My Five to Seven Minutes

For most part of my life I worked as a Secretary hence it was obvious I chose to accept the Secretary role at Kuwait Challengers Club as my first Executive Committee role.   You should get to know me, the sooner the better. I am a stickler for rules, and therefore I go by the books. Downloading the role and responsibilities from the Toastmasters International website was my first step.   Presenting the minutes of meeting at the club meeting. 2018-2019 I was the club secretary of Kuwait Challengers Club. Preparing the minutes of the meeting and presenting them at the subsequent meeting was something I always looked forward to.    It gave me the opportunity to take notes, compile them, and to confidently present them at the subsequent meeting.  That is not all that a secretary does.   As a secretary:  I took notes and prepared the minutes of the meeting.  I distributed the minutes of meeting to members via our club WhatsApp group....

Who is a mentor?   A mentor is an experienced and trusted person who gives another person advice and help, especially related to work or school, over a period of time. - Cambridge dictionary.  How does the mentoring program work in toastmasters?  The mentoring program in toastmasters is an organized way of pairing a n ew member with an experienced member to ensure individual goals and development are being achieved.  - Toastmasters International.  Now you know why you are assigned a mentor immediately upon joining any toastmasters club. Toastmasters International emphasis on a mentor - mentee/protégé relationship because its mission is to develop individuals to become leaders.   Distinguished Toastmaster John Joseph.  When I joined Kuwait Challengers Club, I was assigned, Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) John Joseph, a seasoned toastmasters as my mentor.  I was more than happy. We started off with the ice breaker speech, and he himself evaluated ...

Toastmaster of the Day at Kuwait Challengers Club. Call me the Toastmaster of the Day or Master of Ceremonies, I am game. This is one role that I  love to play at a toastmaster's meeting or toastmaster's event.  I enjoy being in charge of the meeting or event.  A year into toastmasters and I remember being asked to take up the role of  the Toastmaster of the Day impromptu, with barely 30 minutes to prepare. I took it up  grudgingly, performed grudgingly and  when it was time for guest feedback, I vented about being asked to perform a role at such short notice.  The grammarian, DTM Gayatri who was also a guest at the meeting, in her stern voice said "this is what toastmasters is all about, you should challenge yourself to take up roles impromptu."   Do you think I liked that comment?  NO way... I for one like to be prepared.  That day I  returned home venting about DTM Gayatri, mimicking her stern voice and what she had said to me. D...

Toastmaster of the day, fellow toastmasters and distinguished guest, my name is Priscilla Dias and I am here to deliver my icebreaker speech... This is how I would have introduced myself 7 years ago when i first joined Kuwait Challengers Club as a toastmaster.  I was naive. Besides I thought that was the only way to introduce ones self. Let me try it again... "46 years ago a little girl was born, that was me". T his was the opening statement of my second icebreaker speech.  what?????.... back then I thought it was an innovative way to introduce myself.  Years later delivering my 4th icebreaker speech. here we go. When you talk, you are repeating what you know, but when you listen you may learn something new. Dalai Lama.   So I asked my daughter.  “Kookie who am I”   Perplexed she replied “Mom.  Let me tell she is a women of few words, and so I said,    “Ok dear describe me”.    “oh say so, hmmm you are social”  Social...