Page 10 - Voices Decemper 2015
P. 10
FROM THE DESK
The Gift That Keeps on Giving
by Erik Bergman, DTM, Club Growth Director
Think back to when about the fellow members I can help along the
you first became a way, just as so many Toastmasters encouraged,
Toastmaster. Maybe advised and coaxed me on my path. Where once
you were an eager I had not been ready to receive the gift, I became
recruit, pumped up ready to share it with any member who needed it.
and ready to take the world by storm. Or maybe Whatever path you took to get to Toastmasters,
you were a reluctant Toastmaster like I was, who I hope you consider your membership and your
joined under pressure because your boss said participation as a gift — to yourself and to others.
that he wanted you in the For me, Toastmasters has truly become a gift that
company Toastmasters keeps on giving.
club.
New Clubs Set to
I’ll admit that I viewed my Charter! We have great
first meeting as a chore news out of Portland
rather than an opportunity. this month. We expect
At least I was smart enough corporate clubs at
to change my attitude WebMD and CBRE to
quickly once I saw what
the program could do for charter before year’s
me. Once I got into the end! The two clubs will
groove of giving a speech bring extra strength
every month, my progress and energy for Division
made me feel great. Soon I knew that I had been F, the Downtown
handed a gift that seemed to grow more valuable Division.
the more I stretched my comfort zone.
Many thanks to the employees at both WebMD
Since then I’ve been able to hone my skills and and CBRE who will soon be charter members.
speak out on issues that matter to me. Both within Thank you also to Toastmasters Katherine
my company and beyond in my volunteer work, Stevens, ACS, ALB, who has mentored and
Toastmasters has helped raise my public profile. nurtured the WebMD club to the charter strength
It also made me a far stronger leader, although I of 20 members. For CBRE, cheers go to the
hadn’t even considered that benefit when I first husband-and-wife team of Cleon Cox, DTM, and
joined. Gloria Cox, and club mentors Jeff Isom, ACS,
ALB, and Eldred Brown, ACG, ALB, who will
My eight years in Toastmasters have taken me ensure the club gets off to a strong start.
places I never imagined — including the front of
the room at business meetings and center stage If you work for a company that needs a
at alumni events. For someone who was painfully Toastmasters club, or simply know of a company
shy as a kid, that feels remarkable. Standing up that could use one, tell me about it in an email
to speak before a crowd is now a cause for excite- to cgd@d7toastmasters.org. Starting new clubs is
ment rather than panic. how we spread the gift of Toastmasters to more
people in more places.
Yet the longer I’ve been in Toastmasters, the more
I understand that it is not about me. It is really
10 Volume 2 Issue 5 - DECEMBER 2015
