TM: VPPR - Strategic Relationships Level 1

Can you believe it? We almost have a path planned, now what to do about the "redundant" Level 1 speeches? 

Ice Breaker - As the Vice President Public Relations, break the ice and entice new members to step up and take on more challenging meeting roles. 

Write a Speech with a Purpose: Many scholars will say there are three reasons for writing and speaking, Persuade, Inform, Entertain. Provide information about opportunities. 

• Persuade someone to join your committee to help host an event, or manage social media - now you are providing opportunities for others to complete projects. 
• Inform the members about a role you filled at a meeting
• Entertain the audience by telling a story about a time when you flubbed a speech or messed up a meeting role. 

Evaluation and Feed: Talk about an idea you have to bring in members, get feedback and give the speech again incorporating the feedback.

Research and Present - Research your role as VPPR and let the club know how you plan to promote the club.

Remember, Toastmasters should be fun not added extra work.

TM VPPR- Strategic Relationships Level 2

Good morning my friend; I am honored that you followed me into the new week; thank you for making my day better just by seeing that you were here. 

If this is your second or subsequent path, the level two projects might seem a bit redundant - not if we use Lori Logic. If you present the same information the same way for every meeting you will soon be the speaker non grata - the person no one wants to hear. So let's change it up a bit.

Level 2 projects are all mandatory, so no choices except on how you deliver your speech. As the VPPR, you need a team, it is just not possible to do it all yourself, especially in this social media driven age. True story: As the VPE, I was the Pace Setter, agendas, contests, DCP, things had to get done and in a timely manner but as the VPPR, I want to be innovative to attract creative individuals who will attract new members and help our club grow. Did you see how I did that? I made a connection. 

The more people you bring to the team the more projects are getting done - who needs to worry about DCP points.  I will focus more on Level 2 tomorrow; I know you are excited to learn more about leadership and start getting your creative team together. 

See you tomorrow for more fun ideas.

Lori out

TM: VPPR - Strategic Relationships Level 3

It's great to see that you visited again. I hope you are getting some great ideas or information from this blog. I have started two projects already and I am just getting started. 

The best thing, in my mind, about being the VPPR is the real world experience you can get to add to your résumé and the people you network with who can help you grow - as of this post I am still looking for an Area Director. If you are interested, this link will take you to my form, and that brings me to Level 3.

Level 3  Mandatory - Make Connections Through Networking. Whether you are in person, online, communicating through social networking, you are networking. Let my type that louder...YOU ARE NETWORKING; why not get the credit? Ways you can network include staying in touch with the people you meet at Club Officer Training during Toastmasters Leadership Institutes, or attending (assisting) at various levels of speech contests, 

Level 3 Electives (you need two). Since I have been around awhile I have been asked to provide VPPR training, so what is the best fit for me to talk about my role? Using Presentation Software and Creating Effective Visual Aids of course, what better way to discuss the attributes of Toastmasters. You can go a step further and record yourself during the meeting and post it on the club website - or highlight a themed meeting.

Now that's punny: 

Until tomorrow my friends. 

TM: VPPR - Strategic Relationships Level 4

 Woo Hoo! If you are reading this, I am glad you are interested.

Yesterday, I discussed how to plan your role as Vice President Public Relations with the end in mind and we discussed two Level 5 projects: The mandatory, Lead in Your Volunteer Organization. The second Level 5 project is an elective, you only have to complete one, there are several to choose from. Today, I will talk about connecting Level 4 projects to Level 5.

The mandatory project is Public Relations Strategies.
"This project focuses on how to promote awareness of an organization, formulate a public relations strategy and use various public relations tactics." 

As a club officer, demonstration is often better than talking to promote your club within your club, by utilizing the resources and giving a speech you are demonstrating and educating. Working with the projects gives you a better understanding of how to promote Toastmasters as both a communication tool and a leadership experience, all good stuff - er, I mean experience - for your résumé. Now for the elective project.

The elective projects include: Building Your Social Media Presence, Create a Podcast, and Create a Blog - can you guess which one I chose? There are several others, take a look because you might find something that is more relevant to your goals.

Let's recap the last two days. By the end of the Strategic Relationship path I need to:

• Lead in my volunteer organization (Level 5)-
  ✅ In progress, I am not getting paid to be the VPPR (this project will cover my first sixth months as VPPR)
• Select and start one of five electives (Level 5),
  ✅I chose Ethical Leadership.
• Read and incorporate Public Relations Strategies (Level 4) into my role as VPPR.
  ✅ Creating ideas as I type
• Select and incorporate one of seven Level 4 projects into my role as VPPR
  ✅halfway done with my creating my blog.

Come back tomorrow to get ideas on how to incorporate Level 3.

p.s. This isn't so bad now is it? Before you come back, you might want to review the VPPR responsibilities.

TM VPPR - Picking my Path: Strategic Relationships Level 5

Welcome back, I am elated that you returned.  

Initially I was going to start with Division Director but realized that I am limiting the number of individuals who might be interested in learning more. With the greatest need in mind, I am going to start with the role as Vice President Public Relations (VPPR); don't be surprised if you see Treasurer or Vice President Membership spattered throughout because the rolls are intertwined.

Starting with the End in Mind, I will first need to determine what I want to accomplish. As VPPR, I want to increase traffic to my club, in person and virtually, and motivate other club members to get more involved.

I just completed the Strategic Relationship Path (pending approval), and I am going to go through it again. Why? Because I can utilize it more effectively this time but I will use it for a different club.

Level 5 Mandatory - Lead in Your Volunteer Organization. This applies to all roles from SAA to District Director; we are all volunteers - no matter how many times they quadruple my pay - at the end of the day 0 x 4 = 0, but the gesture is appreciated if not insincere. 😇 If you are doing it why not get the credit.

Level 5 Elective - This time I will focus on Ethical Leadership, last time I completed Lessons Learned. Again, both electives pertain to all leadership roles.

I have not set my long term goals. Come back tomorrow to see how Level 4 projects will support my final outcome.

What are you waiting for? Go determine what your Path goal will be by Starting with the End in Mind. Let me know what you decide, 

Welcome to a New Toastmasters Year

 As we start the 2022-2023 Toastmasters year, I have vowed to do things smarter, not because I was intentionally doing dumb things previously but we don't know what we don't know. Throughout this TM year, I am going to blog about how I am incorporating Pathways projects and paths into my various roles to include:

• Division Director
• Club Coach
• Area Director - looking for volunteers
• Vice President Membership
• Vice President Public Relations
• Treasurer

Did I mention I don't know how to say no? But that's a different blog topic.

Check back each day as I work through how to connect paths and projects to each position - and maybe I can save you time with this particular learning experience.

Post 7: Ice Breaker to High Performance Leadership: HPL

One path done and you haven't addressed doing an HPL. Ah, but I have; I just haven't said anything about my guidance committee, you know, the three members needed to provide advice and discuss best practices.  My HPL is to help the area directors in my division train the clubs on how to connect projects to help their members grow - and hopefully their membership.   

By working together we can build a better division team.

Post 5: Ice Breaker to High Performance Leadership: Level 2

 Level 2 Mandatory is Managing Your Time, the difficult part of this project is not the project itself but determining the speech you plan to give as you track your time management. Before you decide anything, read the curriculum to determine what you need to do.
Different thoughts are:

1. Have fun with this one and laugh at yourself. 
2. Create a hypothetical outcome to the path completion had you not started with the end in mind and planned your path.
3. Create a fable or fairytale that demonstrates what your time management looked like
4. others?