HOD Tall Tales Contest in London. I am wearing the Santa costume in red on the far right. I was the contest chairperson. I always wear bright colours and outfits or props to be noticed. Somebody said to me, "You are a very visual person.'
Problem
I am a member of two Toastmasters clubs in London. But when I travel I miss competitions.
When you travel to another country, you miss meetings of clubs in your own country. You are out of sync in other time zones.
Answer
Toastmasters International has several online clubs. These are based in America: Chicago; The UK: London: Europe; Switzerland. To join an online club you must first:
1 Be a member of a regular club.
2 Be familiar with the two basic public asking manuals, the Competent Communicator and the Competent Leader.
Why else would you want to join an online club? I can see that those older members who are over 50/60/70/80/90/100 might still want to listen to and contribute to or run meetings, without having to travel. I have also seen articles in the Toastmasters magazine about people who are blind, deaf or handicapped who are able to attend meetings with the help of mentors and sometimes volunteer chauffeurs.
Story
The clubs advise you to get online before the meeting start time to check you can connect with them. I've tried conference calls with toastmasters groups, sound only. I've done this twice or three times. Each time we had about five people and one of them was having trouble. They could hear us but we could not hear them, then vice versa. So we were online on screen, then phoning each other.
The advice was going, "Tell her to look for the icon. Can she see it on her screen? Look for the sound level. What symbols can you see? Can you email your questions so we can read them out? Can you type them on your screen?"
On one occasion I was the one who could not get through. We ended up in the absurd situation that I was talking on the phone and they could all hear me on line talking to one of them on the phone. I could hear them on screen advising the person who was advising me on the phone.
London
Witty Storytellers
Charted 2016.
They aim to end up with a collection of stories.
Meeting online 2nd and 4th Thursday at 6 a.m. London time (GMT).
(London, England SE3 7TN UK)
Phone:+44-7805-5101-65.
http://wittystory.easy-speak.org
Switzerland
Netizens Online club, Switzerland.
If you are already a member of a Toastmasters Club you can contact them through EasySpeak, the inner-club network.
http://www.toastmasters.org/Resources/Online-Clubs-List
A pioneer club. Started 2012.
They meet online the 1st and 3rd Sunday of every month.
Next meeting Jan 8, 2017, at 9 am.
CANADA
Community Club
Buddies.
Chartered June 16 2016.
Phone: 1-613-991-1059.
Meets online, Nepean, Ontario, Canada.
2nd and 4th Saturday, 9-10.00 pm (21.00-22.00 hrs) (GMT+8)
USA
Community Club
Great White North Online
Charted (became official) in September 2016 - quite recently.
They meet online, 2nd and 4th Sunday 18.00 GMT-5
US phone: 503-724-2755.
Another in house club is run by Huron in California for their employees.
To me this looks great. I am not sure about the storytelling, which is a bit of a challenge for me, nor about being up at 6 am. I also want a club which is on the same time zone when I travel elsewhere. However, I am hopeful that within a year more clubs will start online.
Story
In Singapore I have visited 50 clubs and in London, England I am a member of two. When I travel from one country to another I sometimes win a contest at Club level but cannot enter the Area competition because I am away. Online clubs are allowed to do their club competitions on line. My aim is to end up with video presentations. I would like to showcases of myself as a stand-up comedian. I would also like to read the opening or an extract from a novel I have written or a poetry book or a self help book. An online club would be ideal for this.
I sat in at two meetings in Singapore where an iPad was used to enable a member far away to join in the meeting. At the first a member was at university in Australia. He was the President or Area Governor and opened and closed the meeting with a speech from Australia and the iPad showing him listening was displayed on the large oval meeting desk in the Community Club.
At the second meeting, I attended a bilingual Tamil club in an Indian Community Centre. The President had gone back to India. He was on an iPad watching us and we could see him and his family walking around behind him in India.
Tips
For more information on clubs worldwide see Find A Club, Toastmasters International.
http://www.toastmasters.org/Resources/Online-Clubs-List
GMT is Greenwich Mean Time.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author, public speaker, contest judge and chairperson, teacher of public speaking, English language and languages.
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