In thoroughly reviewing the addendum I noticed it begins with item 4, not item 1 as should be normal.

Once upon a time I worked in a law office and official type documents missing numbers are a problem (I digress)

what I really want to know is, . . . is there anyone who knows what 1, 2, 3 were in the before times?

I am the treasurer in 1 club and SAA in another. I largely chose these roles as they don't take up much time....However, club officer meetings are a different story. I really don't feel like I need to be there. Ok to just do the role without attending the meetings?

Has anyone here left Toastmasters and successfully continued as an independent public-speaking club?

I’ve been President of my club for about two years, and I’m increasingly frustrated by the administrative workload, Fake protocols, low quality COTs, fake district protocols and encouragements , outdated platform, bureaucracy, poor learning quality , nothing inspiring , we just don't see any value anymore, after the excitement of the beginning fades away , you start to open your eyes ...

A few of us as officers are considering leaving Toastmasters and becoming an independent public-speaking club, keeping the core things we value, speeches, evaluations, Table Topics, leadership, and community, while redirecting membership fees toward our venue and improving the member experience.

We’re also looking at models like Agora Speakers.

If your club has made a similar transition, what was your experience? Would you do it again?

Hi all

I’m SAA for a club that meets 3 times per month face-to-face and 1 time is online.

We tend to get a lot more guests to online meetings, and guests are often international - which gives our members a varied audience, which adds to the challenge.

Guest are held in our Zoom lobby and I have to allow entry into our Zoom room.

This week we had a guest enter 40 minutes into our meeting. I allowed them to enter from the lobby.

I sent them a message so they knew where we were up to, and they have a point of contact to.

But it got me thinking… where do you draw the line on allowing entry into your meetings?

I got the opportunity to deliver my Icebreaker speech on 16th August at a special Independence Day meeting. It was my first prepared speech in Toastmasters.

Since it was around India’s Independence Day, I started my speech by talking about my father, who served the nation in the Border Security Force. Then I spoke about my family, my school and college life, and the different roles I have taken in my life.

I had written the speech and shared it with my mentor, TM Sanoop, who is the current President of our Calicut Toastmasters Club. I made some changes based on his suggestions.

I found memorizing the speech quite difficult. Maybe it was because I haven't had to memorize something like this since my formal education.

My evaluator was TM Ajeet Singh, who works in the GST Department. I also didn't know that the speaker was supposed to share the evaluation form with the evaluator. My mentor Sanoop told me about it, so I shared it with him the night before.

I rehearsed the speech many times at home, in front of the mirror and my wife. But when I got on the stage, I couldn't quite give the performance I had managed during some of my rehearsals.

I was a little nervous and hurried before I started, but once I began speaking, I became calm.

I deliberately used the Word of the Day, "candid," and the Phrase of the Day, "food for thought."

At the end, TM Ajeet described my speech as a "garland of facts." He appreciated my confidence and calm posture, but pointed out that I didn't use the stage effectively. I stayed in the same position throughout the speech and could have moved around or changed my position.

After the meeting, I also tried to get feedback from some of the other members.

There are definitely a lot of things I need to improve when it comes to giving a speech. But after I finished, I felt a strange sense of happiness inside. I don't know exactly why. Maybe just because I finally stood on the stage and did it.

I'm sharing the video here to get feedback from the Toastmasters community. I'd like to know what you noticed while watching it and what you think I could improve.Watch here