Peninsula President Acceptance Speech @ 25th June 2009

In October 2008, at a club’s exco meeting, I was rumbling at Lois’ ear about what I would do when I became President of Peninsula. Later on, Craig described this conversation in his minutes as “Spicing Up” our meetings.

Today, it is my privilege to serve you as your president and my opportunity to bring that vision to life.

And the way I intend to make it so is in several ways in a combination of adding humor, member recognition and adding content to meetings:

1. The 1st initiative will be making meetings fun by adding themes to the meetings (and Gerda is just the right VPE for this job as she has incredible energy and creativity!)

2. The 2nd initiative will be the presentation of a monthly Gavel Award Certificate for Special Contribution (which may not need to be a speaking contribution only but something like the SAA arranging a lovely venue like tonight’s, or the VPPR exciting newsletter last month), to be voted by the members, together with best speaker, best evaluator and best table topics.

This Gavel Award will show indirectly what members value most or appreciate as contributions and I feel that this way we can build up in the kind of presentation that are best received.

3. Acknowledging members’ input into the meetings throughout the year, organization of the club, their own personal development as well as that of their fellow members, and any activities that in general bring betterment for the club, by presenting a year-end Certificate for an Outstanding Service to the club together with our current Mentoring Certificates.
Lois mentioned in that afore-mentioned meeting that there was an option to investigate a floating trophy owned by the club, so this could be the perfect time.

4. The 4th way in which I wanted to spice up our meetings is by increasing the amount of training in the agenda to add extra value to the members, encouraging ALL
/pause, look at all and sign all with my hand/
to present a short educational or business training slot.

This would be an about 6 to 10 minute speech on any business, marketing, networking, educational, PR or similar subject and an about 5 minute open discussion, and this would be presented by, as I said, any club member, regardless of their level in the communication or leadership tracks. In this way, I would like to offer the opportunity to all members to benefit from real life case scenarios that can directly impact in our working or professional lives.

Do you want to practice a presentation on any of these or similar topics, this would be your opportunity to get feedback and refine the role until it feels comfortable and successful to you.

Educational slots, stories of personal development or achievements, mentees’ stories of advancement, training and coaching subjects… these and other similar subjects can also be used as themes for this initiative, including the Eduslots (Educational Slots) required in the Toastmasters program to move onto Advanced Communicator Bronze, Silver and Gold.

Another take on this could be the presentation of how your development in Toastmasters has helped you move forward in your professional life. Have you given a presentation or talk to a group at work in a way that you could not have done before joining Toastmasters? This could impact and motivate new members to “stick to it” and put the effort and energy necessary to keep going at those times when our public speaking development doesn’t seem to be a priority. Do you know a colleague or speaker who wants to tell their story? Why not inviting them to one of our meetings?

Let’s open the forum to all and let’s make Toastmasters be a platform from which we can reach out to others in the very challenging but exciting worlds of communication and leadership.

I will be sending you an email so that you all have the opportunity to put forward your subjects and areas of interest and expertise.

For instance, who wouldn’t benefit from a short speech and a discussion on “Effective Marketing and PR” from Vanessa Clark? Or “Best Hospitality Practices” for the very important Tourism industry in South Africa” from Tim Wagner? Or an update on the status of the economy and the way it affects our pockets by Nic van Schalkywk now that he has the opportunity to hone his practically advanced speaker skills?

Or wouldn’t you benefit from a broader view on the Toastmasters organization to which we belong by Lois Strachan or from a motivating speech about District 74 direction in 2009 – 2010 on expanding while helping members to grow?

As they say in some television games
/put a voice/
“The choice is yours!!”

And me, as your president this year, have the privilege to offer you this option.

So when you receive your email, please RSVP with a sound: “Yes, please, Let’s spice it up!”