The Things You Can Do and the People You Can Meet

May is full of opportunities in Minnesota. It is warming up; we are starting to see green on the ground and flowers are starting to pop out of the ground. I’m seeing a lot of spring cleaning, gardening and yard projects. It got me thinking about all of the things we can do within Toastmasters and the people we can meet.

For the first three years of my Toastmasters journey I didn’t realize there was anything beyond my club. I thought that Toastmasters was about doing speeches, completing projects in the manuals, fun table topics and running effective meetings. One year our Area Director introduced me to a whole new world. I attended my first contest outside of the club level and met people, I took on an Area Director role where I met more people and accomplished new things, I helped with some speechcraft events and met even more people and accomplished new things. Through these experiences my speaking evolved, I learned how to manage multiple projects, and I met people that I can’t imagine not having in my life. I joined two additional clubs that have diverse members who give feedback on different aspects of my speaking. I have also started taking on roles at the district level starting with the Administration Manager role in 2019, then the Pathways Education Chair and Finance Manager in 2020-2021. Next year I will be the Finance Manager and will be helping plan the District Executive Council Training. I also had the unique opportunity to be able to help the District figure out how to hold contests virtually and support our clubs in transitioning to virtual meetings. None of these experiences would have happened without someone’s showing me this whole new world and my raising my hand to assist with things and take on different roles.

I want to introduce you to this world. Whether you want to be involved in anything and everything in the district or just want to work on specific and limited things, there is something for everyone at Toastmasters. The Area Director role is something that we are currently looking for volunteers for that can help you see what all is available while helping clubs thrive. We also have a list of leaders who are already elected that you can talk with about experiences that you’re looking for to help you get connected to opportunities. We have room for people to help with public relations and marketing, coaching and mentoring clubs, identifying and reaching out to prospective clubs, officer training, planning events, promoting Toastmaster offerings such as Pathways, Speech Craft, Youth Leadership program and more. If you have experiences that you’d like to gain I highly recommend that you raise your hand.

To raise your hand, you can go to https://d6tm.org/join-the-team/current-openings/. If you don’t see what you want in the list or aren’t sure what you want to volunteer for you can click on the link at the bottom to reach out to Deb Luu, our Program Quality Director, who can set up some time to talk about opportunities and get you connected to the right person. You can also always reach out to me. I’d be happy to answer any questions and help you find good opportunities for whatever you would like to accomplish.

Jamie Richter
District 6 Pathways Education Chair and Finance Manager 2020-2021
jamie.richter@d6tm.org