It took me 10 years to join Toastmasters after visiting the very, VERY first meeting held in Slovenia.
From active club member I was elected to the role of Vice President for Membership (2020/2021) and Club President (2021/2022).
LIVE Toastmasters speaking at events
During my time as club president I was invited to participate in live international events.
LIVE INTERVIEW - Tales of Toastmasters in Slovenia
I participated in a Toastmasters District 109 podcast interview with two other club members from Slovenia and our host David. The interview was recorded and streamed LIVE with minimal prior preparation.
I am also speaking:
- 01:48 - I briefly and nervously explain my experience with Toastmasters.
- 17:47 - I give a run-down of some basic travelling possibilities in Slovenia.
LIVE PRESENTATION - Reception of Toastmasters Slovenia into TMI District 109
I had the great honour of being club president last year when Toastmasters Ljubljana was officially accepted into the Toastmasters International network of District 109.
Me and Katarina (president of another Toastmasters club in Slovenia) held the presentation and made it as fun and light as possible, while also avoiding cringe-worthy moments.
Leadership and team accomplishments
While I was club president (2021/2022), we:
- increased club membership by almost 50%
- officially became a member of District 109, which is part of a network of Toastmasters International
- boosted our online presence (Google Business Profile, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram)
- started creating knowledge transfer for our club board successors
- organized our very first official Club Competition
- organized "Summer speaker's weekend", an international two-day weekend event
- visited 4 other Toastmasters clubs (2x Austria, Bosnia, Serbia)
- simplified our hybrid meetings with a club laptop and web camera
- organized most of the internal club files on Google Drive
- started a bi-monthly newsletter for our members
While I was VP for membership (2020/2021), I suggested and helped implement:
- a major simplification of our video process - we bought a club smartphone and tripod to start recording meetings to an unlisted, private YouTube playlist
- replacement of name-based emails (name.surname@toastmasters.si) with function emails (e.g., treasurer@toastmasters.si) to improve knowledge transfer for our club board successors
- a 100% online sign-up form for a safe and uninterrupted increase of new club members during COVID-19
- an online spreadsheet to serve as meeting minutes and track member attendance
Whenever I took on the role of the evening's Toastmaster I would send invitations with custom graphics to try and raise interest in the meeting.
