 |
||
        |
||
           |
||
| RECOGNITION: MEMBER SPOTLIGHT | ||
|
Member Spotlight David Douglas, DTM When and why did you join Toastmasters? I enjoy creative writing, so when I heard about Toastmaters on a cable TV show I thought it sounded like fun. I joined November 1997 when the company I was working for started a club. I still have every speech I've given on my computer. And I'm still having fun. What club(s) are you a member of and what makes it/them special? My home club is Maverick Toastmasters Club, Mesa, Arizona. This is a new, vibrant club started by my daughter. I'm also a member of Windward Winners Toastmasters Club, Kailua, Hawaii, out of nostalgia as I was president of the club when I lived in Hawaii. What has been your biggest accomplishment within the Toastmasters program? I taught conversational English for a year at Tianjin (China) University. I used a Toastmaster-like format for my classes, assigning the students speaking projects. To teach them about evaluations, I evaluated the first few speakers before assigning individual evaluators for each speaker. I have kept in touch with several of my students since then by e-mail. One student recorded a speech for me saying her first year of university she ranked at the very bottom of her class. She was so discouraged when she returned to school that fall that she was thinking of dropping out and going back home. However, my evaluations of her speeches were so encouraging that she decided to continue. She graduated, went on to teach in a community college, and is now chief buyer for an American company with manufacturing plants in China. My evaluations changed this young lady's life, and Toastmasters taught me how to do that. How has Toastmasters helped you in other areas of life? I began working for Arizona's Office of Child Care Licensing as a data analyst. I started producing a number of reports the office had not had before. Although I intended them to help the inspectors plan their schedule, the staff who inspected day care centers and care homes began to think of them as criticisms that they weren't doing a good job. While giving a speech on effective evaluations to my Toastmasters club I mentioned that a good evaluator only gives one or two suggestions for improvement so the speaker is not overwhelmed. I realized I was overwhelming the staff in my job. I started introducing only one or two reports at a time, and when those were accepted I'd introduce a couple more. When I retired I asked the staff which of the 27 reports I was producing they wanted to continue; they wanted 25 of them. I credit that to my Toastmasters experience. What educational goals have you set for yourself during the next Toastmasters year? I want to continue working toward my second Advanced Communicator Bronze and Advanced Leader Bronze awards. Who has influenced you the most in your Toastmasters journey? Willie Jones, a World Champion of Public Speaking. Back to top |
|
|
