After experimenting with a hybrid online / offline meeting on March 13, Club Awesome will encourage the majority of members to attend online on March 20. We are doing this to educate our members on how to conduct a meeting in an online environment and to prepare for future disruptions related to the coronavirus outbreak. We will likely offer online attendance as an option on a regular basis, going forward, out of consideration for members who may have particular concerns about their health or that of a loved one.
On March 20, a skeleton crew of Club Awesome leaders will assemble as usual at the Panthers Ice Den in Coral Springs, but all members who are able to do so are encouraged to join online. Nonmembers who wish to visit with us online are welcome.
The meeting will start at 7, but try to sign in at about 6:45 am to make sure you can get everything working. You can even click that link a few days ahead of the meeting so that you can download the required software and experiment with the controls. You do not need a password to attend a Zoom meeting as a guest.
Although there is a Zoom app for your phone, joining from a laptop computer is recommended.
Longtime member Bruce Pockey delivers an Icebreaker, the introductory speech which is the first speech every Toastmaster gives — and one that’s worth returning to because introducing ourselves to the world is something we do all the time.
Since Andrew Bern joined Toastmasters at Club Awesome in 2010, he has been a Club President, VP of Education, Area Director, Division Director and this year Club Growth Director for South Florida and The Bahamas. This speech draws on his decades of experience as an emergency room physician. He is a past member of the Board of Directors of the American College of Emergency Physicians.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LOssIMqAXA
Dr. Bern (usually just “Andy” in our club) used this speech for a Storytelling project in the Toastmasters educational program based on the idea that one of the best ways to make a point or deliver a message is to make your speech revolve around a specific, human story. This speech is a great example of that principle in action.
Dr. Janice Brooks is a People Builder, building lives through her counseling, speaking, coaching and training. Her goal is to inspire and motivate, and to see lives transformed for a Purpose.
Dr. Brooks is a Doctor of Counseling, Author, Certified Temperament Counselor, Licensed Clinical Pastoral Counselor, Speaker, Coach and Trainer, as welll as a Banker. She is a current Member of the John Maxwell Team – Speaker, Trainer and Coach, facilitating Lunch and Learn and Mastermind Groups sessions.
Author of the book Anchored by Purpose; Leader at Purpose Coach and Counseling, a coaching and counseling service dedicated to providing value and helping persons find and live with purpose; located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
From time to time, as part of a Table Topics session, we ask members to talk briefly about their experience with Club Awesome. We then pull out the best bits (and edit out all the ums and ahs) to create a couple of minutes of total video introducing prospective members to our club.
Here’s a peek at the learning, laughter and applause you can expect when you visit Club Awesome Toastmasters in Coral Springs. We broadcast live from our meeting on May 3, featuring an introduction of members, Table Topics impromptu speaking practice, and a featured speech on using online video in your marketing by Madalina Iordache of Bright Pink Agency.
This version of the replay has been edited to highlight the best moments from our meeting.
We’ve done a few experiments with Facebook Live broadcasts from the club before, but on May 3 we’re going to GO BIG — that means trying to attract the biggest live audience, the most likes and shares, and lots of replay views of the video. Ultimately, we want that online activity to translate into new visitors to our club.
To make that happen, I’ve created a scheduled event that will go live Friday at 7 am from our Facebook page. The placeholder post for that event is here:
Please Like, Share, and also click the “Get Reminder” button to make it easier to tune in for the live event. Share it now and again later in the week. If you’re in the room on Friday, we’ll ask you to take a moment to pull out your phone and share the video feed with your friends. If you can’t join us in person Friday, you can still help us spread the word and make this a bigger event.
If you are uncomfortable being part of the live video for any reason, you can just watch — but I hope most of you will find this to be a fun way of sharing what we enjoy about this club with a wider audience. I’m promoting it as a way for people to get a glimpse of the learning, laughter and applause we share every Friday. Guests should be reassured that they are invited to participate but do not have to.
To maximize the opportunity, we will tweak our agenda slightly to make this “good TV”:
Sgt. at Arms should recognize the Facebook Live audience during the meeting opening.
Whoever does the invocation should be prepared to do it without reading off their phone or a piece of paper.
As President, I will explain what we’re doing and why. Give a little spiel about the meaning and value of the club.
For self introductions, members will be called up to the front of the room. We will not be doing introductions of roles separately, so if you have a role, explain it during this time. Try to do it in an entertaining way, if possible.
Example: Good morning, Toastmasters of Club Awesome, welcome guests and whoever is watching on Facebook. My name is John Smith, and I love this club because of X, Y, and Z. Today, I am also the Ah Counter, which means I will be keeping track of what comes out of people’s mouths when they don’t know what to say.
Toastmaster of the Day will be the last person to be introduced and will take over the meeting at that point. TOD gets to make their own speech about the great meeting they have organized, then we go straight to …
Table Topics – keep it lively. Members who do not want to participate in TT via Facebook Live should let the topics master know in advance.
Humorist – make it count.
Speech by Madalina on video marketing.
Toastmaster of the Day thanks everyone who participated and thanks the Facebook Live audience for joining.
Broadcast ends. We have our 5-minute break.
VPE Minute and any other business can wait until the end of the meeting.
This is an experiment, which I hope we can use as a worthwhile club marketing and recruiting tool. If it works, maybe we’ll try it again in a month or so. Meanwhile, let’s just try to have fun with it.
Congratulations Deborah Pinnock, Bhagawati P Parmar, and Bruce Pockey for winning our club’s Table Topic impromptu speaking contest.
This contest tests the ability to respond to a question or prompt not of the speaker’s choosing. Contestants were led into the room one at a time and presented with a simple prompt: “To Be.” Here’s what they did with it.
https://youtu.be/YF4ZlzMd6Fk
Impromptu speaking is one of the most valuable skills we practice in Toastmasters, useful in countless real life situations where the ability to “think on your feet” is important.
Club Awesome’s weekly meetings almost always feature a more informal Table Topics contest.
