A Toastmaster idea for your consideration & feedback...

Greetings fellow Toastmasters,

I was thinking about what to give my niece in Wisconsin as a high school graduation present recently. I wanted the gift to be something that would give her a real added advantage for the rest of her life ...

I decided that I will give her a check for an amount [at least] equal to a Toastmaster membership ... with the option to triple the amount if she completes her CC before she enters college.

If she takes the "summer challenge", it will put her far ahead of the rest of the freshmen entering college and, I suspect, it will improve her ability to make friends and improve her overall college experience. It will also show that she is the type of person who can tackle challenges and learn new skills. To me, that is a great advantage for a young person to have !

Now.. this is where I need your thoughts. The graduation idea got me thinking ... why can't we do something similar (or slightly different) for our local Toastmasters clubs or areas?

What if we had a "Toastmaster Scholarship" for a graduating (18 y.o.) senior where we would pay their Toastmaster dues (initiation fee and dues) and, if they agreed to complete their CC manual, we gave them the same amount (or more?) in cash at the end of the summer? Assuming my memory is correct, that would cost us $ 20 (new member fee) plus $ 18 (dues) if it was awarded in June and an additional $40 (rounding up) if we gave the fee back to the winner in August. Total Cost: $80.

What do you think?

What would we need to do to test it out?

You can post your comments below for us all to see.

Hope to hear from you soon !

Dave Wheeler
Division A Governor, 2006-7

March meeting of the Div.A Advanced TM Club

Here are all the details ... place, time and directions... for the upcoming meeting of the Div.A ADVANCED Toastmaster club ....

Place:
Ridgefield Public Library, in the "History Room"
472 Main Street, Ridgefield, CT 06877
click here for a map showing the location.
Directions are also available on the library's web site:
http://www.biblio.org/rdgfldpages/direct.htm+

Date/Time:
Thursday, March 22nd, 2007
7:15 to 8:45pm (please try to arrive at 7pm so we can start on time)

Please forward this email to any Advanced Toastmaster (ATM-B or AC-B or above) who might be interested ...

If you miss this meeting... Don't miss the BIG EVENT on April 19th! Local Division Contest winners (A&D) from District 53 will go "head to head" against the best of Div.G from District 46 (NY/NJ). We are calling it "The Battle of the Border" ! 7pm in the Dayton Room at the Ridgefield Library.

If you or anyone in the clubs in your area are not able to make this meeting, please send me an email expressing your interest. This information will also be posted on the Div.A blog, http://www.areaa4.blogspot.com/ so check there occasionally for updates.

Please pass this email along and let me know if there are any questions.

Thanks,

Dave Wheeler
Division A Governor, 2006-7
theshot92@gmail.com

Another Toastmaster blog ..

Croix Sather, VP-Education for WestConn Toastmasters and new member of Socially Speaking Toastmasters, forwarded the following link to a Toastmaster-related blog.... check it out !

Tom Antion
http://www.greatpublicspeaking.blogspot.com/

Some good ideas. BUT, he is ferociously peddling his products.
...Croix

2500+ ideas for Speeches ...

I came across this website, called "Speech Topics, Help and Ideas", when I was searching for other things ... and I just had to pass it along.

If you are looking for an idea for a speech or even some interesting TableTopics... this is the place ! Check it out... there are alot of great ideas !

Here are just the main sections of the Table of Contents ...

- Persuasive Speech Topics
- Informative Speech Topics
- 100 Process Speech Topics
- Good Speech Topics
- School Speech Topics
- Speech Class Topics
- Graduation Speech Topics
- 40 Narrative Speech Topics
- Interesting Speech Topics
- Special Occasion Topics
- Ceremonial Speech Topics
- Funny Speech Topics
- Entertaining Speech Topic Tutorial
- Commemorative Speech Topics
- 7 Guidelines for Funeral Speeches
- Wedding Speech Topics
- A Public Speaking Topic Fast
- Speech Writing Tip Top 10
- Speech Outline Examples - How To Outline Your Speech Topics
- Business Topics

The site is run by Jim A. Peterson, Staff Editor, and I would be very surprised if he has not been a Toastmaster at some point in his life !