Every year, my family rents out a timeshare in
Destin Florida. We've done this since I was able to walk. We always
rent out week 19, which happens to fall on Mother's Day. We love the
beach of course, but we also love the family we have made there. The same
families have been coming every year.
We’ve swam together, won sand-castles together, spent nights playing at
the arcade with all the kids and parents, and even had graduation parties when
a group of us all graduated at the same time.
When someone does not show up one year, we miss their presence. We
miss their laughter, their stories of the year gone past, and the news of their
lives.
I believe this is how a club should work. We should know each other. We should celebrate in each other successes and moments of sadness. Already there have been so many memories that have been made.
Fellow Toastmasters, such memories happen each week here. I’ll never forget…
Chuck the Bunny will never be forgotten, bless his sweet rabbit heart.
Then there was one day Peggy had a fight with the ice on the way in the
building. Thankfully Peggy won the fight
and is still truckin. The ice on the
other hand has melted away, bless its poor soul.
I think we will never forget Jodi and Peter’s bang out competition
speeches, and I will never watch Beverly Hill Billies or Lord of the Rings and
Star Wars without thinking of them.
I’ll never forget when innocent Linda roasted devilish Sonya. We learned
much that day!
I love this club. A mere months doesn't seem like a long time, but to me they have been full of motivating moments of wonder and awe. I signed up for this club to pursue one of my life-long goals of becoming a motivational speaker and I have not been disappointed.
After joining, I soon found myself
"volun-told" as Peter would say, to the position of Vice President of
Membership. I was happy to serve. As I have been in this role for
"many" months now, I've had true realization. A club is a
living, breathing form of life. It changes. It grows and decreases
with movers, schedule changes, and even a lack or desire for accomplishing
public speaking goals.
Just like each year at Florida is different, I have noticed that each meeting has been different with each passing week and we feel a loss when one of us is not present. Unfortunately life sometimes gets in the way of our schedule. Family issues, sicknesses, work, and other ambitions prevent us from coming to every meeting, but when we are all together, the feeling is the same. I can honestly say I love all of my family members in this club and your presence is missed when you are absent.
Every club knows that to continue to thrive, it
needs to slowly make progress- Progress in achievement, advancements, and even
new faces from time to time. Now with
that said, how do we grow our family so we makes sure it lasts.
A club can feel success if its members contribute, feel success and accomplishment, and have a steady growth of new members. I know we are contributing, heck sometimes I think we pull double-duty most weeks, but I also know that Mary and I are the newest members and we are about to hit our 6 month mark.
How do we grow our club in our already busy lives? One way we can share the joy of Toastmasters club is by sharing our successes. How many people know you are part of such a club...one that allows you to perfect your public speaking skills in a safe environment, share in friendly banter on occasion, and encourages you to share your life with others in multiple ways? Some might be afraid of this initial invitation, but once they take the risk to come, they realize we are just a normal group of crazy people.
We live in a day where technology has made speaking to others a convenient pastime. Texting, emailing, calling, IM'ing, Skyping, Facebooking...and alot of other I-N-G words that make you feel like O-M-G. Share that speech you just accomplished with others. Ask people for ideas on speeches. Failure, rejection, disappointment, and ridicule are some of the top human fears we feel on this earth. Sometimes, public speaking brings out every single one of those fears. We have to use the back-door approach to helping others see that public speaking is a way of overcoming fears we have in ourselves by explaining how your success motivated you forward.
Secretly we love sharing our successes in life. We want our accomplishments to be known, maybe not with the whole world, but with those that we are closest to. Isn’t that who we would invite into our Twilight family, those we love?
It's up to us, as an individual Twilighter, to keep out club floating. A club has to progress at an upward climb through club membership. I challenge you to invite a friend to the next meeting, share success from assignments given from your club meetings, and let others know what this club means to you. Will you commit to bringing a friend to Toastmasters before the end of April? Thank you for your commitments and your friendship in the best Toastmasters club yet!
From the moment I have joined Toastmasters, this club has been a swinging door that just keeps swinging. You hear the expression that when one door closes in your life, another one will open. When I signed up for Twilight Toastmasters, the door swung, kept swinging, and is still swinging. The hinges are getting a little loose in my opinion.
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