Editoriale

The Vision

I see a club. An easy club. Easy to join, where learning is easy, where fun and creativity are easy, where everyone strives to improve his own communication skills and though they take the task seriously they still know how to take it….well…. easy, of course, and enjoy the learning process, the challenges, the “out-of-comfort-zoness”. This is our club.

I would like to share this vision with all the members because the puzzle needs everyone to be completed and a club goals achievement is the sum of every member’s personal goals as well.

So let me tell you what  my goals are for next year:

 Quality: because we all want to improve and we all want to enjoy others’ improvement.

Better speeches to be delivered and to listen to, Workshops and educationals focused on different topics: listening skills, impro-speeches, table topics, how to evaluate, body language etc.

More Competent Communicators tackling new manuals projects for new comers to look up to for inspiration. Reaching the standards required for smooth, streamlined and yet dynamic meetings with a fast pace and attention to procedures but always with a sparkle and a sprinkle of new creative ways and ideas.

Fun: creative people are abundant in our club and they need chances to express themselves in and out the table topic session. Moreover, we cannot miss the point that while we are performing our roles as speakers and getting the benefits from the experience, someone else is watching and they want to be entertained, inspired, informed with gusto if possible.

Visibility:

Well, I am a toastmaster member.

Uhm…a toast….what?! What’s that?

How many people in Milan know what Toastmasters Club is?…do they know it exists a place where they can practice public speaking?

We are the Only club in Italy, this doesn’t make us Unique yet!

We are not on the map guys. Rotary club and Lions club are. We are unknown to the general and if you put your TM achievements and certificates on your CV it doesn’t count as it should, and pay heed to my words: it should!

The press, the radio broadcasting, the TV, that specific magazine should get the drift and we have to grow to get their attention.

Expansion, colonialism and travelling:

What doesn’t grow, stales and shrinks. No other way. It means that fresh air is wanted all the time, new members mean new ideas, new confrontations, new blood. Our membership tide goes up and down but never floods.

One club could split in two more clubs and one member can open a club anywhere if provided with energy and enthusiasm; who will pick up the challenge of growth?

So far we did and learned. We learned by doing.

We’ll keep on learning by doing what we haven’t done yet.

I prompt you all to define your goals for next year and match them with the vision of our club.

If you are new to the club there is so much you can achieve, it’s beyond your imagination, and if you are senior to the club there is so much you can contribute, it’s all in your imagination.

Join and enjoy!

Ivan Ottaviani/ACG

The President