Sunday, October 18, 2020

How do you attract guests for your meetings, online?


Today, right from shopping of groceries to finding a bride or a groom happens online. The moment COVID-19 pandemic struck us, we the Toastmasters swiftly switched to online medium for our regular meetings, as online meetings offer a number of benefits to guests and members. However, club officers are finding it difficult to attract guests to their online club meetings. As the traditional ways of finding members for your club are not feasible in a world that is locked down and maintains social distance, there are alternate options to promote your club and it's meetings, online. This blog post captures the various options available for you to promote your club meetings, online. 

1. Quora - Quora is the most popular "Question & Answers" platform. Club officers can create or join groups where public speaking and leadership related topics are being discussed. They can respond to queries regarding communication / leadership skills development to demonstrate their expertise and to attract guests to their club. One wise VP Public Relations (VP PR), looked for questions such as "How to develop your communication skills in Chennai" and posted details of his club. This resulted in a steady inflow of guests to the club. 

2. Youtube - Now that most of the clubs meet online, it is easy to record the online meetings. Start a Youtube Channel for your club and regularly upload videos of prepared speeches, educational sessions, table topics speeches or evaluations. In fact, you can upload the entire meeting week-on-week and make it available for guests to watch it. If the guests like your meeting, there is a high chance that they'll show up for your online meeting. 

3. Facebook / Instagram / LinkedIn - Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn are powerful marketing tools. Facebook/LinkedIn allows you to create online groups or Pages. You can either create a Facebook Page (which is more open than a Facebook Group) or a LinkedIn Group for your members and guests. Instagram allows you to create a fan following. You can keep sharing updates related to your online meetings or accomplishments of your members (for ex., their educational milestones). You can even share some snippets of your regular meetings by publishing pictures or videos from your online meetings. This helps in increasing the engagement with the audience. 

4. Meetup.com - Meetup.com allows you to organise and share details of events in a specific locality. People go there to find out events happening in their locality. You can promote your club and club meetings, by creating events in Meetup.com. You can also establish a "membership" base for your club, online. Your Meetup.com members include people who would be interested to learn more about events organised by your club. Meetup.com subscription costs money. So, this is recommended for clubs that have some cash in hand for marketing. Meetup.com is for clubs that are serious about maximising the opportunity provided by the portal. Unless you post regular updates and conduct regular events, you'll be wasting your Meetup.com subscription. 

5. Whatsapp - Most clubs have a Whatsapp group for their members today. However, you can also create a separate Whatsapp group for guests. Add new guests to the group, with their consent. Keep sharing updates regarding your club meetings, various achievements of your club and it's members. Most importantly, when there is a contest, don't miss to promote your club contests in various forums including the Whatsapp group for guests. Make the Whatsapp group an "admin-only" communication group - to prevent spams or unwanted messages from the participants of the group.

6. Website - Though this is an outdated medium of online promotion, it still is a very reliable medium for attracting guests. Most content published in your website are static in nature and they are available for future reference. It also contains only important information such as contact information of club officers, address of the club, past newsletters of the club, blog posts and club's history/accomplishments. On the contrary, a Whatsapp group contains just transient information and may not serve as a repository of static information. When your website has a lot of rich and useful content, it shows up high in the search engine ranking and it attracts a lot of guests. 

7. Classified Listing - List your club details in Classified portals such as JustDial, Sulekha and Google Business. When someone is looking for a "Speakers club in Adyar" either through a Google Search or through a search in JustDial, your club details would show up. These portals ask for details such as phone number, email id and address. Ensure that you are sharing legitimate information in these portals. Also, you need to ensure that these details are kept up-to-date, when new club officers are sworn-in. Otherwise, the notifications or queries would go to a past club officer - who may not find time to stay in touch with the guests. Preferably, the email id listed in the classifieds portal should be a clubname@gmail.com or clubname@googlegroups.com, so that there is continuity when new officers takeover from the old officers. 

These are some of the online mediums where you can promote your club. You can still rely on traditional ways of finding members for your club. For example, publishing in local dailies regarding your online meetings would still have the desired effect. But, complimenting the traditional ways of promoting your club with online promotions will tremendously increase the inflow of guests to your club. This help you in taking the benefits of Toastmasters to a large number of people. 

Sunday, July 26, 2020

Pathways - Making Connections through Networking - Say “Hello”

Pathways - Making Connections through Networking - Say “Hello” (Dynamic Leadership Path / Level 3 / Project 3) 

Introduction

“Hello! Is this your first time to a Division event?”. 

“Yesss…. Yes Sir!”. 

“Btw., I’m John… President of Speakmasters club”.  He sounded as if he is the President of the United States. He extended his arm, his face brimming with confidence. 

With some hesitation, I extended my arm and said “I’m S..S..Saro”, trembling in fear like a chicken, with sweaty palms, my hand feeling like a dead fish. 

Have you ever been in a social gathering, feeling small like Alice in Wonderland? Well, I was like you, several years ago. 

Hello fellow Toastmasters and Guests,

During those days, I was an English introvert. If this is the first time you are hearing this term, don’t worry. I coined the term just 30 minutes before the meeting. “English Introvert” means… If I have to talk to someone in Tamil about my recent vacation, I would speak for hours. But, if I have to do the same in English, I’ll be spellbound. So, people who speak English, always used to think that I was an introvert.

Thanks to the various roles that I played at Toastmasters, I am no more an English introvert. Last December, I attended a conference in Chennai. It was a technology conference. Today, I am going to share some experiences from that event. 

Be the first

When I walked-in to the venue in the morning, I saw men and women in their professional attire. Most people were in groups ... busy talking to each other. There were no familiar faces. I spotted a lonely geek - dark complexion, wearing spectacles and looked like our Area Director Vicky. I approached him and said “Hello! I’m Saro”. He smiled, and said “Hi! I am Anand”. We shook our hands (Well! It was perfectly ok to shake hands, then)… and the conversation slowly branched into our work, common friends and technology trends. Thanks to the SAA role that I played in Toastmasters, I don’t hesitate to reach out first to someone. it relieves the pressure on you and helps you to hide your fears. It also makes you look confident. 

Don’t blow your trumpet

During the lunch break, I joined a small group of people. They were from various companies in Chennai and Bangalore. Most of the conversations were about the technology and industry. Suddenly, one guy barged into the group and interrupted the flow. A tall guy, in his mid 30s ... he resembled Actor Vishal. He started talking… “Hey guys! I am an entrepreneur. I did my MBA in XLRI MBA. I worked for some of the best companies like Microsoft and IBM. I earned a 7 figure income. Now, I am running my own company. We do business across the globe. We’ve several fortune 500 companies as our clients. We have such a cool product. Why our product is so different is... ”. He was talking non-stop and was trying to hog the conversation. He was trying to continuously promote himself, his company and his products. After 5 minutes, folks lost their interest and started to evaporate like vapour, one by one. Friends, when you start blowing your trumpet, the audience may not be interested to hear that tune very long. 

Don’t pretend that you know

We had some informative sessions throughout the day. It was almost evening, and there was a coffee break. While I was sipping my favorite black coffee, out of the blue, one young chap came to me and said “Hello Saro! Do you remember me? I’m your friend”. My mind immediately started processing the data “His face is not at all familiar… Where did I meet him? Verizon, Juniper, Cisco… NO… probably, he is my college junior … oh! No… he could be a Toastmaster”. My brain started spinning fast, trying to tap into all of the latest technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Cloud Computing. Nothing helped. Finally, I adopted DTM Lalitha Giridhar’s technique, ‘Hey hero! How are you? Long time no see…’. He smiled and said ‘No Saro! This is the first time we are meeting. I’m your Facebook friend”. I blushed and told him “You resemble my college junior Mahesh”.  Friends, during our networking conversations, we should not pretend that we know someone or something. We should be honest, to gain trust. It’s absolutely fine to admit and say, “Sorry! I don’t recollect where we met”... or “Sorry! I don’t know much about that”. When you pretend that you know, you lose people’s trust. 

Conclusion

Post the coffee break, we had a few tech talks and the conference ended at 5.30 pm. So, what do I want you to take away from my networking experience. I’m sharing my thoughts in the form of a poem. 

It’s easy, to say “Hello”

To break the ice and look wise…so,

Say Hello! Say Hello!


To make the conversations flow...

With a smile that makes you glow … 

Say Hello! Say Hello!


Hide your fears deep below ...

Be the first fellow… to ...

Say Hello! Say Hello!


Keep your trumpet, don’t blow… 

Don’t pretend that you know… Just

Say Hello! Say Hello


Saturday, June 20, 2020

10 benefits of online Toastmasters meetings

The world is brought to a grinding halt, by an invisible enemy, the Coronavirus/ COVID-19. Most corporates that embraced digital technologies have encouraged employees to work from home. Toastmasters isn't an exception. Our regular clubs have now switched to online meetings. Online Toastmasters meetings provide a number of opportunities to Toastmasters. The VP Membership and VP PRs of our clubs should be selling the benefits of online Toastmasters meetings to members and guests. In this blog post, I've tried to capture the benefits of Online Toastmasters meetings. 

1. You can conduct joint meetings with clubs across the globe. This will provide you access to an International audience for your / your club members' speeches. You can learn about different cultures and best practices from other geographies in the world. If you find an interesting speaker during your joint meetings, you can reach out to them offline and request them to be your mentor too. Online meetings provided me an opportunity to attend some of the clubs in USA, that I used to be a member of, before. It was a nice experience to meet some of my old Toastmasters friends, online. 

2. If you are part of a community club, you are saving on the commute time. If you are attending a 2 hours community club meeting, normally you would spend at least 1 hour on the to/fro commute. With the online meetings, you can save that 1 hour of time spent on commute. In the past,  even if members had spare time during the night, they may not be able to conduct a 8 - 10 pm Toastmasters meeting. But now, most people are at home and it is convenient to conduct a 8 - 10 pm online Toastmasters meeting (or a 7 - 9 am online meeting). Corporate members, in the past, had to catch their return bus to home by 6 pm... and it was so difficult to conduct a in-person meeting between 5 - 6 pm. Now, that challenge isn't there. The corporate club members have the flexibility to change their meeting time, outside of their working hours too. 

3. Corporate clubs can conduct joint club meetings with other corporate clubs (or community clubs). This would provide more learning opportunities. It also adds to the variety of the speeches. 

4. Bringing an Educational Speaker to your online club meeting is relatively easy, when compared to in-person meetings. You don't have to arrange for their pickups/dropoffs, you don't have to give a memento to them, you don't have to plan for their refreshments, you don't have to escort them to the meeting place. Lots of administrative overhead for the organizers is gone. You don't have to be confined to a few select local speakers for educational sessions - you can pick from array of speakers from across the globe. 

5. Mentoring becomes easier, when done online. For example, in the last few months, several mentees of mine have rehearsed their speeches online with me... before they delivered the speeches at their club. This is easier to do for both mentors as well as mentees. You can also tap into a pool of mentors from across the globe or from outside of your club. Your mentor can also now join your club meeting online and review/share feedback about your live performance. 

6. Most communication in corporate world happens through online channels - especially, in medium / large sized corporations. Employees of corporates were used to joining webinars, tech talks, status review meetings etc., online. COVID presents an opportunity for us to experiment with our online speaking skills and polish them. For example, things like - looking into the camera and speaking, using the right hand gestures, having appropriate light settings, using powerpoint materials, using the online meeting tools, engaging the audience through online polls, asking the audience to respond to questions in chat window... these are some techniques that you can experiment and learn during your online Toastmasters meetings. It is easy to lose your audience in an online forum and very difficult to keep them engaged. Mastering the online speaking skills will help you at your workplace, when you are making professional speeches. Moreover, in the past, when someone has to deliver a speech with powerpoint, the organizers/members would have to run from pillar to post to get a room with a projector. But now, with online meetings, using a powerpoint presentation in your speech is a cake walk. You can also experiment with Pecha Kucha type presentations during your club meetings, to make it more fun and exciting. 

7. Corporate clubs can use this opportunity, to bring some senior leaders as speakers to their club meeting. You can let the senior leader to address the audience on "how they are maintaining work life balance in COVID work-from-home situation"? "how are they maintaining their health/fitness", "how are they dealing with stress", "how have they re-prioritized activities in personal/professional life"... etc., When you involve senior leadership team, it helps you to highlight the benefits of Toastmasters meetings during this crisis situation... and in-turn helps you to secure/retain the corporate funding to Toastmasters. You'll also get to learn from senior leaders on how to manage crisis. Community clubs can do the same, by bringing senior leaders from the community. For ex., the community club that I'm part of (Chennai Speakers Forum) recently brought Mr. Nambi Narayanan, a renowned Indian scientist and aerospace engineer, to one of our online club meetings. This would add to the variety in your online meetings. 

8. Online meetings are easy to record/replay, when compared to in-person meetings. You can review your performance at the club, offline and identify scope for improvements. You can also share your speech video with your mentor to get feedback. You can watch the performance of other speakers and learn some tips/techniques from their style. 

9. If you have accidentally joined a Toastmasters meeting which is not very interesting or doesn't meet your expectations, you can drop off from the online meeting easily :) It is very difficult to do that in an in-person meeting. 

10. Last but not the least, the lockdowns restrict your mobility and adds to your stress. Toastmasters meetings provide you a fun-filled learning environment where you can destress yourself, make new friends and at the same time learn from others.

If you can think of other benefits due to online meetings, please drop them as a comment in this blogpost. I'll include them to the list.  

Sunday, May 10, 2020

Pathways - Inspire your Audience - Ctrl-x | Ctrl-c | Ctrl-v

Pathways - Inspire your Audience -  Ctrl-x | Ctrl-c | Ctrl-v (Dynamic Leadership Path / Level 3 / Project 2)

Introduction:

What if I get the virus? 

What if companies start to layoff employees? 

What if my investments lose their value? 

When our government announced a 3 weeks lockdown on the 24th of March, fear engulfed me... like a hungry shark eating a human prey. 

Good evening fellow Toastmasters and guests,

Did the lockdown make YOU more fearful about the future? You are not alone. The more I thought about my future, the more fearful I became. 

Seeking Knowledge:

A famous author once said “Fear is incomplete knowledge”. So, I started seeking knowledge from the news media, to overcome my fear. As days progressed, there was a 200% jump in the time that I was spending in gobbling all the news - Newspaper... TV... Whatsapp... Facebook…. I was consuming news as if I was going to write a competitive exam on Coronavirus. As I consumed more news, I became more fearful. Do you agree with me… that the news media spreads more fear than hope?

At one point, I felt… “Wouldn’t it be cool, if there was an option to type Ctrl-Z on our keyboard, and we could all go back to the pre-Corona days?”. Unfortunately, we cannot undo what happened. 

Visiting Market:

Days became weeks. Two weeks into the lockdown, I had been to the local market. I saw Rani there. Rani, a woman in her mid-30s used to be our domestic helper, a few years back. I had not seen her in a while. 

I was happy to see her after a long time. Rani was standing there, with a large bag full of vegetables. It appeared as-if she was shopping for an entire community. I waved my hands at her. When she saw me, she started walking towards me. I was not sure how she was managing the lockdown. I asked her “How are you Rani?”. She smiled and said “I am doing great Sir”. I asked her out of curiosity, “Who is this for?”... pointing at the large bag full of vegetables. She said “Sir. I’m buying this for myself”. I was surprised even more. 

Story of the maid:

Rani narrated “Sir! When they announced the lockdown, I was afraid. My husband, and I, being daily wage earners, could not go to work and we were stuck at home. We were clueless about how to make our ends meet. Our savings vanished in the first week itself, like a drop in an ocean. I didn’t know what to do. I was not sure where my next meal would come from. But, I was hopeful. I know, if God closes one door, he’ll open another for us. One day, when I stepped out of my home, I noticed a few bachelors from a hostel nearby, picking up their food from a food delivery person. I asked them, isn’t the hostel preparing food for you guys? They said they don’t have anyone to cook food and hence, they are ordering it from outside restaurants. I asked them how much they are spending for their meal. They said they are spending Rs.200 (which is roughly 3$s) every day for 3 meals. Immediately a light bulb went on in my head. I made a deal with them. I told them that  I’ll prepare healthy meals for them for half that cost. They liked the deal and agreed. Since then, I’ve been cooking meals for nearly 10 people staying in that hostel. My husband and I are now able to eat three meals a day. Not only that, we also make a Rs.100 profit everyday”. Rani’s face brimmed with confidence. She was in a hurry to leave, as she had to go home and prepare lunch.

Lessons from the maid’s story:

I stood there for a few seconds, pondering over what Rani shared.

If someone had to be more fearful in this world, it should be Rani, trying to survive the lockdown without having any money in her hand… without knowing where her next meal would come from… but, she removed fear, and replaced it with hope. Hope manifested into actions. Actions produced results. 

Incorporating the inspiration:

When God closes one door, he opens another. But, if you keep staring at the closed door, you’ll NOT notice the doors that are open. I was ashamed of myself. I was expecting hope from Television channels, Newspapers and Whatsapp forwards. But, I realized later that the media spreads more fear than hope. I realized, you cannot change what already happened, but you can change how you respond. 

On that day, I pledged to remove fear by doing a Ctrl-x and replace it with hope, by doing a Ctrl-c and Ctrl-v.

Instead of worrying about the virus, the economy and the job losses, I hoped that things will come back to normalcy soon. I started focusing on things that are in my control. 

I diversified some of my investments to minimize the risk of losing them all

I completely stopped watching TV… and cut down on my Whatsapp / Facebook time. I used the spare time to write a book, which I had always wanted to write. In the last 4 weeks, I’ve completed writing 50% of the book. I hope to finish writing the book soon and publish once the lockdown is over. 

Conclusion:

Dear Toastmasters,

When you sow fear … fear grows.

When you sow hope … hope manifests into actions and actions produce results.

Remove the fear of getting caught by the virus, replace it with the hope of living a long healthy life… maintain hygiene, eat good food and do simple workouts. 

Remove the fear of losing your job, replace it with the hope of building a lasting career. Work hard… deliver your best and learn new things.

Remember…in life, when the future is uncertain and bleak, do a Ctrl-x on the fear, and do a Ctrl-c/Ctrl-v on the hope … Will you?


Saturday, March 28, 2020

Mentoring in Toastmasters - Frequently Asked Questions

This is the list of questions that I received for one of the online webinars that I did on Mentoring. Disclaimer: Some questions given here are not related to mentoring.
  • How to find a mentor?
You can reach out to the VP Education of your club, if you would like to get a mentor. Alternatively, you can look for people whom you think can guide you to better achieve your learning objectives in Toastmasters. You can reach out directly to them and request them to be your mentor.  It is recommended to have the mentor in the same club where you are a member. It will help them to monitor your progress/performance closely and share feedback. However, in today's world where everyone is digitally connected, it is not a mandatory criteria. 
  • How do I identify a suitable mentee?
You can reach out to the VP Education of your club and he/she can assign a suitable mentee to you. If you are starting your mentoring journey, it is recommended to pick someone who is starting their Toastmasters journey - probably, a new member in your club. You can help them to understand the Toastmasters program and in preparing for their speeches/roles at the club. 
  • Can a mentor be a mentee at the same time ?
Yes. For example, you can mentor someone for their Level 1 speeches, while you may get mentored by your mentor for humorously speaking.
  • How does one set out the objective of the Mentoring with the Mentee? What type of objectives would there be?
The objectives that you set for your mentee is dependant on what they would like to achieve in Toastmasters (or, based on the areas where they would need help from you). Typically, objectives would look like the following:

1. Completion of Competent Communicator or Level 1 path by end of this year (or) 
2. I want to develop my voice modulation 
3. I want to be become better at delivering "impromptu speeches"

Based on these high-level objectives, you should jointly work out detailed sub-objectives/sub-goals. For example, if your mentee wants to be become better at delivering "impromptu speeches"
1. Participate in Table Topics Session regularly
2. Participate in Table Topics Contest
3. Write a short stories catalogue which would be handy when you are on the stage. 

Agree on timelines when you would meet again to review the progress. You can regularly assess their progress against the objectives and share feedback. 
  • Several folks reach out to mentor only during the contest. What is your thought on that?
Dananjaya Hettiarachchi once said "If you want to be a World Champion of Public Speaking, every speech of yours should be a world championship speech". I would strongly urge mentees to get help from their mentors for every speech and for every role in Toastmasters It will help them accelerate their learning.
  • Other than just reviewing speech scripts, in what other ways can a Mentor add value to the Mentee?
  • How do you add value as a mentor?
Toastmasters mentoring process begins with mentoring a new member for their speeches and for performing various roles at the club meetings. Unlike coaching, mentoring is a long lasting relationship. You can add value as a mentor by encouraging your mentees to push their limits - and help them discover their hidden potential. For example, you can encourage them to participate in contests or sign up for club-level/district level leadership roles. You can also add value as a mentor by helping your mentee excel in their professional career - in addition to excelling in Toastmasters.  
  • What are the qualities of good leaders and mentors?
  • What are the traits of a good mentor?
One of the dimensions of leadership is mentoring. Some of the qualities in a good mentor are:
     1. Sensitive to the needs of their protege. Shows maturity and has a broad mind - doesn't fight / argue for petty things.  
     2. Patience in listening to their protege's view points and the difference in perspectives. 
     3. Available to their protege - especially, to guide them with their Toastmasters journey
     4. Treats the protege with Respect
     5. Possesses Knowledge/skills to help the protege

As a mentor, you should possess qualities that IGNITE the SPARK in your mentees. 
  • Difference between toastmaster under guidance of mentor and without mentor ??

  • Having a mentor vs not having a mentor in Toastmasters is like driving your car in a new city with the Google map vs. without the Google map.  A mentor would accelerate your learning and shorten the time it takes you to acquire a new skill. A mentor would guide you to take the most optimal path to reach your goal / objectives (destination!). A mentor would give you feedback to course correct, if you are traversing the wrong path. You would be missing these benefits, if you are not having a mentor. 

  • Can one self mentor and not reach out to anyone?
  • Your take on folks, who choose to call themselves as "self mentored"?
"Self mentoring" shows arrogance and ego. Even the World Champions of Public Speaking gets mentored by someone. Folks who call themselves as "Self Mentored" are losing an excellent opportunity to learn from others.
  • How do we keep members motivated for consistent participation, not just for the sake of club growth but for themselves.
Members leave a club because
- they are not learning (i.e., the club is not providing enough learning opportunities to them) or 
- they are not finding enough value in the membership (i.e., it is not worth the money / time they invest in the Toastmasters program). 

However, members who leave the club will not explicitly say this. Probably, they are saying "I couldn't find time for Toastmasters" - which means, they are not able to prioritise Toastmasters program in their life. 

When a club (especially, the VP Education) provides a personal attention to each of its members, understand their needs and help them by providing learning opportunities, the participation of members would increase dramatically. Assigning a mentor who inspires the member would also help the member to improve their participation.
  • How to figure out what is best for you while delivering a speech?
I don't understand this question. If you are wondering how to pick the right speech topic, you can refer to my blog https://toastmasters.saroscorner.com/2012/10/how-do-you-pick-right-speech-topic.html
  • How is coaching and mentoring different?
  • How to know that you are shifting from being mentor to coach in the process? And how to stop your self in that situation.
  • In many cases, mentees expect to be coached rather than mentored. Where does a mentor make the distinction?
Mentoring is a long lasting relationship, while coaching is time-bound and is for addressing a specific problem / skill gap. In mentoring, the mentee asks questions and the mentor provides answers based on their experience/knowledge/skills. In coaching, the coach probes the coachee to help him/her discover answers/solutions to their problems. 

I feel that the boundaries between a mentor and a coach aren't very distinct. So, if your intention is to help your mentee, don't worry about whether you are playing the role of a mentor or a coach.   There are situations in Toastmasters where being a mentor helps - for ex., reviewing speech scripts, preparing a mentee for a club meeting role etc., However, there are situations where being a coach would help - for ex., when the mentee is playing a leadership role and has a conflict with someone in their team. The techniques that you might've used when you ran into a similar crisis wouldn't help your mentee. So, probing them to discover options / alternatives that they can try on their own would help.  

Shifting from one mode to another isn't an issue, as far as your intention is to genuinely help them.
  • Your blog is a great source for information for any toastmaster, did writing blogs helped you in your professional life?
I'm glad that you liked my blog. Yes! Writing blogs indeed helped me in my professional life too. I'm working in the software industry and I get the task of writing software requirements document, functional / design specifications and user guides / software release documentation. Writing blogs helped me to organize my thoughts and present information in a very clear, structured and crisp manner. At work, I became the most sought after person for writing customer facing release note documentation and user guides. Being multi-faceted helped me to grow fast in my career. 
  • Should mentor be a good speaker?
A mentor brings both knowledge and experience. Knowledge can be acquired by learning, but experience can be achieved only by doing. If your job as a mentor is to help new members get familiarized with the Toastmasters roles & responsibilities, the program structure and with the initial few speeches, you don't have to be a good speaker. Having knowledge on speaking itself would do. However, if you have to mentor someone with their advance speaking journey - especially in developing their delivery skills such as voice modulation, eye contact, stage usage, facial expressions - you've to be a good speaker. So, you need to have the experience of delivering good speeches to mentor someone in the speaking journey. 

Alternatively, if you are mentoring someone on writing blogs or in preparing for a technical certification, you don't have to be a great "public" speaker. However, being a good communicator always helps you to be a good mentor. An average speaker informs, a good speaker communicates and a great speaker inspires. If you want to be a mentor who inspires his/her mentees, you've to be a great speaker. 
  • Do you think that the mentor should necessarily be an all-rounder to be effective? How can a not-so-all rounder mentor aid in developing a great Toastmaster?
The mentor need not be an all rounder. In fact, no one can be an allrounder. However, the mentor should be someone who is also striving to improve, trying to learn regularly, and widening their circle of influence. For example, I am not an expert in humorous speaking. When my mentees come to me for humorous speech reviews, I guide them to other speakers / mentors who are good at that.  
  • How to mange our time because before mentoring we should know how to handle?
Allocating a fixed time for mentoring, helps you to manage your schedule effectively. For example, I use the early morning time to review speech scripts or speech videos to provide feedback. I take calls from my mentees during my commute time in the evening. 
  • How do you choose your pathway?
The best way to chose your learning path / pathways program is to go through the online questionnaire provided by Toastmasters International. However, if you are someone who is just starting your Toastmasters journey and if you have joined Toastmasters to learn communication skills, I would recommend you to start with Presentation Mastery program.

  • Sometimes mentees are preparing the speech and delivering it on their own(mostly because of VPE forcing them to give speech or their urge to complete the level). how to make the mentees realise the importance of mentoring?
If this happens rarely it is ok. However, if it is consistently happening, you can even have a word with the VPE. As a best practice recommend our mentee to start working on their next speech, as soon as they finish delivering a speech. This would give ample time to both of you.

  • What can you do if your mentee is not ready to listen to you or listens to you but doesn't seem to put what he has learnt into practice?
  • How to mentor a member if the member is not showing interest to learn from mentor?
  • What if in a mentor mentee relationship the mentee does not show much interest in seeking help for educational development. How does the mentor handle such a situation?
You can have an open conversation with the member to understand their needs/objectives. Identify areas where they would need help and how you can help them. If you don't find an alignment of your skills/experiences with the member's needs, you can help them find an alternative mentor. 

I've seen instances where the mentor is not disciplined enough to respond to mentee's calls or speech script review requests. If this continues for a while, the mentee naturally loses interest in continuing the mentor-mentee relationship. 

There may be instances where your mentee would need help in areas where you may not be an expert. During such instances, refer them to the right expert for help. For ex., if your mentee needs help with humorous speeches and if you are not a humorous person, you can recommend them to get help from a mentor who is good in humor. 

Staying in regular touch with the mentee would help them in sustaining their interest with both the Toastmasters program and in the mentoring process. Create a proper structure for the mentoring process - work with your mentee to jot down their goals/objectives and timelines for achieving their goals, schedule your sync-up meetings, properly follow through action items, help your mentees when they are stuck, keep them motivated regularly by appreciating their achievements.

At the end of the mentoring process helps you to develop your persuasion skills. Imagine that you are trying to convince a customer to buy your product or service and it is a million dollar deal. Would you try once and just give up.. or would you try different ways of convincing the customer. Wouldn't you ask the customer, "what is their expectations from the product or service, for them to make a purchase decision". Assume that your mentee is your customer and your perspective would completely change. You may find creative ways of persuading your mentee.

Also, read the response to "How to establish trust with the mentees?" question and follow those suggestions. 
  • How to establish trust with the mentees?
  • How do we maintain and sustain emotional bond between the mentor and mentee..these sometimes get into problems
It's hard. It comes with practice. The core area to focus is "establishing trust". You can establish trust with your mentees by doing some of the following:
1. Genuinely show interest in helping them to develop and improve
2. Periodically appreciate their performance and motivate them to aim high
3. Keep secrets as secrets 
4. Do not back bite... share honest/open feedback with your mentee, directly to him/her
5. Review their speech scripts promptly and share feedback. If you couldn't review due to some constraints tell them in advance... and preferably recommend them to get help from another mentor. Or, better yet... arrange a different mentor yourself.
6. Help them when they run into a difficult problem / situation.
7. Agree upon a fixed time for your regular sync-ups
8. Keep up the promises

  • There was this one time when a mentee said that the mentor doesn't ask him to give his next speech.Is it then job of the mentor to push the mentee to come forward or the mentee's job to approach the mentor?
No. It is not the job of a mentor to periodically remind the mentees about things that they should be doing on their own. Mentor is just an enabler, and not a driver. However, an occasional nudge always helps. For example, if the mentee hasn't delivered speeches in a long time, you can ask them "Hey! It has been a while since I heard your speech. When are you delivering your next speech?"
  • What is the purpose of pathways mentor program?
Pathways mentor program provides a structure for helping you to discover and develop your mentoring skills. The program involves completing 4 assignments:
     1. Completing the Level 2 "Introduction to Toastmasters Mentoring" project
     2. Complete a self-assessment to check your readiness for being a mentor by completing the "Prepare to Mentor" form
     3. Mentor a person from your club with their project (a speech or role in the club meeting)
     4. Mentor someone in Toastmasters (or outside) for a period of six months. 

At the end of completing the Pathways mentor program, you get a certificate from Toastmasters International.
  • How to keep motivation on toastmaster club high during these tougher days?
COVID-19 has impacted the world, in ways that you could not imagine. The easiest thing to do for the club leadership team is to cancel the club meetings. However, that would not help members to sustain their interest in the Toastmasters program. Many enthusiastic clubs have leveraged technology to continue their club meetings, by taking the meetings online. I recommend the clubs to conduct their meetings online, to keep the members motivated during this period. 
  • Does age matter for mentoring?
No. But, experience/knowledge/skills do matter for mentoring. 
  • Benefits of toastmasters received towards career
Toastmasters directly helps members to build a successful career. For example, we've 3 distinct sections in any Toastmaster meetings - the prepared speech, the table topics and the evaluation sections.
1. Prepared speeches help you acquire skills that enables to you deliver effective presentations at workplace, in front of clients and team members
2. Table Topics speeches helps you to acquire skills that you can use to organize your thoughts and express yourself effectively. This skill will be very useful when a customer asks you a question in a conference call "Why is the quality of this release bad?"? Table Topics skills can also help you when you are facing interviews. I look at interviews as a series of Table Topics questions.
3. Evaluations help you to develop skills to provide constructive feedback to your team members at work. We do activities such as functional specification reviews, code reviews and even performance reviews of our team members regularly. Being a Toastmaster, your feedback will always be Constructive, Relevant, Motivating, Specific and Personal to the person receiving the feedback.
  • How does one know it's time to move on to another mentor?
  • How do we know if we are plugged with the right mentor if not what should we do
When your mentor is consistently not available, lacks capability in the area where you want to develop skills or not showing genuine interest to help you, it's time for you to move on to another mentor.  
  • How do you deal with a mentee who believes you are not as good as they are or has an ego problem to being coached
I don't know how you landed up to be the mentor for that person - if he/she has an ego problem of being coached. If it is like an arranged marriage done by the VP Education, talk to the VP Education and ask him/her to reassign the mentee to some-other mentor. It is not worth wasting your energy in trying to change their perspective on you. 

However, it is an opportunity for your self-introspection. Ask yourself, why is Mr.X or Ms.Y, not looking up to you. Probably, they are not sharing their contest scripts with you for review because they think you have neither participated in contests nor done the role of a judge. When you establish your worth by demonstrating your skills - either by participating in contests, or by conducting educational sessions on acing the contests, or by doing contest judge role ... you can earn their trust. Along the way, you would've also acquired new skills, that you can be proud of. 
  • How to mentor a senior Member in a corporate club who is higher in position in corporate ladder?
When you are mentoring a senior member in corporate world, Keep your ego away and be humble all the times. During your first meeting / interaction, tell your mentee "I'm privileged to mentor you. I look up to you in the professional world. Hopefully, I can also learn from you on leadership skills that will help me in my corporate career". These statements will ensure that "ego" is out of the equation. Regularly, appreciate them for all of their achievements / milestones in Toastmasters. 

While giving feedback ensure that you are constructive and sincere. Refer to CRISP evaluations on how to share feedback, effectively. 
  • How to make online toastmaster meeting effective?
  • What are your suggestions for conducting a successful online webinar? Its challenges and benefits compared to an in person conference?
Online webinars are equally challenging when compared to in-person conference. In addition to remembering the content and focusing on the delivery, you'll have to also handle "technology". 

- Be prepared for things to go wrong - for ex., the laptop may freeze, your Internet may go down, your mike or speakers may stop working. Have sufficient backups identified and keep them ready. 
- Keeping audience engaged in an online webinar is always a challenge. In an in-person meeting, they don't have an option other than listening to you. However, in an online webinar, audience can get distracted with their pop-ups / beeps from their messengers / emails etc., As a speaker, you'll have to keep your content crisp, run polls, ask questions to the audience to keep them engaged. 
- Ensure that you are regularly repeating your key points throughout your presentation, as the audience might've momentarily moved out to take a phone call or a bio break in-between. 
- It is always recommended to dial from a phone, as opposed to taking the call from a computer speaker/mike. The quality of the voice over Internet will fluctuate based on the available bandwidth. However, in a traditional phone call, the voice quality is always constant and good. 
- Online meetings help you to save time, as members don't have to spend a lot of time in getting ready for the meeting and driving to the meeting place. However, online meetings do not provide opportunity to members to network with each other. 
  • How to encourage, some time mentee is not wanting more
- Highlight their key achievements in the journey so far. 
- Tell them the benefits of having stretched goals and aiming high. Tell them stories / examples of Toastmasters who aimed high and achieved more in their professional life
- Be a role model to them, by continuously challenging yourself with more complex roles/responsibilities in Toastmasters
  • Why do some of the mentors become obsolete with time.
There is a famous quote - “Five years from now, you're the same person except for the people you've met and the books you've read.”. If mentors don't keep them up-to-date with the latest technologies, tools and processes, they become outdated. For example, if you want to mentor someone today, you'll have to familiarize yourself with the Pathways program - for which, you need to enroll in the Pathways program and go through that experience, yourself. 
  • As a mentor how can we ensure our mentee is getting what he/she is expected ? Like What regular checks we can do as Mentor ?
During your regular sync-ups, you can ask your mentee feedback about his/her mentorship journey. You can identify specific action items based on the feedback and track progress regularly. If your mentee hasn't reached out to you in a while, there is no harm in dropping a "Hi! How are you" message to them. It is always good to identify your mentee's goals/aspirations/objectives in advance. Once you have an understanding of their goals, make them identify interim milestones with specific timelines. This will help you to regularly check with them on the progress they've made against their own goals and plans. 
  • What do you do to constantly challenge your underlying beliefs and assumptions?
I believe in "Change Small! Change Often” I have the habit of reading new books regularly. I allocate at least 30 minutes a day to learn new things. Reading helps me to develop newer perspectives on topics that I am already familiar with. For example, though leadership is a time tested concept and I might've already read a dozen books on leadership a decade ago... I continue to read newer books on leadership. Leadership skills needed in a manufacturing world, is very different from the leadership skills needed in a digital world. So, it is very important to regularly read books to challenge your beliefs and assumptions.  

Also, I continuously learn new things and new perspectives from my mentees and from my social circle. Attending meet-ups, events and conferences will help you to widen your social circle and develop newer perspectives.
  • How can we gain the most learnings from our mentors?
You can get the most learnings from your mentor, by clearly communicating your expectations/goals to the mentor and by periodically staying in touch with them. Ensure that you are getting in touch with them before doing any role in Toastmasters. Actively, seek feedback from your mentor after performing the role and incorporate the feedback.
  • What is your message to budding toastmasters?
Follow the 3Rs - Be Regular to the meetings, Do Research (by reading manuals or referring to online materials) before doing any role and Rehearse adequately before performing the role in Toastmasters. Read my blog 3Rs of a Successful Toastmaster for more tips.
  • Is this helpful in the field of advertising!?
Yes. Toastmasters program teaches you to brand yourself and also to brand your organization in the community. Sign-up to be a VP Public Relations and you'll learn techniques to brand yourself and your organization in the community.
  • How has your mentoring styled evolved over the years?
Some notice-able aspects of my mentoring that has changed over the years are:

- During the initial days, I used to spend hours and hours to modify my mentee's scripts. At the end of the marathon review and edits, the speech script would look like "my script". I would've totally altered the style of the speech. Having evolved as a mentor, today I help my mentees discover their own style, as opposed to imposing my style on them. 
- In the past, I used to do a lot of in-person rehearsals with my mentees. Today, with technology, my mentees record a video at their home and send me via Whatsapp. I review it offline and provide feedback. 
- I have developed more patience and listening skills, by being a mentor for several Toastmasters for over a decade. I let the mentees talk more and I listen more.
- I don't try to enforce my view points on them. I broaden my perspective my listening to their view points. Instead of giving them a specific solution, I help them discover solutions on their own and make them come up with an action plan.  
  • I am scared that sometimes, when I mentor some mentees, some of my styles will go to that speaker and they might lose the originality. so how can we handle those situation
1. Mentoring isn't cloning, it is creating. Whenever you are sharing feedback with your mentees - either for their content or for their speaking style or for their leadership journey, be conscious that the objective is not to make them sound like you on the stage (or) make them do what you do. When you are conscious about this, you'll naturally discover THEIR style and polish it.... instead of pushing your style on them. 

2. While reviewing speech scripts, I try to edit the scripts to show them, 'how differently certain thoughts/ideas can be presented'. I give them multiple options... or multiple ways of expressing an idea. 

3. At the end of the day, you'll also have to continuously develop yourself, so that you reach a stage, where you are able to suggest multiple techniques / multiple delivery styles or multiple ways of solving a problem/challenge to your mentee. 
  • How do you enlist volunteers for mentoring?
You cannot force someone to be a mentor. However, you can inspire members to sign up to be a mentor. Training and imparting knowledge on mentoring to more members will help you to mobilise more volunteers for mentoring. When you are looking for mentors, don't restrict to just your club, try to find mentors from outside your club too. 
  • How do you know when it's the right time to become a mentor?
There is no perfect time to be a mentor. However, in India, Toastmasters follow some guideline, which I think are apt. In the traditional program, someone who has completed 6 projects in their Competent Communication manual and someone who has played all the club meeting roles are qualified to be a mentor. In the new Pathways program, someone who has completed their Level 2 in Pathways and played the various meeting roles in the club, would be qualified to be a mentor for a new Toastmaster. 
  • Mentoring in critical times
When you are mentoring someone during critical times, you should completely understand the situation / experience that they are going through. For example, I was mentoring a Toastmaster who had lost his job recently and he was trying to get back to work. In addition to helping the Toastmaster with his Toastmasters speeches and roles, I also referred him to job opportunities that I know of. There were instances where I was able to help them with polishing their resumes and even conduct mock interviews. I'm not recommending all mentors to do these things (especially, when you don't have the skill to help them with mock interviews or polishing their resume). However, a small act of kindness from you will go a long way in building a strong relationship with your mentees. 

I know of mentees who separate their Toastmasters career from their professional career/personal life. It will not be appropriate for me to peek my nose into their professional/personal life - unless they bring the topic on their own. 
  • What kind of change do you see in the way business operates post the current global crisis?
Businesses will embrace more technology to do the day to day work. Now that most employees are comfortable in working remotely and trained to use collaborative tools such as Zoom, Webex and GoToMeeting, remote working will gain more traction. 

In all the previous crises, we moved work from one (impacted) geography to another (non-impacted) geography to ensure business continuity. However, in this crisis, the entire world is impacted. So, it is not possible to move work from an impacted geography to a non-impacted geography. So, executives will focus on creating more infrastructure for remote working and collaboration among team members. There will be lesser travel across continents and countries and employees would be encouraged to use collaboration tools. 
  • What are key for Club Mentoring ?
I'm sharing this based on my first experience in being a mentor for a Toastmasters club. In my urge to help the club, I ended up doing all the speech evaluations myself. Slowly, they dumped the General Evaluator role also on me. Eventually, I started doing the Timer, AH Counter and Grammarian roles too. All they did was delivering speeches. I made them very irresponsible and they slowly started losing interest on the Toastmasters program. I realized later, that, as a Club Mentor, your job is to train the club officers and members to effectively do their roles. Here are some key tasks to be done as a Club mentor:
- Ensure that the club officers are trained by the district officers on their roles and responsibilities (encourage the club officers to attend the district sponsored Offices Training Program)
- Develop a Club Success Plan (if required and if appropriate, make the Club officers complete the moments of truth exercise with their club members)
- Persuade the club officers to assign a mentor for each of the club members - either from within the club or from outside. 
- Help the club officers find mentors from the community
- Work with the club officers in identifying specific challenges and help them come up with a solution.
- Periodically review the club's progress against the Distinguished Club Program (DCP) goals.
  • How one can become better as a mentor?
You can be a better mentor by continuously learning and acquiring new skills.  Also, the more people that you mentor, the better you'll become. You are indirectly learning from each of your mentees. 
  • What is tough to mentor and get mentored
Both are equally tough :)
  • How often and how deeply should you be involved in a mentees individual speech?
For a novice Toastmaster, I try to edit their speech scripts to show them how they can improve their introduction and make it more interesting / engaging.

For an advanced Toastmaster, I give them the feedback and make them do the changes on their own. There are instances where there will be multiple edits and multiple back 'n forths. There are instances where I've said "Looks perfect!" in the first iteration itself. 

Your involvement in your mentee's speech should be dependant on your mentee's knowledge/experience level, project complexity and based on your mentee's expectations. 
  • What is the most effective way to mentor, in your opinion?
  • How can mentoring be made effective both for mentor and mentee?
A mentee should clearly spell out his/her expectations and goals to the mentor. 
A mentor should provide timely and constructive feedback to the mentee. 

In addition, you can agree upon a fixed schedule / time for your regular interactions. Both the mentor/mentee should value each other's time and make the conversations crisp.

All of these will help in making the mentoring process very effective. 
  • What inspires you on a daily basis?
When you have a well-defined "goals program" you get automatically inspired every day. Identify your personal/professional/social goals and incorporate actions towards those goals in your everyday life. That will inspire you everyday.

In Abdul Kalam's words "Dream is not what you see in sleep. Dream is the thing that doesn't let you sleep".  
  • What things you keep in mind before giving advice to your mentee?
Ensure that you are giving advice in a constructive tone (similar to how we give feedback during evaluations)
Don't just give them one option - give them multiple options and encourage them to pick one. Better yet, help them discover the options on their own. 
Instead of telling them "what not to do", help them understand "what to do"
  • What are my top 3 responsibilities as a mentor?
1. Help the mentee understand the Toastmasters program format and the various roles/responsibilities
2. Help the mentee in preparing for their roles (for ex., speech scripts review, dry runs / rehearse of their speech, sharing with them checklists/tips for leadership roles etc.,)
3. Periodically share feedback about their performance and keep them motivated to push their boundaries
  • What is the 1 important thing which needs to be kept in mind while mentoring
  • What is the major mistake most people are doing wrong when it comes to mentoring someone? 
You should keep in mind that your goal is not to change your mentee to become like you, but your goal should be to change your mentee to become the better version of himself/herself. 

Mentoring is not the process of cloning, but the process of creating. Trying to make the mentee to think like you, speak like you and do things like you, is a major mistake that most mentors do. Each individual has a unique style. The job of the mentor is not to convert bronze to silver or silver to gold. The job of the mentor is to take a golden ore and convert that into a golden ornament. 

  • How to manage Conflicts during mentoring?
Conflict management is an art - not in just mentoring, but in all aspects of life. Some tips for effectively managing conflicts are:
- hear both the sides of the story (for ex., have a open conversation with your mentee and express your view points, in addition to listening to their view points)
- genuinely show interest in listening to their view points
- appreciate the other person's view points 
- keep emotions out and objectively evaluate facts/figures (definitely don't try to manage conflicts through whatsapp messages. It will aggravate the problem).
- weigh in pros/cons of each other's view points 
- identify optimal solutions / action plan and implement them
- finally, if nothing works, agree to disagree and move on.
  • How can I start inspiring people ?
You can inspire people around you by doing the following things:
- Be bound to your principles (for ex., if punctuality is your principle, ensure that you are punctual 100% of the times)
- Be a role model (Walk the talk, follow what you preach)
- Be sincere in helping people around you - without expecting returns 
- Talk less, listen more 
- By regularly delivering speeches at your club and taking various roles at the club. For example, if you deliver 1 speech a month consistently, you'll automatically inspire many of the new joiners in the club. 
  • How to add value to the speech
As a mentor it is very tempting to modify the speech to match your own style. However, you should resist that temptation and help your mentees to discover their own unique style. You can add value to the speech by ensuring that it meets the project objectives and by incorporating content such as stories, quotes, rhetorical devices and humor.  All of this, would improve the effectiveness of the speech. 
  • What are the two things that you recommend to be done by the mentor to have better collaboration with the mentee apart from speech preparation?
Imagine going to a swimming pool to learn how to swim. You'll have a lot of doubts whether you'll survive if you jump into the water. But, the coach pushes you into the water and starts helping you to learn. Similarly, mentors should nudge their mentees to sign up for leadership roles at the club or outside of the club. 

Encouraging the mentees to participate in contests. Participating in a contest, helps the mentees to benchmark their skills and helps them learn new techniques in public speaking.