing and membership building
The spirit of the event was to help others learn from our experience rather
than seeking to impose our methods on other clobs.
In many ways, running a Toastmasters club is like running a business - you
have a product which has to be developed, improved, delivered, quality
controlled and marketed all within an operating budget.
This essentially, is how we run our club.
If you would like to know more about our club activities, please visit our
Web site on URL:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/london_athenians_toastmasters
Please EMAIL me with your comments.
Best regards,
Les King
Immediate Past President - London Athenians Speakers Club
PS DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE 2 MUSHROOMS WHO JUMPED OFF TOWER BRIDGE
THEY WERE FUNGHI JUMPING