Presidential Brief for October, 2017

BeGes President’s Newsletter October 2017

Progress Not Perfection

Hello, BeGes!

My topic this month "Progress Not Perfection" in no way contradicts the wonderful advanced club "Pursuing Perfection". If anything, it may actually be in agreement!

When we first join Toastmasters, it's not uncommon to feel a bit overwhelmed. Speaking in public might be terrifying. Tackling any role, whether Ah Crutch, Grammarian, or Timer, might feel daunting. Everyone else in the club seems so much more competent than we feel we are.

It's helpful to realize that, even though we have contests, we're not really in competition with anyone else. We are each individual, and our growth path with Toastmasters is unique, even if we're following along the structures laid our in our Competent Communicator and our Competent Leader manuals. It may be suggested to give your Icebreaker Speech within the first month that you've joined, and to try to do a speech every 6 to 8 weeks, but everyone has their own pace, and their own style of learning.

Toastmasters provides a lot of support, from speech evaluation to mentorship, but you're ultimately in charge of measuring your progress. There's no assumptions that you'll be performing in an International Speech Contest in a year or raking in six figures as a professional speaker... unless *you* want to do those things!

We can easily get paralyzed by our own expectations. If you remember "progress not perfection", you can focus on the next speech, the next project, and not be frozen with fear of failing.

People join an advanced club (which may only meet monthly, in addition to their regular weekly club meeting) when they have completed the Competent Communicator manual and want to take their skills to the next level. But *pursuing* perfection does not imply that you're *attaining* it. No one, not even a winner of an International Speech Contest, hits an end point with working on their abilities. 

However, it is noticeable how quickly people improve when they join Toastmasters. They may stutter and even burst into tears during their first Icebreaker speech. That initial nervousness does wear off, and within a short time they're effortlessly leaping up to respond to Table Topic questions.

~Joan Newcomb, BeGes President 2017-2018

Welcome to our new Vice President of Education: Mary Morrison!

Mary is our immediate past president and has graciously stepped into the vacant VP of E position. Go to her for any questions you may have with working your way through your manuals. VPE Committee member Raylene Ewing is working on the Mentorship program, go to her if you haven't been assigned a mentor yet, or if you have questions about working with your mentor (or mentee).

Want to help get the word out about BeGes on Social Media? Our VP of Public Relations, Steve Garvin, could use a Committee Member to post to our several Social Media accounts! This task takes probably less than an hour a week and can be prescheduled on our Hootsuite or Buffer accounts.

Our Next Officers Meeting: Friday, October 20th 1pm (after our regular meeting)

All members are invited to our Officers Meeting, you can learn about what happens 'behind the scenes' to make our club run smoothly and successfully!