Saturday, January 26, 2013

Meet The Execs: Secretary, Tiffany Chen

Handling internal and external club correspondence, maintaining accurate club files, documenting meeting minutes, updating the membership roster- these are just some of the duties entrusted to a Toastmaster's club Secretary to ensure that things run smoothly.

Sounds like a role that just deals with a lot of paper work, right? Why would anyone actually volunteer for such a role?

To get a better understanding about the benefits of this role, let's have a chat with Lambs to Lions Toastmaster's current club Secretary- Tiffany Chen.
  
1. How long have you been a part of Toastmasters?
TC: I have been a part of Toastmasters for almost a year.

2. Why did you join Lambs to Lions' executive team as the Secretary?
TC: As the election time was approaching, I actually had little intention of joining the executive team. I thought, maybe I'd join next year. However, Elizabeth encouraged me to run for secretary. After I gained more understanding about the role, I decided to run for the position. Then the election came, I was voted on and here I am!

3. What is the best part/aspect of your role?
TC: The best part of my role is to sort of act as someone who keeps an eye and has a general idea of what the club is doing, documents and keeps records of what’s happening at the executive meeting and club meeting, suggests and implements initiatives to promote the club.

Also, as a new member of Toastmasters, I’m glad that I’m given the chance to work and learn with experienced Toastmasters on the executive team. Their knowledge and passion for Toastmasters help me understand of how this organization is run, and what I need to do to be a good secretary, a successful Toastmaster, and how to take our club to the next level.

4. What is the most challenging part/aspect of your role?
TC: The most challenging part of my role is, to both actively participate in the meeting and to take detailed meeting minutes. Sometime I might be too involved in the meeting-whether it's listening to others, or I’m doing the speaking- and I might miss out on taking the information down.

5. Have you learnt any skills from being a club Secretary? Have these skills helped you outside of toastmasters?
TC: I learned organizational skills, when I’m required to take detailed but succinct meeting minutes to document who presented what ideas.

I learned time management skills, when I needed to send out communications well in advance about meeting times, meeting minutes and any Toastmasters related notices to executives and members. Actually, the experiences outside of Toastmasters helped me realized the importance of time management. You need to make sure that you leave enough time in case you need to fix and correct mistakes.

I learned communication skills, when I had to convey ideas about implementing initiatives for the club to executives and members, such as the club blog and themed meeting ideas. I realized the importance of using direct and straight-forward language to communicate ideas anywhere.

6. What would you say to motivate other club members to apply for club Secretary next year?
TC: I would say, go for it.

It’s an encouraging place to use and sharpen the skills you already have. You’ll learn and discover new skills that help building your character. Always think of ideas that will make a difference for the club. Make good use of your time as an executive, commit and enjoy every moment, and absorb as many experiences as you can.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Meeting Recap: January 19, 2013

We're moving along great to the second meeting of January 2013.

The meeting chair, Jocelyn, opened the meeting with the theme - "Great Expectations." Actually, this theme came to Jocelyn just moments before the meeting.

SPEAKERS

Tiffany, gave a speech from the Competent Communication manual on her life experiences about divine revelation.

Elizabeth, gave an interactive speech on plagiarism, where members asked questions about the topic. Her idea is inspired by a recent scandal in the news. One of the reasons that people plagiarize is that people simply don't have time.

Mike, gave an educational speech about "Happy peasants, unhappy millionaires," which involves the use of chart paper as his visual aids.

BUSINESS SESSION

Elizabeth, did a show of hands, allowing members to find out who the mentors are at this meeting, and allowing mentors to find out who the mentees are. 

She also mentioned that there will be a free session about how to deliver a presentation. This information is from one of the clubs under her area as an Area Governor. (Possibly more information to come.)

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Meeting Recap: January 5, 2013

Happy New Year!


To all guests, welcome!
To all members, welcome back!

To start the first meeting of the year off, Mike, the chair of the meeting invited us to consider what should be the mission statement for Lambs to Lions Toastmaster?
He then introduced the Toastmasters educational program – the communication and leadership paths for becoming a Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM).

SPEAKERS

Mohammed, a newly joined member of our club, gave an engaging speech on a topic that’s very relevant at the moment – New Year’s Resolution. What’s your new year’s resolution?

Raj, gave a speech with realistic simulation as if he was a representative from a company, who delivers a bad news from a company in a tactful way.

BUSINESS SESSION

Our Club President, Elizabeth, announced that there will be a speech contest for this club on Saturday, February 16. The speech contest is for both prepared speeches and evaluations. Winners from this contest will be advanced into the area contest. Date, time and location are to be determined.

Also, we will be talking more about mentorship program in the next meeting.

Lastly, there will be a club officer training on Saturday, January 12, at the same location (Mississauga Secondary School) as the phase one training for current club officers.