July 1st 2007 may be an ordinary Sunday for most families, waking up in the morning, going out for breakfast and spending a good family day together.
For me, this day marked the day I started to spread my wings wide open at a span of 6 feet across. As I began to flip it faster and increased the frequency, I realized my legs were no longer touching the ground – It was a lift off ! Just like the golden eagle of District 51, this day has marked a day for me to fly high and serve the community of the Toastmasters.
All in a sudden, my inbox was flooded with enquiries, requests, suggestions and lots of action items to follow up. I was scared and nervous at the same time. New terms and phases sounded so complicated such as “Area Governor’s visit”, “Area Governor’s report” and “DCP report & goals”. The experience was like a different Toastmasters program compare to what I knew about Toastmasters. Then later I realized, this was part of Toastmaster’s leadership program.
It’s an opportunity of wider learning experience and not many companies or college can provide this learning - “Learning on the fly”
Just the other day, I was observing my nephew enjoying his coloring session with some crayons. I then realized there were some colors used almost to the end but there were some colors doesn’t show any sign of usage. But they were placed together to make a complete box of crayon.
This analogy is quite similar to our Toastmasters club. Some of the members were very bright and actively participating in every session and event. While some members chose the slower learning pace. Some are just guests that visits and still weighing to decide whether to join the club or not. But at the end of the day, what made it unique was all these members joined up to have a common goal – to have a fun learning experience.
I have witnessed many events and programs whether it is a club, area or division level. They always have lots of hurdles and problems before the event date. But comes to the last 2 hours before the event, things will always fall into the right place and the members will ignite to work together and make the event successful. I call this the “Magic of Toastmasters“. This magic has helped everyone including myself to be strong to SOAR high in the sky. With the courage to conquer our fear and limit and resulted us to be the President’s Distinguished Area for 2007/2008. Last but not least, these 12 months was indeed one of my most memorable flight and surely we wouldn’t fly high if wouldn’t be a team of Simply Amazing people supporting and motivating each other.
I would like to thank all the Club Officers of the SEVEN clubs in Area S6 for their great leadership and the members of Area S6 for supporting and making the Magic of Toastmasters a reality. I would like to thank the District and Division officers for guiding and supporting the AGs when we were lost, show us the way and share without boundaries.
Once again, thank you for making the Magic of Toastmasters a reality.
Christopher Choong, CC, CL
IP Area Governor S6, 2007/08
(Photos are courtesy from Christopher Choong)
