Giftwork Phase 4 - where volunteering = reinvention

Have you ever thought that you looked good in your favourite outfits, and then realised you were so wrong? If I had to sum up my year being President of my local Toastmasters club that would be the analogy for a year of growth and reinvention.

Once again, it was a fairly organic move. Yes, there was an election but its fair to say that my moving into the role was relatively unchallenged. Having served as Vice President Membership in the run up and due to external circumstances, somewhat being the face of the club in the months prior, some might say it was a given.

As my volunteer experiences to date go, I can say that this one year was probably lent itself more to growth and learning than contribution.

Key Contributions:

• Encouraging a business mindset for the club (albeit not for profit)
• Bringing an entrepreneurial tone to the table
• Discovering and bringing my authentic self to the role - a bold statement, however key in my view to the overall success that year

Key Takeaways:

• Building Teams
• It's impossible to get through a year in this environment without some conflict 
• Ability to Chair meetings

It was certainly a year I look back on in the last decade where I recognise the noticable growth - me within myself, within the Toastmasters environment and through comments from those around me i.e. friends and family.

I still cringe when I look back on videos of that year and even more so earlier on in my public speaking journey - but as they say, that's growth. Holding a mirror up to ourselves and others every now and again is also pretty powerful. Over this period, the power of the camera proved to instrumental in documenting this transformation journey every fortnight, highlighting that a picture does indeed tell a thousand words. 

Find out more about Trojan Speakers - https://www.facebook.com/TrojanSpeakers/
Toastmasters International - https://www.toastmasters.org/

Author

Rupa Datta was President of Trojan Speakers 2017-2018. At the time of writing she is the club's Immediate Past President