How long have you been a member of Toastmasters? Since April 2013, so over 7 years.
Why did you first join Toastmaster? I joined together with my daughter Jovana to improve her self-confidence and overcome her shyness. After our first visit to the club, I liked it so much that I decided to keep her company.
What is your favorite part about our Pacesetters Club? I love being part of Calgary Pacesetters and consider the members my toastmaster family. Our club is friendly and welcoming to everyone, and many of our guests become members. But what I like the most is our diversity. We have members from every part of the world and for many of us, English is a second language. We don’t feel judged for having an accent. We have great mentors and role models who give support to newer members.
What have you learned/gained from being a part of Toastmasters? I have been part of the executive board for the last 4 years, including VP of Membership and VP of Education, and President. I believe this experience has improved both my leadership and speaking skills. I must mention that “Table Topics” helped me tremendously at a job interview and in my social life.
Outside of Toastmasters, how do you spend your time?
This is a very broad question. I love being part of a big family. I have done the family tree and the family website. One of my cousins called me a family historian and I very much liked the title. I like digging through my family’s old pictures and I found some real treasures. That brings me to my other passion, photography. Everywhere I go I usually take my camera and in case I don’t have it with me I use my phone to take pictures and create memories. I also enjoy watching sports. I played basketball and volleyball as a kid, but these days I only play in a volleyball league.
What would you tell someone who’s interested in Toastmasters? I would tell them to come and visit our club and get a feel for it. You got nothing to lose and many things to gain.
1. If you need to improve your speaking, leadership, or your presentation skills, Toastmasters is a great place for it.
2. Added benefit is that everything in Toastmasters is evaluated and you will get feedback on things that you do well and things that you can work on.
3. If your English language is not the best, this is a place that you can improve it, many of our members are not native English speakers and have improved immensely.
4. If you are a shy person and lack self-confidence, Toastmasters clubs will be a friendly environment where you can get out of your shell.
So what are YOU waiting for? Join us for a couple of hours and see if Toastmasters is for you.
Email me at Vesna Ivkovic