Mid Year Resolution

Last night, I got inducted as the new VP for Education for the Executive Toastmasters Club. I never really realized how big of a task it is until it was spelled out to me in detail during the Induction of the new set of club officers. I am the second in command in the club and I got to thinking about what my goals are for the club during my term. Last year’s feat is a tough act to follow – President’s Distinguished Club Award (the highest award a club could achieve) – even though I was part of the club officers’ roster during the last fiscal term.

I am absolutely happy that Mark accepted the position of Secretary. This early, he’s proving himself to be the completely involved club officer. Note to self: He’s a busy man himself and I shouldn’t have excuses that would prevent me from carrying out my responsibilities. After the meeting ended last night, Mark and I started brainstorming about what we could do to improve and bolster our club’s strengths even further.

Mark is going to take over the ‘moderatorship’ of the Yahoo groups and he’ll start archiving everything. By that, I mean all the speakers’ speeches, the timer’s report and the dreaded Ah count. I was thinking about holding an awards ceremony type of program in the next couple of months and Mark’s plan is a perfect fit for what I want to do. I have noticed that the attendance and promptness of our members leaves much to be desired and I had the novel idea of handing out special prizes to drum up interest.

As for personal goals, I’m going to work on my CC and CL this year. While I’m going be on a 3-month hiatus from the club, I’ll make sure to write the remaining 7 speeches that I need. I’m expecting to be out of town from end of July until September for this government contract that my company got. Two key concepts to bear in mind – Lead by example (courtesy of Mr. Potential Khris Albano) and Do as I say not as I do (from Julia during her address to the members and guests last night).

One way that would stimulate me to do my speeches is to keep on writing whether it be in my blog or in my journal. Anyway, I’m crossing my fingers that my boss, RVD, will let me get involved with the paper that my immediate boss’ family owns as a writer. About a month back, RVD’s already asked me if I wanted to write for The Manila Times shortly after he read the proposal that I was working on at that time. I could certainly learn a lot from RVD as far as writing is concerned, he’s a Palanca Awardee for Literature in 1956 for his short story entitled “The Centipede.”