Page 18 - Voices Decemper 2015
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SUCCESSFUL CLUB
Making Toastmasters Part of the Company Culture
by Matthew Clarke, President, Toastmasters of the Universe
Toastmasters of the Universe serves employees mindset of being a better leader or not, you
of Connective DX, a digital experience agency leave one. Mostly we promote a safe environ-
in Northwest Portland. The club has paid off for ment to grow, learn, collaborate, create and
the company, as its president describes here. share with each other.
We regularly see the benefits of a closed club Another twist for us is that we do not favor
because we are a small company with a fairly PowerPoints or digital presentations in general.
high percentage of Toastmasters. Just a few days This might seem odd as we are a digital agency,
but for us Toastmasters is a way to go beyond
ago we had a company that. I like to remind people that your fancy
meeting that sums deck might get lost. Your cloud might be down.
it up nicely. There Heck, the power could go out. Mastering the
were three presenta- essence of your presentation and being able to
tions on three sepa- motivate people with nothing more than your
rate work projects. mind, your body and your voice is what’s impor-
The last group, all tant. Funny animated GIFs and fancy transitions
Toastmasters, abso- might get some oohs and aahs, but they are
lutely nailed i t . T h e supporting, not core, elements.
o t h e r two presenta-
tions weren’t even We stress a fun and safe place to explore and
close. These were communicate. We value and take the quality
not highly coordi- of our feedback quite seriously, especially
nated and rehearsed when someone is
presentations, so the presenting company
Toastmasters excelled. They didn’t need much work. The entire
time. Their presentation was on point, it flowed, feedback loop is
it had the audience captured, and no one in the something we are
crowd, Toastmaster or not, would disagree that trying to export from
they were head and shoulders above the others. Toastmasters into our
conference rooms
Our club is closed to the public. We receive and interpersonal
requests throughout the year, and it’s hard to communications by
turn them down, but it suits us best. We always listening, being posi-
encourage our speakers to tie in their work tive, and providing
when applicable. Because of this we hear a nice constructive and
mixture of professional and personal experi- actionable sugges-
ences. We learn about each other and learn to tions for improvement.
trust each other while honing our leadership
skills. We love it when other folks in the company
remark that they hear us clapping and cheering
I like to say the leadership part of Toastmaster in our meetings. When someone stands up to
is really a byproduct. speak, we clap. When they are done, we clap. If
they get up but don’t say anything (as in Table
It’s a bonus. Whether you come in with the
18 Volume 2 Issue 5 - DECEMBER 2015
