The Next Step - Weekly Meetings

A few weeks after the Tauranga Convention, Jasvir contacted me to come along for a meeting with a few other Toastmasters. We all met in Ponsonby in order to determine what needed to be done next. According to the rules of the International Contest Jasvir needed two new speeches, one for the Inter-District Level and one for the International Level. In addition to the creative side, there was also the logistics side of things. Where would Jasvir stay, would he have a support crew? Would anyone be willing to go along and help him with these areas so that he could concentrate on his creative side and work on his speeches.

There were a hundred reasons that I could think of not to put my name forward, I wouldn't get leave, I couldn't afford it, I'm not a great speaker so what help could I offer, but I knew deep down, that I had already made the decision to go along. It was just a formality of being asked by the committee or Jasvir.

Over the next few weeks a plethora of toastmasters including Tony Keegan, Brian Arps, Deborah Cox, Jennifer McCartney, Peter Anich, Sajeewa Dayaratne, to mention a few names, all helped Jasvir in any way that they could. Be it meetings to help with brainstorming, or helping with fundraising, or even just to have a chat to see how things were going.

I was and am still overwhelmed with the amount of support that each one of these members gave and helped with. Toastmasters is an amazing organization, and I believe that I will be a part of this organization for life.