Page 15 - September 2017 Voices
P. 15
PLAN C Club Officer Training in
Bangladesh
by Susan Elsworth, DTM - Guest Contributor
There is nothing quite like a dream that slowly PLAN C, I thought. Habib
brews on a back burner, shows up on a main had gotten approval from
menu for clubs distant from each other and then his District leadership
slowly wafts its way into corporate consciousness for me to conduct the training. I will bring
because its ingredients have produced a tasty up ZOOM, send out invitations and conduct
Toastmasters dish. That’s PLAN C. training, I thought.
PLAN C is a menu for can-do, creative Club officers had already read and knew the
and committed “cooks” in clubs searching for requirements for their respective roles. PLAN
C quickly turned into an extended Table Topics
alternative tools to familiar ingredients that session. As a team, officers self-identified as
mostly worked in the past. Sergeants at Arms, Secretaries, Treasurers and so
In mid-September 2016, the Great White on. My Table Topics questions had two purposes:
North Online club chartered. Although I had 1) to ask, identify and acknowledge not only what
marketed to members in Canada and the United the officers already knew about their role
and to test their thinking about which other
officer(s) they had to work with most closely;
2) to engage members who knew they could
be called on at any moment. (I use the “ask-
question-first-select-the-member-second”
Table Topics style.)
The next ingredient was a brief open
discussion about how active officers might
communicate in a timely way with other
officers who were not seen as fulfilling
Area 5K their committed responsibilities. We
Club Officers closed with another Table Topic session
about acknowledgement of members
who contribute significantly to the club. While
States, Muhammad Habibul Islam (“Habib”), a
Toastmaster from Bangladesh, had showed up some people love to be acknowledged in front
of groups, others cringe when they are praised
and signed up. that way. As a whole, the group learned the
By spring of 2017, Habib had chartered importance of discovering and using which style
two traditional clubs, North/South University of recognition that the member appreciates.
Toastmasters and LEADS Toastmasters in PLAN C keeps cooking in many different
Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. Two dark blue kettles. From time to time it is carried into
SPONSORING CLUB ribbons arrived at my kitchens and countries I had never imagined.
office. Little did I suspect that the back burner The fragrance is fantastic.
was about to become a bit warmer. Susan gave her first Icebreaker on May 14, 1981
On August 23rd, Habib invited me to conduct at the Washtenaw Toastmasters Club #3054 in Ann
a Club Officer training for the eight Area K5 clubs Arbor, Michigan. She earned her DTM in 1987. Susan
in Bangladesh. The group was a mix of different was one of the original poneers serving a Toastmasters
club officers from eight different clubs, two in International pilot project for 100% online clubs. She
Chittagong and six in Dhaka, which are about is a charter member of Firebirds Collective and founder
265 km (165 miles) from each other. of Great White North Online Toastmasters where she
What an honor and an opportunity to use serves as VP Public Relations.
VOLUME 4 ISSUE 3 SEPTEMBER, 2017 15
