Welcome to SpeakUP! with Rita Burke and Elton Brown.
Rita:David is such a delight and a pleasure to have you on SpeakUP! with us today. Now not so long ago, you had the position of Club Growth Director for District 60. I'm very curious. Would you walk us through what that experience was like for you and what learnings came out of it?
David Veights:Thank you, Rita. The experience of being Club Growth Director last year for District 60 in the midst of a pandemic, it was a very interesting experience. Because the role of, the Club Growth Director basically has two functions to make sure that our clubs that are existing now continue to grow and thrive as well as looking for opportunities to turn or new clubs, because like most things in life, nothing stands still. If we rest on our laurels. We will go nowhere fast. The world will pass us by. So what I learned from this was it was constant attention to how are the clubs doing? What is happening? What the clubs, in terms of their membership growth, how are their meetings going? What do we need to do to help those clubs? Be the most successful clubs that they can be and provide that opportunity for members to learn public speaking and leadership skills. So that meant getting the pulse of what's happening with the clubs and seeing where District 60 can offer any kind of support. For instance, once last year we had a workshop on how corporate clubs were thriving in the midst of the pandemic. When most corporate clubs were struggling. As an example, when COVID hit, we found out that a lot of corporate club. We're struggling because members were working from home, they had family commitments being at home. So the lunch hour where the typical corporate club would have their meeting was a struggle now to maintain that hour because of other commitments, or we're finding that anecdotally, at least. Because of the pandemic. People are no longer working, a very structured work day. People are working pretty much, very early in the morning to very late at night. So sometimes meetings are scheduled for work during the same time that the club meeting was being held. So we wanted to find out which clubs were struggling, but we also found out there were clubs are actually doing well. And they were the ones who were able to tell them. What worked for them in terms of membership growth strategies or what was available for them to make sure that meetings were vibrant. And if they needed to get together with other clubs they did, or they brought in guest speakers, they did, it was great to have that, but what Club Growth Director meant to me. It was really getting into seeing how the district operates. Because as we are an amalgamation or a conglomeration of clubs and when those clubs are doing so well, we as a district, don't do as well.
Elton Brown:You continue to serve the district this year. Can you tell us a little bit about your role and how you are contributing to the district's wellbeing.
David Veights:So for the current year, District Director Aneeta Pathak, asked me to serve as Administration Manager and I'm very happy to take that role in a previous. Time when I was a Toastmaster years ago, I had this role earlier, but it was called secretary at that point. My job is to make sure that the meetings have minutes to each meeting that we have for all the district meetings. Being a District Executive Committee or District Council meeting. Sometimes we have minutes for other special meetings, making sure that when we have Zoom meetings that read the sprints are registering for Zoom, if not sending out messages to them three, mind them that there is a Zoom meeting. So it's very much the part of administration that I think sometimes our District Directors may take on themselves. But with delegation, I think is better suited for this Administration Manager role so that the District Director can focus on the big issues that affect the district and the administration manager handles the more day-to-day type of activities needed to make the district work. So in addition to that, I am serving as the. Clubs Support chair in the Club Growth Director team. Right now, what we're doing is we've just sent out a survey to all of our corporate clubs, asking them questions about who and our club is their champion, because our sorry, who in your corporation is their champion? Because what we want to know is who in that corporation can really be the impetus for getting excitement in that corporate club. What we're finding is through past International Director, Pat Johnson's book, and from a conversation with her is that Toastmasters typically takes a community club model and we put it into the corporate club environment and expect it to work. And in some cases does, but in many cases we believe it doesn't partly because perhaps the corporation provides financial support to all of its members for that corporate club. But also we think that if Toastmasters is viewed more as something that the corporation embraces such as a training program, sponsored by human resources rather than simply being, oh yes, we have a Toastmasters club, but with your interests, Go join the club. If we can get the corporate buy in to really say, yes, this is important. We believe our employees need this. We want to know who that person is and go to them and then try to get Toastmasters in as a training program and perhaps getting managers and supervisors to include Toastmasters as part of the employee's performance review, or even perhaps when we look at the structure of corporate club. It's not just that they person is a president or a VP Education or a treasurer or secretary, anything like that, but maybe there ought to be linkages between those roles and the corporation so that the president of the club is meeting with maybe a division manager every quarter, or the treasurer is talking to the budget people at the corporation. Or the VP of membership is talking to HR. The VP Public Relations is talking to marketing because if he can bring all those resources back into the club and have all that synergy, we believe the corporate club can thrive. If we keep the model as it is because corporate clubs, as, have a very limited pool from which they can bring in new members, it's going to be a very much a struggle. To keep the corporate club going at least going and having vibrant, exciting meetings.
Rita:I hear what you say loud and clear David. I believe though, that in order to implement that Pat Johnson's model into corporate clubs, it will call for a huge paradigm mindset. Change and switch, but I don't doubt in the lease that it could. It's very possible to do. Could you comment a little bit on that for me?
David Veights:I would agree with you 100%. It is a total shift in the mindset, as they say a paradigm shift. And it's probably a paradigm shift of saying epic proportions or almost to the point where it's an earth. Because I think what happens, and this is me anecdotally saying, this is that after time in our corporate clubs, if we're not careful, we get into the mindset that this is a corporate club and this is what we do. And it's, we may have 15 members and six show up at a meeting and that's okay. So we just keep it going and keep it going the going, but then the idea of let's change. Isn't there. It just seems like it's a challenge because maybe people just don't know that there's this other model. And that's what we're trying to do is get that word out. So I think what would be very exciting to see is if we had a few clubs that could tell us who these champions are and get something going this year, maybe three, four clubs, whatever, still working on some ideas on how to do that with our. Club Growth Director. Angela Ho you can get something started this year, then maybe next year, it can grow a little bit more, get the seed planted now and see the benefits toward the end of this current Toastmasters year, maybe even in the next year. But if you can see that turnaround little by little, I think it could be something exciting
Elton Brown:You are in two roles this year and between the two roles. Have you had a, oh my god moment and if so, can you elaborate?
David Veights:I have to say my, oh my God moment has yet to come. I would like to see an, oh my God comment a point arrive when something happens with our corporate clubs, but if you're looking for something. That's happened recently or in the recent past? I would say that my, oh my God moment is I do this with very much love and passion for Toastmasters, but like many of us, I have a career that I have to support also. And the, oh my God moment is I think I would have others agree with me. From least recently with a COVID epidemic pandemic that, oh my God, look how many hours I'm working and now to fit Toastmasters on top of it it's no wonder I don't have any hair.
Elton Brown:Feel alone because I'm just I'm just about ready to join that, that membership program that you ere on the no hair club and and basically for the same reasons. So what do you like doing outside of work outside of Toastmasters? What are your passions? What allows you to relax when you are not in gear?
David Veights:So in, I have to answer this in a couple of ways. So for the last two years, I'll say outside of work and outside of Toastmasters, I spend my time sleeping because I have very little time for that. But what I love to do is I'm I like to think of myself as a lifetime learner and I have over the years and I got fairly good at it. I believe I played in a little pickup band. I played guitar and I loved playing guitar, but I like playing guitar with others. I do playing alone just to pass the time and take my mind away from. Concerns and worries and things like that. But when there's the opportunity to play with others, it's just so much fun and so relaxed. And then I also like to go over to Toronto dance Toronto dance salsa, and take salsa lessons or Cha cha lessons, and just get better at those because I just find the salsa dancing and Cha cha dancing so relaxing When I come back, I'm so relaxed. It just feels like just wonderful. And I also like to do other things read over the years, I've been trying to get my Spanish language back to work. Could have been when I lived in Puerto Rico, but over the years I haven't used it as much. So I don't remember it as much. And I just want to keep that is up-to-date as I can. But other times I just like to visit family and just do you know periodically just say, hi, how are you get together and go have fun. And if I have 30, if I have 36 hours in a day, I could do all this. But unfortunately I don't. And I'm trying to get my life back to a point where I can start doing these things more.
Elton Brown:And as we all are, I think as that's Toastmasters and all the myriad of things that we do. Outside of it in order to keep us in balance, which I think is really important. I know that you were part of a club. I think it was at a college of sorts and it was basically where you had an opportunity to use your second language, which is I'm assuming, which is Spanish. How did that feel? Were you able to communicate with these individuals and how beneficial was it for you as a Toastmaster being part of chartering such club?
David Veights:That experience was challenging because I was around native speakers. So for me being a person who is not a native Spanish speaker, I found myself understanding most of what was said, but when I tried to respond, my brain was just ready to think in English and then I'd have to think, okay, now how do I say this in Spanish, almost of these CMS manual, and then by the time I'm ready to say something the whole. Point of responding and gone by, the ship had sailed, so it was mixed. I did enjoy it, but I also found that it was a challenge because we were really pushing to be Spanish only. And there were a few of us that were just struggling with the Spanish only, but I'm glad to see that around the GTA. And now with COVID, with the virtual meeting, that there are more opportunities to do that. And a lot of the clubs now that are Spanish speaking are bilingual
Rita:Sounds to me. David is if you have a full plate with your personal life plus with your Toastmaster responsibilities, but you're managing them well. But before we bring this podcast to a close, let me tell you that. Had we known that you were a guitar player and that you played in a band. I would certainly have asked for you to play as a tuner the beginning of the top of this interview. So you are very fortunate. You didn't tell us that before but I want to end this now by saying, we certainly appreciate your taking the time to come chat with us and to show us and to tell us in to support everything that you've done as a Toastmaster to contribute to District 60. Again, I say a hearty. Thank you to you, David.
David Veights:Thank you. This has been very enjoyable and I'm always glad to talk about those masters.
Elton Brown:We already know that David have a good evening. Thank you. Thank you for listening to SpeakUP! to discover upcoming podcasts, please go to www dot Toastmasters 60 six zero dot com under News and Events. Look for the District 60 newsletter to locate the schedule.