Contributed by Marilyn Bennett
Today if you join a Toastmasters Club you can attend any toastmasters meeting in the world as long as you are an eligible member of any club. For nearly 100 years, in-person meetings have been at the heart of Toastmasters. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many clubs have been unable to continue with in- person meetings. A hybrid club meeting combines online and in- person attendance.
A Toastmasters club provides its members with a safe and supportive environment to become better communicators, leaders, and public speakers. For many, their club gives them a sense of belonging. In light of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), our club has a hybrid meeting two days of the month. Which means that those who feel comfortable may come to Turkey Red in person and those who cannot make it to the meeting, or feel more comfortable on-line can still participate.
The other days of the month we only meet online to protect the safety and well-being of our members.
By transitioning to online and hybrid meetings, our club allows it's members the ability to continue pursuing their goals and provide human interaction that they might not otherwise get. While many aspects of personal and professional lives have been disrupted, we hope our Toastmaster club can meet online and in person when possible, to provide a sense of normalcy to our members.
Toastmasters who are already embracing online club membership will tell you that the experiences have helped them to develop their skills to another level among an international audience. Once you join our club you may access any other on-line club in
the world. Attendance online is easy, no travel required, no need to leave your home in bad weather, no restrictions for differently abled people.
Performing meeting roles online is challenging but the rewards are the ability to build networks and build skills for screen presence. It can also build confidence for presenting webinars and online meetings. Becoming a member of our hybrid club and therefore access to the world-wide Toastmaster network, will stretch your personal learning network and enable immersion in wider cultural environments
Discover more about Palmer Toastmasters at our website: palmer.toastmastersclubs.org. Join one of our meetings in person on the 1st and/or 2nd Tuesday of each month in the conference room at Turkey red (550 S. Alaska Street in Palmer) at 6 PM or online via Zoom every Tuesday night at 6 PM. We start on time. so please come early to join up.
For the Zoom link, visit the meeting directions tab at our club website: https://palmer.toastmastersclubs.org/.
We are a friendly group of positive valley people who meet to help each other grow and have fun together in the process. We invite you to get to know us better by joining one or more meetings as a guest.