Friday, September 7, 2018

UPS Alabang Toastmasters Club Mentoring - 9th

National Heroes Day was the theme for today's meeting. The theme was a bit late since we celebrated National Heroes Day last month. This happened because of two (or was it three?) meeting cancellations.

Standing (L-R): Front row: Me, Leah, Philip, Anne, Jessa, Owen, Karla, Jelyn, Ron, Mhelody, Berna. Seated: Reya and Jayson.


(photo credits: UPS GBS Alabang)

The last time that I saw some of the club members was actually not in a club meeting but at the Speakers Summit. I was so happy to learn from them today that they learned so much from the Speakers Summit.

There were a couple of new faces at the meeting who were hired for their fluency in the Korean language. Too bad, they didn't stay long enough and left during the break, just before the Evaluation portion.


Mentor Moment

I was the General Evaluator in today's meeting and so I segued easily into the Mentor Moment. The Mentor Moment this time was a mini-speech to challenge the club.

Some points which I brought up regarding meeting cancellations:
  • Table Topics are so much fun (to which the club agrees), why cancel meetings?
  • When it's easy to cancel meetings, it may become habitual. Frequent meeting cancellations weaken a strong club.
  • It doesn't matter if there are only 1 or 2 prepared speakers. The Table Topics portion may be extended by just adding more respondents.
  • Even there are few available to attend a meeting, if there is a prepared speaker, he deserves an evaluation. A group evaluation works also.
  • If there's a tagline "all the way!", then adopt the tagline "the show must go on!", within reason of course.
  • Always follow the first line in the Toastmasters Promise: To attend club meetings regularly.
  • How do you attend if meetings are not regular? So everybody must work for regular meetings.
  • Work for regular meetings mean attend meetings, prepare speeches and volunteer for roles.
  • The club belongs to everyone, not just the President, not just the VP-Ed who prepares the program.
  • Strive to take on a new role (topicsmaster, TOD, evaluator) each time. That's how we learn and progress.


Challenge Accepted

At the end of my peroration, I was glad that they took the challenge seriously. They decided right there and then to fast-track their speeches by calling for another meeting next week! That's the spirit!

The club also showed interest in the Headliners of Tomorrow or HOT (Rookies Contest) that Leah promoted after the meeting. They prodded each other into joining the contest where their speeches may be credited. A couple of members might be fielded as contestants. Yey!


Mentor Get Credit Form

Since my club mentoring period (along with my co-club mentor Anne), is about to end, I brought my Mentoring Get Credit Form to be signed by Club President Jayson. Club mentors could submit this form after six months the club has been chartered.

UPS GBS Alabang Toastmasters Club was chartered last March 11, 2018. So that's almost six months ago. I'll probably be sending the form to Toastmasters Headquarters this week.


Here's a scanned copy of today's club meeting program.


And that's... a wrap!