The Hall of Learners Advanced Toastmasters
And there came a day when the leaders of Division H banded together to form an Advanced Club for Division H, and the southern part of Metro Manila. The brainchild was that of outgoing Division H Director Joyce Delovieres, and she invited me to join the club.
Now, as a relatively new face in Division H, Joyce barely know me - but saw how I kept working to bring SETSI to reach President's Distinguished. We would communicate semi-regularly, as I kept her posted on SETSI's status and progress.
We first met when District Director Jazz (a good friend of mine) introduced me to newly Inducted Direcotr Joyce, saying I would be helpful... albeit, an X-factor to Joyce and the rest of H (since SETSI and I came from Division M).
Anyway, I did join and later, as Joyce was forming her Excom, she asked me to be her VP for Public Relations. This was exciting for me... as I saw how SETSI lacked the media presence that could have helped it get known in te Marikina area. I knwe the VPPR back then wasnlt really giving much of an effort to work on that, and to prove my theory right, here was a chance to make sure HOLA would get known. But how?
First, I need to realize the target market of HOLA in finding new members, where to advertize or make noise, and then proceed to do just that - with a zero budget. Target - existing Toastmasters. How to convince them that HOLA was worth it? This would need a collective effort to get into and maintain HOLA's image as an Advanced Club worthy of it's name (and worth their $60 as a joining dual member). So what makes HOLA unique? Well, rather than repeat the ideas here, allow me (and forgive me) to supply a link to previous entries about HOLA's secret sauces.
Secret sauce 1: Social Media (to make noise, and get known)
Secret sauce 2: One Member One Level (ensuring growth as a Toastmaster)
Secret sauce 3: C.A.R.E. (a support system with mentors and members)
There are more (seven actually), but these three just gives you the idea of how we started, and what we focused on.
I believe this got us the needed start.
Somewhere into the first quarter, Joyce talks to me again. Daisy our VPEd needs to step down and focus on both health and work. She asekd me to step into the VPEd role. I thought about it for a while, but I said yes. New and more demanding role, with wider responsibility. I help on a bit to the PR role as well, until Toastmaster Abby got appointed into the position. By then though the FB group page was already up and running, and we also had the Instagram account that was still under my control.
Needless to say, we all worked to get HOLA running. Another Secret sauce I mentioned, but did not link anymore, was about the club's membership. This remained true at the start. It was a group of individual achievers, and they did not mind being asked, or tasked to do things... they were all servant leaders, and easy to work with. This made my work a lot easier.
By then, I guess, my reputation preceded me, and for some reason, I was seen as a highly competent Toastmaster with a lot of core knowledge. Hey, I don't mind the honor of such a distinction. So long as it affords me some modicum of respect. :D
This allowed me a modicum of freedom to decide how our meetings would go - and buy, did we have some great meetings! We tried a reverse meeting - where evaluation would happen first then the speakers would have to floow through on the given evaluation (talk about a bit of improv on everyone's parts), we had a meeting dedicated to everyone speaking like Shakespear, and even one with a Star Wars theme when the meeting date landed on May the Fourth (be with you).
Because of all this fun, we steered the Hall of Learners Advanced Toastmasters into the President's Distinguished Club category, on it's first year! A feat that was possible, because we were all experienced Toastmasters with higher Pathways levels accessibl - thus covering the higher Educational targets, while also having some Toastmasters with newly purchaed Pathway paths - this allowed the member to submit the lower level path targets.
This led me to jump into the Presidency of HOLA come next TM year.
Now, as a relatively new face in Division H, Joyce barely know me - but saw how I kept working to bring SETSI to reach President's Distinguished. We would communicate semi-regularly, as I kept her posted on SETSI's status and progress.
We first met when District Director Jazz (a good friend of mine) introduced me to newly Inducted Direcotr Joyce, saying I would be helpful... albeit, an X-factor to Joyce and the rest of H (since SETSI and I came from Division M).
Anyway, I did join and later, as Joyce was forming her Excom, she asked me to be her VP for Public Relations. This was exciting for me... as I saw how SETSI lacked the media presence that could have helped it get known in te Marikina area. I knwe the VPPR back then wasnlt really giving much of an effort to work on that, and to prove my theory right, here was a chance to make sure HOLA would get known. But how?
First, I need to realize the target market of HOLA in finding new members, where to advertize or make noise, and then proceed to do just that - with a zero budget. Target - existing Toastmasters. How to convince them that HOLA was worth it? This would need a collective effort to get into and maintain HOLA's image as an Advanced Club worthy of it's name (and worth their $60 as a joining dual member). So what makes HOLA unique? Well, rather than repeat the ideas here, allow me (and forgive me) to supply a link to previous entries about HOLA's secret sauces.
Secret sauce 1: Social Media (to make noise, and get known)
Secret sauce 2: One Member One Level (ensuring growth as a Toastmaster)
Secret sauce 3: C.A.R.E. (a support system with mentors and members)
There are more (seven actually), but these three just gives you the idea of how we started, and what we focused on.
I believe this got us the needed start.
Somewhere into the first quarter, Joyce talks to me again. Daisy our VPEd needs to step down and focus on both health and work. She asekd me to step into the VPEd role. I thought about it for a while, but I said yes. New and more demanding role, with wider responsibility. I help on a bit to the PR role as well, until Toastmaster Abby got appointed into the position. By then though the FB group page was already up and running, and we also had the Instagram account that was still under my control.
Needless to say, we all worked to get HOLA running. Another Secret sauce I mentioned, but did not link anymore, was about the club's membership. This remained true at the start. It was a group of individual achievers, and they did not mind being asked, or tasked to do things... they were all servant leaders, and easy to work with. This made my work a lot easier.
By then, I guess, my reputation preceded me, and for some reason, I was seen as a highly competent Toastmaster with a lot of core knowledge. Hey, I don't mind the honor of such a distinction. So long as it affords me some modicum of respect. :D
Because of all this fun, we steered the Hall of Learners Advanced Toastmasters into the President's Distinguished Club category, on it's first year! A feat that was possible, because we were all experienced Toastmasters with higher Pathways levels accessibl - thus covering the higher Educational targets, while also having some Toastmasters with newly purchaed Pathway paths - this allowed the member to submit the lower level path targets.
This led me to jump into the Presidency of HOLA come next TM year.
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