The last meeting, the 22nd of October, coincided with the date that Toastmasters was born, the 22nd of October 1924. We celebrated Toastmasters’ 90th Anniversary on Friday, the 17th of October (more about the event here). Khushi explained the difference between anniversary and birthday: an anniversary is shared (e.g. wedding anniversary – between two persons, corporate anniversary- between the members); on the other hand, a birthday is used for the day when a single individual is born. Thank you Khushi for the explanation!
We started our meeting with our usual presentation round and each of us had to answer the question “What is your individual message?“. Below are some answers:
- Be yourself in your glory
- Be persistent
- Take everything that you get and give it back
- If you can dream it, you can have it
- Once you are a debater, you are forever a debater
- Be respectful to get respect
- The best way to grow is to share experience and knowledge
- Watch less, do more
- Accept all the challenges and be aware of the opportunities
- In life you need to sell, at Toastmasters you sell ideas
- Stop worrying, start living
- Everyone has a great idea, share it
- Face your fear
- Learn and share
- Manage your money wisely and pay your dues on time – from our dutiful VP Finance
- Stop copying, be original
- Keep learning
- Whether you think you can or think you cannot, in both cases you are right!
- Smile, life is beautiful
After the Business Section, we heard two great speeches. Marina, delivered her CC#6 entitled “How to play hard to get (and stay single for life)” and Anna delivered her speech #2 (Round Robin) from the The Discussion Leader manual entitled “Why Mentoring?”.
In her speech, Marina told us about Wikihow, the website that helps you understand the crazy behavior of women. The website gives advice to gals about how to catch “the guy”: never approach but seem uninterested, never reply but pretend to be busy, and never answer but act mysterious. Marina concluded her speech letting us know that the problem with this advice is that it is all about seeming, pretending and acting.
Anna discussed why mentoring is important and emphasized that is absolutely necessary to have a mentor. With the help of Mounia, Eliza and Renko, she discussed the three steps to effective mentoring:
1. Responsibilities
- The first meeting
- Orientation to Club customs
- Explain how to sign up
- Help with the Icebreaker
2. Follow Up’s
- Make a Mentee aware of resources
- Give positive feedback
- Explain responsibilities
- Help with speeches and assignment
3. Reach Full Potential
- Be available
- Be patient and sensitive
- Be a good listener
- Be able to describe the TM organization
- Be supportive
- Be honest
“I think of mentoring as a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a hand to pull you in the direction you want to go. For me, mentoring is the wind under my sails, it’s signposting along an unfamiliar trail.” (Khushi)
Word of the day: Fortuitous (adj. – regarding a meeting, an event, a circumstance) means happen by chance, accidental. E.g.: Because of the fortuitous rain and weather conditions, the pumpkin crop this year was plentiful.
Lesson Learned: Be a mentor, be a mentee.
