Interviews

SPACE

Today we are delighted to ask our fellow member Viliam a few questions for the Leipzig Toastmasters Mini-Interview series! Viliam has previously been our club president and supported the club vastly. 

1) Why did you join Toastmasters?

To practise public speaking and loose the fear of it.

2) The current pandemic poses various challenges for us. There are obviously a lot of obstacles thatwe are now facing. How are you experiencing the situation and the virtual club life?

As I am travelling 100 km to and 100km from every meeting, it allows me to spare a lot of time and energy. The real experience on the stage can however be made only on the real stage.

3) It has never been so easy to virtually "explore" other Toastmasters clubs for instance. What do you think are some of the current advantages in this situation?

I visited some clubs in Europe or even in the USA. You can do it every day, just by a mouse click. That is an unprecedented situation we should try out. The World Championship of Public Speaking is also now for free and reachable for everyone. That is positive and allow us a new connection with the TM family.

4) What do you look forward to once this pandemic is over?

To travel again and have the normal life again.

Thank You Viliam so much for sharing your thoughts with us!

Check out the original Facebook post: https://de-de.facebook.com/leipzigtoastmasters

Today, wonderful Patricia Grey from our cooperate Toastmasters club in Scotland (Dunfermline Toastmasters) was so kind to respond to the following questions:

(1) Why did you join Toastmasters?

I joined Toastmasters to gain more confidence in Public Speaking, I had been elected Open University Area Association Representative for Scotland, and I was to attend meetings and be the voice for all Scottish Students in Committee meetings. This involved talking to students finding out what they wanted to ask the university taking these questions to the meetings and then reporting back the outcome to students, therefore I needed more confidence to do that.
And my second reason was to expand my social circle, meet more people, joining Toastmasters allowed me to meet many more people gain more skills, gave me a new hobby, writing and delivering speeches, preparing for meeting roles, organizing events, it has changed my life for the better.

(2) The current pandemic poses various challenges for us, there are obviously a lot of obstacles that we are now facing, how are you experiencing the situation and virtual club life?

At first I did not like online meetings because I am not technically minded, I felt it strange when speaking felt like I was talking to a brick wall, because that is what I could see infant of me, no audience reactions when delivering speeches, in a club setting you can see the members faces and adapt your speech, I feel I cannot do this online.

(3) It has never been so easy to virtually "explore" other Toastmasters clubs for instance, what do you think are the current advantages in this situation?

I think it can give members a chance to see how other clubs operate, maybe pick up some ideas for their own club.
You can virtually travel to Toastmaster clubs all over the world, you could not do this in fortnightly face to face club meetings.
Attending virtual meetings allows you to learn about other clubs, how they adapted to online meetings.

(4) What do you look forward to once this pandemic is over?

I am looking forward to returning in person club meetings, and to attending conferences again in person, meeting many other members from around the world.
I am also looking forward to organizing Youth Leadership Workshops in Colleges or Universities to help students build confidence in Public Speaking this could help them when they attend interviews for work.
And I want to organize events like open nights so non members can learn what Toastmasters could do for them, all these events had to be put on hold during the pandemic and it has had an affect on club membership, these events would help restart membership building again.

Many thanks for sharing your thoughts with us!

 Check out the original Facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/leipzigtoastmasters