Page 14 - April 2020
P. 14
FROM THE DESK
The Value of Online Meetings
Eldred Brown, DTM - Club Growth Director
In this coronavirus world of social distancing and Brisbane, Australia.
staying home to save lives, many Toastmasters • With so many companies using Zoom,
and clubs have discovered the joy of meeting Microsoft Teams, and Skype to conduct work
online. If you haven’t started meeting online, meetings, online Toastmasters meetings
you need to. Here are a few reasons why. give you great preparation for that kind of
meeting.
Benefits of Meeting Online • This lockdown has made life truly abnormal.
• You can reconnect with people who are no Continuing to meet online at your club’s
longer members of your club. Some people usual meeting time will help you maintain
leave because life happens. Scheduling a semblance of normalcy in your routine,
conflicts. Work. Relocation. Family. Staying even as you’re staying at home.
at home, these people can now come back • You don’t have to fight with traffic to attend
to your club via online meetings. I heard of an online meeting.
one club in our district that lost one member • Meeting online keeps your members actively
who chose not to meet online but signed up engaged with the Toastmasters program,
three members who, after having been gone which improves member retention.
from the club for many years, returned via Two of the biggest psychological depressants
online meetings. My Babble-On Club recently of staying at home are loneliness and boredom.
signed up a DTM who left our club years ago Like my neighbor said a couple days ago: if
for family reasons. you can’t go out of your house, you’ll go out
• You learn how to present yourself online. of your mind. Online meetings keep you
This is great training for the newest practice connected with others so you feel like part of
in job interviews: the online interview. I’ve a community of friends. The knowledge that
interviewed for positions via Skype and Zoom you have a Toastmasters meeting this week
and have even recorded video of myself for gives you something for which to prepare and
a recorded interview. something exciting to do. With something like
• You can connect with people around the that, you’re less likely to get bored by the same
world. For instance, my Feedbackers Club old, same old.
recently had a guest attend via Zoom from Now that so many of us have grown
14 ONE COMMUNITY
