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SUCCESSFUL CLUB
Sunrise Toastmasters Celebrates More Than Six Decades of Success
By Marili Green Reilly
How is your club’s health? Are your meetings speakers and Toastmaster to ballot counter and
fun and welcoming? Do your members take the timer. Members are responsible for finding a
benefits of Toastmasters back to their jobs? Do replacement if they can’t make it, and we have
your speakers inspire and support each other? found people are more likely to show up for the
These and other qualities were identified by meeting if they know they have an assignment.
our members during a brainstorming session a Transferrable Skills - The real measure of
while ago, and they’re qualities that have kept our success, however, is whether we have helped
Sunrise Toastmasters healthy and successful members develop skills they can use to meet
since it was chartered in 1954. personal and professional goals. Sunrise not
A Warm Welcome - One of the things that only supports members who are completing
members recall long after their first meeting is Toastmasters manuals and programs, but also
the friendliness that was shown assists them through mentoring assignments,
to them when they first arrived. formal evaluations and
Many of our visitors find us informal suggestions.
through meetup.com, but once Thoughtful and caring
they are through the door it is evaluations focus on the
up to all of us to make them feel speaker’s goals; as one
welcome. We’ve all felt nervous member puts it, an evalu-
about stepping into a new situa- ation is a “gift” to help
tion, so we make sure someone the speaker improve. It
is there to extend a hand of is inspiring to watch how
welcome, help new arrivals people progress from
find a seat and introduce them being too timid to partici-
around. pate in Table Topics to
That nurturing environment 2015 Sunrise Toastmasters Club Photo giving confident, inspiring
continues as we grow together. speeches.
Almost like a second family, we are there for Many of our members have been in the club
each other through job changes, moves and for a decade or more, providing continuity and
personal celebrations. a broad mentoring base for newcomers, but they
Fun and Efficient Meetings - Guests often cannot carry the club alone. New people bring
comment on how much we accomplish in a fresh perspectives, transforming what could be
little more than an hour. Our standing agenda a stagnant pool of thought into a river flowing
and our schedule of assignments are two facets with new ideas.
of this success. Providing a warm welcome, having fun and
From introductions and Table Topics to efficient meetings, and learning skills that will
speeches, evaluations and club business, each serve you beyond the club have kept Sunrise
activity has its assigned time frame during the Toastmasters healthy for more than 60 years.
meeting and each task is assigned up to four Perhaps our greatest strength, however, is that
weeks in advance. we don’t take ourselves too seriously. Our meet-
The agenda is included in the club hand- ings provide many opportunities for humor and
book, but it’s also taped to the lectern for easy laughter, an important feature when you must
reference. This not only helps the President and be in good form at 6:45 in the morning.
Toastmaster stay on schedule, but also provides Look for Sunrise Toastmasters on www.
a useful guide when we must shuffle the meeting meetup.com or http://www.sunrisetoastmas-
elements to accommodate a participant’s other ters.net/. We meet Thursdays, 6:45-8:00 a.m.,
commitments. at the Standard Insurance Center in downtown
The schedule is emailed to everyone once Portland.
a month. We assign 19 separate tasks, from
16 Volume 2 Issue 6 - JANUARY 2016
