Speaker 1 0:00

It's going. Thank you, sam. Excellent, okay, so I'm just going to start in three, two, one. Oh, we're just doing audio too, by the way, just to confirm.

Speaker 2 0:18

Okay. I did consider sharing beforehand.

Speaker 1 0:21

I would have told you.

Speaker 2 0:24

Yeah, if it's audio, it is. If it's visual, it is what it is, yeah yeah, no, no, it's audio.

Speaker 1 0:30

It's haven't haven't excellent, Haven't dared to venture into video yet. Not quite, not quite there yet, but anyhoo, so so just clarifying. So, yes, we're recording good stuff. Okay, welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to episode 19 of the Talkative Toastmaster podcast. Today I'm joined by my guest and fellow toastmaster, kate Norris. Kate is a member of two clubs down under Toastmasters and leading edge advanced toastmasters, and has been a toastmaster for 14 years. She's completed two full pathways and is now working her way through three more, including one in which she's magically weaving her love of Taylor Swift into every speech. Kate has held many roles in the organization, which I'm sure we'll dive into, and she says one of the highlights of her toastmasters journey so far was winning an evaluation contest at district level. Kate, welcome to the show.

Speaker 2 1:33

Thank you so much for having me I'm laughing and cringing that I mentioned the Taylor Swift path.

Speaker 1 1:43

You didn't, but I can take that out if you like. Oh, it's fine, okay. Okay, there's so much about your journey that we could talk about, but let's perhaps start by talking about why did you originally join Toastmasters?

Speaker 2 2:00

I don't think for any unique reason. It's kind of all the classics lack of confidence. It's certainly not a speech impediment. I would never call it a speech impediment, but I trip over my words a lot when I speak, so I had to learn to slow down a lot, and I still struggle with that a bit. I couldn't read the eulogy at my dad's funeral. I wrote it but I couldn't read it out, and so that was a big moment of I probably should learn to be able to speak.

Speaker 1 2:33

Yeah, it's. I guess it's those times when you need to speak and either the words or the confidence escapes. You can be a trigger. Yeah, and so what do you most enjoy about being a Toastmaster? I?

Speaker 2 2:49

think the community when you join any sort of club, I think the community is what ends up keeping you there, and I've met some of my best friends there. I've got such a heap of friends, both really close friends that I talk to almost every day, and then friends that I see once a year at a once a year conference and yeah, just those all levels in between, but the community for sure.

Speaker 1 3:20

Yeah, it's amazing the difference of people that you meet, the backgrounds and walks of life, and everyone's there to connect over. You know a lover's wanting to improve.

Speaker 2 3:36

That's it. That's exactly right. It attracts a certain type of person that is interested in self-improvement, and they're the people that I want to be around.

Speaker 1 3:44

Yes, yeah, same. It's why I've continued to go back to Toastmasters and probably why I sort of decided to join the second club when you invited me. It's just that idea of, oh okay, a new group of people to get to know and get to learn from, and so thank you for inviting me to Leading Edge. I wouldn't have probably found it otherwise.

Speaker 2 4:08

Yeah, Well, I think it was because I beat you in evaluation, wasn't it? You did Because the year before you won that evaluation contest. So I was really worried about you. You were like the person to beat.

Speaker 1 4:22

I was like as long as I get Mel, I'll be okay, but I just managed to pip you, yeah, and you went on to win the district, right, yeah, yes, well, there you go. Well, anyway, I'm glad you reached out at that contest and ended up in Leading Edge, because that has completely opened my eyes to just a bigger network in Toastmasters and all sorts of other roles and responsibilities in the area. So now, what about the idea of? Oh what? Sorry, I'll start that again. So what has been some of the most valuable skills you've learned in your time as a Toastmaster? Because you have a slightly different perspective on this, yeah.

Speaker 2 5:13

I think the obvious answer is I can speak better and I can communicate better, which I can but I believe that most Toastmasters don't take advantage of all the skills that you can learn in Toastmasters. So if I look at the skills that I've learned that I don't know if I could hone properly anywhere else, and that skills like facilitation there's a big difference between speaking and facilitation and I've done a lot of training over the years and I now train in my business. I run a business now and I believe that I'm a good trainer because I've done such bad training and got all of that out in a safe environment.

Speaker 2 6:03

And you ask over and over and over again. So facilitation would be a big skill set, I think.

Speaker 1 6:10

Okay, yep, yep. And what about other things? Because I mean, you mentioned training and even event management, and I know that you're doing a fair bit of event management. Now Do you want to talk a little bit about your event management experience in Toastmasters?

Speaker 2 6:27

Sure, so the first time I ran a conference would have been 2017.

Speaker 2 6:34

It was my area conference, when I was an area director and I had to organize like 30 people and get two trays of biscuits and organize like the tiniest conference, and it melted my mind. It was so hard, oh my gosh. I remember just being so stressed about it and now I can kind of do that with my eyes closed. I can organize an event, no worries. And I've now taken on the district conference, which I mean we've sold 110, 111 tickets, yes, yes, super exciting. Yes, it's going to be huge. You know, instead of being four clubs to organize together, it's oh God, I should know that number it's like 180 maybe clubs, yeah, together in Calandra. And you know it's a big two day event. Oh, it's four days really, with the Friday and the Monday. Like it's a huge event, yeah.

Speaker 2 7:31

And again, that has challenged me, but it's challenged me at a new level. I don't know if you see, in those meetings, but I just sit there and I think I have never felt so incompetent or out of my depth in my life and I feel like everyone's looking at me for the answers and I'm like I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm learning so much through that process, yeah, and I know that eventually it'll be the same as how I think about an area conference. Yeah yeah, one day I'll turn around and be like oh, a district conference, that's not that big of a deal, but right now it's a big deal to me and I feel like I'm just dying. I don't feel competent, but that's all part of the learning.

Speaker 1 8:18

Yeah, and you know it's less than four weeks to go, so we're getting to the pointy end of proceedings. But if it's any consolation, I've done event management at work and no matter how many events you run, there's always sort of that sense of chaos at the beginning and then it all somehow magically comes to the end, you know, comes to the fantastic conclusion and you're certainly steering it in the right direction. There's obviously plenty of people helping, but you know you're doing a great job wrangling all the kittens and all the movie.

Speaker 2 8:58

I appreciate that.

Speaker 1 9:00

But yeah, it's going, and in the hundred years of hundred year centenary of Toastmasters as well, I mean what an amazing year to be doing that. So you know it's great to take that on. But yeah, you're right, I don't think people would naturally think about Toastmasters as somewhere to gain event management experience.

Speaker 2 9:21

Yeah, for sure, and I think you're not ever given a proper project at work, like for years and years. You've got to really prove your time in a work setting, whereas, yeah, at Toastmasters you can't adjust, put your hand up and you're given a go.

Speaker 1 9:40

Yeah, so did you volunteer or were you tapped, or how did you actually come to be the convener we?

Speaker 2 9:49

actually as a club bid for the 2020 conference, so years ago. So it was back in like 2018. We as a club thought, yeah, let's give this a go. And we lost that bid to a different club, actually a Sunshine Coast club, and they were going to have it at the Sunshine Coast Right, and I'm kind of pretty sad for that club. But for us.

Speaker 2 10:13

It was a really good thing that we did get that bid, because the 2020 conference got cancelled. Obviously we got kind of another go at it this time and we've got a lot more skills and a lot more people behind it now. So what was a bit disappointing at the time has turned out to be a really positive thing, and I've said basically since then I was like I want 100 years, I want 100 years.

Speaker 1 10:40

And.

Speaker 2 10:40

I said to our district director, like two or three years ago when she was running, you know, when we knew she was going to be in that position, I have said to her like I will run your conference, I want your conference. I kind of did preordain it for quite a few years.

Speaker 1 10:57

Yeah, oh, it's great to have that goal and to you know, and part of that was then, I guess, getting everyone in the club on board and support behind that, and, you know, I think it was great how you practiced the bid and there were people prepared to, you know, support that and give feedback and, yeah, it is a team effort. But I think, you know, definitely your tenacity at, you know, at getting that bid has been pretty evident and you know, I think, that enthusiasm is carrying through. So, yeah, I can't wait to see this event pan out. It'll be my first district conference and attending it, so I'm looking forward to yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 11:42

Yeah, and I don't know. It's interesting how it can take a few years in Toastmasters to get to a district conference or to sort of think, oh yeah, there's other things out there I should, as a Toastmaster, be checking out. So I hope you know other Toastmasters listening to this. May you know, come along, come and check out what it's like, because there'll be a whole bunch of newbies like me and very experienced Toastmasters who you get to network with, which is another fantastic aspect of the organization. So come along. District 69 conference We'll put the link in the show notes to where you can get tickets.

Speaker 2 12:21

Yeah, it'll be a lot of fun yeah.

Speaker 1 12:24

And what about the idea of productizing your knowledge? That's something that you've mentioned as a skill with Toastmasters, so how has that worked out for you?

Speaker 2 12:36

I use Toastmasters as a training ground for my business. Like I mentioned, I run a training business and when you run training as a business and something that you sell, you have to be able to package up your knowledge into pieces that people are able to absorb, one piece at a time. There has to be a logical flow of information. There has to be pieces that stand alone, that you know stack on top of each other. So I teach, ironically, communication, specifically data communication.

Speaker 2 13:09

How do we get people who are really technical and I'm a data analyst by trade I don't know if that's the word, if it's not trade, but I'm a data analyst how do we get those people to communicate to non-data people? Basically, yeah, and that's a massive topic and you can just start talking about that for days. I could literally talk about that for days. But to take people through it and teach people that you have to package it up. Kind of like when you go to university, you get your introduction subjects and then everything builds on what you've learned already and when you sell that, you need to be able to basically create a course like that. And again, I practice the actual facilitation of that, but I've also practiced bundling up that knowledge.

Speaker 1 14:03

And.

Speaker 2 14:03

Toastmasters is a really easy place to start, because straightaway you've broken it down into roles. You know you break it down into President, bpe, bpm, seven club roles, and then you can start breaking it down further from there, so you can start to package these little pieces and deliver them so that people can implement them straightaway. They don't need to know too much beforehand. But then for people who do know stuff, how do you then create the next step so that they can build upon their knowledge?

Speaker 1 14:34

Yeah, yeah. And has the structure of the Pathways program somehow influenced how you train? Because Pathways is very much that laid out training program. Did that at all help, or?

Speaker 2 14:52

No, I find the Pathways program very good, the actual education side of it.

Speaker 1 15:00

Mm.

Speaker 2 15:02

I don't think it's hugely different to the old system where we literally had a book and books and went through. Yeah, but I mean it's the same concept it's. You know, you start with, just give it a go. You start with the bare basics of stand up and give speaking a go, and then you move onto your basics of body language and voice and writing a speech with purpose, and then eventually you get to inspire. You don't mean, like you, all of them are built. So, while Pathways does follow that logical flow of information I think the program always did I don't think Pathways is a revolution on the Toastmasters program. It was just a revolution on the delivery of the program.

Speaker 1 15:52

Okay, yeah, so just getting it online and adding multimedia aspects to it, yeah, and the like. So how did you get into training? Did Toastmasters influence that decision or was it something you always wanted to get into? You know, training and communications, did, did.

Speaker 2 16:15

I don't know, I think I just got to a stage where I was talking about all of these things with you know, my club mates, and then we'd nut something out together. You know be a few of us just having a conversation, and we'd kind of come to a conclusion about something and we're like, oh yeah, that's actually. Like I wish that I knew that three years ago. So then you kind of get in your mind like, oh, maybe I have something to share with others. And it took a little bit to fight my way into training.

Speaker 2 16:52

I had to really push to become a trainer and I don't think that that was a positive experience and that's something that I'm really trying to make sure that others don't have that same blockade to get through. Like it's my mission to remove those obstacles from people. You know, we don't have enough enthusiastic members. We need to get the ones that we that are enthusiastic and nurture them and let them grow. So for me it was probably more of a like I kind of fought for it. It's the same as district conference, like you just decide that you're going to do it and you just do it, and that's kind of how I live a little bit, as you just do stuff.

Speaker 1 17:36

Yeah. Ask for forgiveness, not permission. That's exactly that. Yeah, and so were you doing the training at Toastmasters before you started your training business, which came first.

Speaker 2 17:51

Yeah, I started in Toastmasters because I think that's what gave me the confidence of like, oh, maybe I can teach other people about things that I know, yeah, yeah. And then, once I had that confidence, I was like, right, I've got the knowledge and now I can train people in it, I can start a business. And for three years I made no money, like nothing. Yeah, and it's horrendous because just because you know something and you're good at something does not mean that you can run a business. So again, I had to learn sales and marketing skills. Yeah, and when did I practice Toastmasters? I was like, well, my club is essentially a business. I need to learn how to get people interested in my club, get them to visit my club, and then I need to sell them and have them convert into members. That sells in marketing. It is yes, and these are skills that are really underutilized by most Toastmasters. We're not realizing how applicable that is to the real world. And now I have a very successful business and finally do earn money.

Speaker 1 19:03

Like in the fight by war region, you know, eat food again.

Speaker 2 19:07

But those skills were learned at Toastmasters, yeah, or practiced at Toastmasters. Not necessarily learned, but certainly practiced.

Speaker 1 19:16

Yeah, I guess there's so many speech opportunities where you are influencing and persuading and can practice that idea of selling and, as you say, selling the organization to prospective members, and it at least gets you very aware of the journey, especially if you're in the role of vice president, public relations or even membership. It's about what's the benefits of joining and talking to people about their pain points and what the solution is for them. And yeah, it's, I think, the marketing aspect. And I think, from what you've just said, there's a real opportunity to, I guess, educate people who might be thinking about taking on those roles in the club or shying away from them about how that could help their career or of their own business if they're not confident in those areas.

Speaker 2 20:09

Yeah, for sure, yeah. And you've got to do those roles as well. You've got to be the VPPR, the Vice President, public relations, and you've got to try Facebook. You've got to try putting stuff out and writing copy and taking photos. You've got to actually do the things. You can't just sit there and watch other people do them and think that you're learning. You don't learn to drive in a parked car, right.

Speaker 1 20:36

Yeah, absolutely. And yeah, a lot of people don't again get the opportunity to practice social media skills and yet having the ability to do it, as you say, the doing of the thing is quite different from the learning of the thing. Oh, I see that and it's quite different, I think as well for doing it. You know, doing social media for an organisation versus your personal stuff. So personal branding is one thing very important, but doing it for an organisation and a volunteer organisation, that is quite a different tone of voice and that's quite different, again, from corporate social media as well. So it's just so much opportunity for people to practice their skills.

Speaker 1 21:25

What about the idea of building a profile? That's sort of something else that you've mentioned is a skill and I would say you are fairly well known. My experience is that you're fairly well known through the district, so you've done a lot of networking. Obviously you seem to be at all the events. I remember before I actually knew you. I remember oh, there's Kate. Again, there's Kate. You are everywhere and even now I think well, by tomorrow night this will be our third night in a row talking with each other. Yeah, but I think building a profile is an interesting aspect of Toastmasters that other people may not have considered, so I do want to talk a little bit about that.

Speaker 2 22:08

Oh, that's something I haven't really considered. My philosophy is definitely show up. You've got to be there and talking to people. I am very well known now because I'm exactly what you say I'm just there. Yeah, I'm just always there and always chatting to people. I don't sit in the corner. I keep you go to club officer training.

Speaker 2 22:35

I'll always be chatting to clubs about what's going on with your club at the moment. What's your biggest struggle? So I'm constantly trying to understand other clubs and connections with other members. I don't always have something in common with all other members the demographics are wide, but everyone has a club in common. So for me, the common ground is let's chat about our clubs, because we're probably going to find some issues that we can talk about together and not I don't always say talk about the problems in our club, but we talk about new members that we've got and how wonderful it is to see a new member who could barely stand up and say their name, and now they're giving these speeches quite comfortably. Our clubs are what we have in common and it's really easy to chat to other people then because you know what you've got in common yeah.

Speaker 1 23:30

Yeah.

Speaker 2 23:31

I think I've just said common like 17 times in two sentences.

Speaker 1 23:39

Oh good. What I found interesting in going to various clubs is how similar some of the characters are Just some of the archetypal characters in each club. Oh yes, it's fascinating. The similarities are spectacular. I love it.

Speaker 2 23:53

I should do a series on that, like identify some of the archetypes. It is so true.

Speaker 1 23:59

Yeah, yeah, yes, and maybe we should think about that for a future podcast. That would be really amusing. Yeah, and what I forgot what I was going to. There's a point I wanted to pick up there. Anyway, it's gone sailing through, so let me so. You've mentioned how Toastmasters has facilitated a lot of skills in your business, and are there any skills that you can apply to other areas of your life that have been useful, that you may not have thought would have come out of Toastmasters?

Speaker 2 24:47

Oh.

Speaker 1 24:48

Take care.

Speaker 2 24:55

I don't know. I have three aspects of life. I have my family, work and toastmasters. Yep, I'm trying to think is there anywhere in my family, in my parenting, that has been influenced? I can't think of anything off the top of my head. For me, most of the skills that I've learned are probably more practical business skills, yep, Other than, obviously, the social aspect in terms of being able to speak to people easier, which I'm actually an extrovert, so that doesn't come particularly difficult.

Speaker 1 25:45

Yeah, yeah, it definitely helps being an extrovert and liking people and wanting to connect with them.

Speaker 2 25:57

Yeah, I do like people.

Speaker 1 26:04

Yeah, it would be hard not to be in toastmasters and not like people because it just wouldn't sort of really, yeah, it'd be challenging.

Speaker 2 26:16

I do have an answer for that actually, okay, I do, and that is simply listening skills. A lot of people don't have good listening skills in terms of actually properly listening to what people say in a conversation and at toastmasters. You are forced to sit there and listen to someone for five to seven minutes multiple times a meeting, and I think that is actually a skill that's underrated, because there's a quote that I heard somewhere and it's so relevant and it's like how do you be interested? No, I'll try that again. There's a quote I heard somewhere and it was like how do you be interesting? It's by being interested.

Speaker 1 27:15

Yes, yes, I don't know who said the quote, but I've heard it too.

Speaker 2 27:18

But you know it, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 27:20

Yeah, I think as well, when you can reflect back to people that you've heard them and that active listening and you've actually really heard what they've said and observed them and seen and heard them speak in a way that perhaps they've never been seen and heard, because you're watching literally every aspect of their facial expressions and their hands and they probably have never had feedback on what their hands are doing when their mouth is moving. So it's that level of, I guess, polite scrutiny. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and you don't get to necessarily practice that in many other places without looking like a bit of a weirdo yeah, very true or intrusive, or some people in other environments. That kind of, I suppose, polite scrutiny isn't necessarily welcome or appropriate.

Speaker 2 28:15

Yeah, true, but also you see how much people want to be listened to and how much they want to share and connect with other people. It's such a good environment to share stories and to listen and to understand other people, and I do carry that over into my social life a lot. Yeah, maybe that's skills that other people have. I don't actually have it. I've had to learn that.

Speaker 1 28:45

But also, I guess, having been in Toastmasters so long, it is just such a part of your life and who you are At this point. Those skills all would interweave. It's just part of, I guess, your confidence as a speaker and interest in people. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so what would you say to people out there who may be thinking about joining a club? We're still reasonably early into the 2024 and people are maybe revising their new year's resolutions about now. But what would you say to people who are a bit nervous about heading to Toastmasters?

Speaker 2 29:30

A few years ago someone gave me advice in business and it was when we were not making money and they said scared is not an excuse. You can be scared, but you can't let it overrule what you need to do. So if you're scared about making a sales call, that's not an excuse. Do it anyway. If you're scared about putting yourself out there on social media, if you're scared to pitch a client or whatever it is, that's not an excuse for not doing it. So I've tried to live with that philosophy. It's literally on my background. I have like a cycle, of course, that cycles on my background of my computer. One of them is scared is not an excuse, because it is an easy excuse and it's not a real thing.

Speaker 1 30:28

Hmm, yep, yep, what is it? It's false evidence appearing real, or something. Oh yeah, that's how it goes. It's not a thing, there's no excuse, I agree. So you're basically saying just do it, do it anyway.

Speaker 2 30:45

Yeah, of course everyone's scared. It doesn't matter how confident you are. If you're walking into a new environment, everyone's going to be nervous or, you know, not feel completely comfortable. You're feeling to not unique or enough to stop you potentially changing your entire life.

Speaker 1 31:08

Absolutely, and I think that's one of the great things about Toastmasters you touched on earlier is seeing people who are absolutely so nervous to begin with come through the door, get up and do their first I don't know round robin for 20 seconds and then, be you know, months later be delivering speeches that they never thought they would be delivering, and that's. There's just so many instances of seeing people do that. I still love seeing that.

Speaker 2 31:39

Yeah, and I think everyone has had that person in the club that has been so terrified. And then they turn into, you know, they come out of their shell and it's the most wonderful transformation to see. I mean, oh, I would have been October-ish last year. He was texting and he said I'm going to come along to the meeting. And then he didn't show up and we're like, okay, and then we texted him after, or email, I don't know. We contacted, I texted him and said hey, you missed your last night or whatever, and never heard from him again. Never heard from.

Speaker 2 32:15

Didn't hear from him then for a couple of weeks and then the next meeting he turned up and came inside and introduced himself and all that, and then sat in the corner and we eventually found out that he had been there the previous meeting. He was out the front in his car and he was too scared to get out of his car. Yeah, yeah. So that was October. He joined in November and now he's like the life of the club. We couldn't imagine the club without him. He's just the brightest, most wonderful person and he's so thankful that he had the courage to finally get out of the car, like he was so scared and wasn't going to do it. Yeah, and he says like I'm so thankful that you kept messaging me and saying come to the next meeting, come to the next meeting.

Speaker 1 33:01

Yeah, and I think in every club.

Speaker 1 33:05

Absolutely, and I think as well that's an aspect of marketing that a lot of people in clubs and IPRs don't necessarily understand that process of just because someone didn't show up once Don't give up hope. They've applied. If they showed an interest, they there's. That, that plant seed of interest in their mind somehow and they really obviously want to come if they reached out in the first place. So the follow up is massively important and even until they say stop, I don't consider. I know we have conversations in in training, in the club officer training, about you know at what point do you stop contacting your follow up list? And it's like you don't until they stop. Until they ask you to stop, you keep contacting them because you never know how many contacts it's going to take to get someone over that edge, to get them through the front door. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 33:59

And to apply that directly to business. That's what you learn in those sorts of roles and they're the conversations that you have. And then in my business we message people and we're like, hey, you interested in this thing? And they ignore, or, and they ignore, and they ignore for months and months, and months, and then eventually, after eight months, they're like, all right, I'll have a conversation, and then they turn into some of the best clients that we've had. Yeah, absolutely, if we'd given up, we would have missed out, like a huge sale, yeah, yeah. And that's a direct application of those skills.

Speaker 1 34:33

Yeah, for sure. I mean, I'm doing marketing professionally and our audiences, whoever they are, are just so bombarded with hundreds of thousands of marketing messages every single day. So, again, unless someone asks you to stop physically contacting them unsubscribe me then you just keep going until you get a yes or a no thanks, and I think there's a tenacity in that. And I guess if clubs want to grow and I know a lot of clubs want to grow numbers we all want other people to see the benefits of Toastmasters. We need to keep encouraging people to come through the doors. Yeah, yeah, totally agree, okay, so we're just all giving it a go. So if you're listening and you're thinking about coming to Toastmasters, just don't be in your car. We will all welcome you with open arms any club you go to, and you'll definitely be made to feel welcome.

Speaker 2 35:40

We know how to deal with scared people.

Speaker 1 35:43

We were all scared people at one point. Now again with four weeks out before this conference, is where I'll start that again with four weeks out from this conference, what are you sort of thinking about life after the conference, because you've been thinking about this conference for a very long time. What's next after District 69 conference?

Speaker 2 36:14

Well, I've actually already accepted my role for next year.

Speaker 1 36:18

Of course you have, of course. What are you doing?

Speaker 2 36:21

Training manager for the districts. That's training the people who are in the leadership roles. I've been in those leadership roles now and that's the next thing I want to do is training manager at the next level, because I've been training club officers. So the next step is to start to train the club leaders and the district leaders Not club leaders, the district leaders, so area directors, division directors on how to manage that. One step higher level, excellent. That should be good fun and we're going to try and, yeah, do exactly the same things. How do we package knowledge, how do we put some of that stuff together that's never been put together before, using applicable marketing sales training, because now I because Toastmasters help my business and now my business can pay for world-class sales and marketing training. How do I then loop that back in and use that training for people to have access to some of the better training that's out there?

Speaker 1 37:38

Yeah, it's amazing. I mean Toastmasters. A Toastmasters membership, I feel is incredibly good value and considering the nature of the trainers, professional trainers and communications experts like yourself, bringing that back into the organization Again, you spend thousands and thousands of dollars out in the corporate world to get that exposure to those you know, to speakers who do this professionally. So I think that's another massive benefit of the organization is not only do we have experienced Toastmasters who have been doing it for years and years and years, but professional speakers who want to give back. I love that about the organization.

Speaker 2 38:23

Yeah, and the benefit for me personally there is if I had all this information and it's hard to absorb it all, but once I start to put that into my own words and start to put that into my own packages, I learn it better. Yes, so it's not 100% altruistic. It's, you know, for my benefit as well, yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1 38:51

I mean, of course, if we're spending a lot of time in a volunteer capacity, you sort of want to make it worth your while and it's like all right, what do I want to learn this year? What do I? You know what's my goals and how can I kind of give back, and I think, again, toastmasters provides so many opportunities to do that.

Speaker 2 39:14

Yeah, I think we sell it really poorly. We sell it as service, and service is all very nice. There has to be a gain personally from it as well.

Speaker 1 39:24

Yeah, for sure, for sure, I mean it's and I think, if you can, you use that training role to you know, to whether it's, I know, it's going to help your business and perhaps refining some of the ways you do things and you know, putting new skills into or refining, I guess, refining processes and how you know you do things. But from a can you, can you mark anything off? You know, can you take credits for pathways, projects and things like that? Is that part of it?

Speaker 2 40:00

Yeah, yeah, absolutely, because there's projects in there about like a communications plan or oh, I can't remember the names of them, but there's ones where you put like a plan together. There's all different types, like a PR plan and a maybe a vision.

Speaker 1 40:19

Oh, yes, yes, I've done that one, the vision communication one.

Speaker 2 40:22

Yeah, it keeps those bigger projects and taking on these roles allows you to yeah and gives you some guidance on these roles as well.

Speaker 1 40:31

Yeah, I, that's another thing about the education program and whether it was, you know, used to be in the book or is now online the amount of resources it gives you to do that. I mean, I started starting a podcast. I had I've done a lot of studying about how to start a podcast and I've been procrastinating a very long time about starting one. But I was very impressed with the information, the educational information in the Pathways program about how to do it and talked about what equipment you needed and how to plan it out and there was worksheets. And you know, for someone that had never done that or if you'd never sort of studied how, you know, podcasting worked, there are really substantial resources to help you, which I find great.

Speaker 2 41:20

Yeah, I have not looked at the podcast. I know the podcast project, but I've not looked at it in depth.

Speaker 1 41:26

That's really interesting. Yeah, well, I mean, given that you have had your own podcast, is your podcast? You still producing episodes for it, or you sort of? Is that no?

Speaker 2 41:36

no, I did a hundred episodes and that ended in 2021.

Speaker 1 41:40

Yeah.

Speaker 2 41:42

Which the Pathways podcast must have been out. When did we start 2019? Was it out? Yeah, surely it was by then.

Speaker 1 41:52

You just did it anyway.

Speaker 2 41:55

It was a well-known that back then. That's for sure.

Speaker 1 41:58

Yeah, and it's an elective, but I remember having completed one pathway and then when I moved on to my second, I remember I sort of decided to be pretty strategic and look ahead at some of those bigger projects and then work backwards, because the number of speeches I can spin off about a podcasting project has been very helpful in terms of preparing speeches. Yeah, definitely so. Yeah, but I mean it's great that that training role of yours will be able to again tick off some of the Toastmasters goals along the way. Sure, it's not all about ticking things off. Obviously it's about the experience and what you're doing, but if you can tick things off in this organization, we're in happy days.

Speaker 2 42:45

You have just made me think that I need to go and have a look at what I've got coming up and work backwards. That's a really good idea. I need to go and do that.

Speaker 1 42:54

Yeah, and that working backwards is a conversation I'm starting to have with New Toastmasters I'm mentoring as well only because I've recently done it and it's like, okay, think about, have a look at some of the big projects, think about what body of work you might want to create for work, or a portfolio, or if there's somewhere you want to get in your career, work backwards, because you'll find a path. You'll find the speeches that will support every bit of that. Level four, level five, project.

Speaker 2 43:25

Yeah, of course, that's a damn good idea. That's how I need to approach all my paths.

Speaker 1 43:30

Yeah, yeah, I'm only a little bit into my second pathway, but I remember a sort of rifling through all the various electives and going, what would I actually be interested in doing? Yeah, yeah, it was one of the catalysts for this podcast because I'm like, all right, the number of conversations that I'm still in corporate, I have delved in and out of running my own business and consulting and marketing consulting and the like. But a podcast is sort of something that hangs out there, especially if you're in marketing communications. They can just hang out there and go, yeah, I did that, yeah, and people get to know who you are. I mean, I've listened to quite a number of episodes of your podcast and before I started mine and, yeah, it was okay, great. I like the idea of doing interviews because you can bounce off people.

Speaker 2 44:35

Hopefully you listen to some of the later ones, not the early ones, because that was a learning curve.

Speaker 1 44:42

It is, it is, but it's great to listen to some of the early ones and then some of the later ones and you can massively see the improvement because you have a clue about what you're doing. Some episodes in the first few are just like yeah, I also find with with Toastmasters, because Toastmasters are actually so good at pausing that it can be really difficult at times to not interrupt, because it's like are you pausing or have you finished your sentence, More so than other speakers.

Speaker 2 45:15

Oh, so a point. I've not thought about that before, but that is a good point.

Speaker 1 45:20

So if it feels like I've interrupted, it's because of is that a pause?

Speaker 2 45:25

Because my pauses are excellent.

Speaker 1 45:26

They are excellent. I'm talking over your pauses. Shame on me. So, other than the training role that you're taking on, is any other goals for you for Toastmasters for the year, or is that going to keep you busy enough for?

Speaker 2 45:44

I think that's going to keep me pretty busy enough for a year, yeah, and then in the future, yeah, I don't know. Probably I always say I'm going to take a break this year and I don't, and I probably won't, and that's okay. That's just who I am. I've accepted that.

Speaker 1 46:01

Yeah, yeah, same, same. Next year was going to be my quiet year and I'm already thinking. There's a few things I'm now thinking. Maybe I should put my hand up for that. Yeah Well, we didn't come to Toastmasters to swan around, we came to push ourselves, and you know, push ourselves in different ways each year. So I may see you at some of your training next year. We'll just see, oh how very interesting, oh well. That's the girl that I know Okay.

Speaker 1 46:37

Yeah, you never know and yeah, I've been rethinking about all right, do you want to have a year off or not? So we'll see. So is there anything else that you'd like to share with us before we wrap up?

Speaker 2 46:52

Nothing specific. I think it's a great organisation. Obviously, I wouldn't have stayed so long if it wasn't. I think that the market is still definitely there for all ages. You know, we have 19 year olds in our club and we have oh gosh, what's Terry 80? He just turned 85. Oh wow, yeah, yeah, the market's there for the entire spectrum, the entire kind of professional spectrum as well. Yeah, I think it's a very worthwhile organisation.

Speaker 1 47:29

Awesome. Well, thank you so much for sharing you know, just some snippets of your last Toastmasters experience with us. What an inspiring journey it's been, and I'm once again very thankful that you tapped me on the shoulder and I've been able to spend more time getting to know you and the leading edge crew. So I wish you all the best for the District 69 conference, not long now.

Speaker 2 47:54

Thank, you and for you, for your actual contests.

Speaker 1 47:57

Oh yeah, thank you. Yeah, well, not quite a district yet, but we'll see. We'll know soon enough. All right, well, kate, thanks so much. Cheers to you. Thank you for having me. Thank you, yeah, now I'm going to try not to press, I'm just going to.