*Our current VPE is taking on another term! Thanks Corinna. Here she shares with us her experience as the VP of Education. As you can see, this role has many responsibilities, so if you’re interested in becoming a part of her committee to give her a hand – it would be appreciated!
My name is Corinna Koehler and I am the Vice President of Education (VPE) of our amazing club, San Diego Toastmasters 7. I joined Toastmasters in November 2017 and I am currently starting my second term as VPE. From day one, I was pleasantly surprised by the support and the community that our club provides.
I want to say, it is about now that you might wonder what does this fancy title VPE actually entail…? Well, allow me to make a little more sense out of it.
The Vice President of Education is responsible for the whole educational progress of the club. I know, I know, that is still pretty vague. I’m working on it…
In more detail, I am responsible for scheduling every upcoming meeting throughout the year, that means whenever a name is on the schedule and there are no blank meetings coming up, I already fulfilled part of my job ? I also take care of the upcoming agenda and key in the role of toastmaster ahead of time to make sure everything works smoothly.
I also keep track of the educational progress of the members which includes both communication and leadership progress. That means every time a member takes on a speaking role, I keep track of their updates and make sure they progress along their project goals. Communication goals are speaking opportunities, where members present a speech. Leadership goals are roles like functionaries, Toastmaster of the evening, General Evaluator and so on. All of these roles help the members to develop leadership skills since they are responsible for the preparation and execution of a certain part of the meeting.
The next thing I do is when members complete educational goals, I update the trackers and submit them to Toastmasters International in order to receive official credit for their achievements.
Another part of my role is to schedule special events such as speech contests or open houses. For events such as speech contests I am responsible to find the chairing committee that helps put the contest together.
I know, it sounds a lot but once you get a hold of it, it is not as bad as it sounds ?
From my personal experience I can say it has been very rewarding to serve such a great club since I have learned a lot about interacting with people, steering them into the right direction as well as delegating. The biggest thing that I have learned during this time is that I can always count on my fellow members in times I feel overwhelmed, busy, out of town or simply needed some support.
Being part of the executive committee has allowed me to gain a deeper insight on how a club works, how everything interacts and how much work and dedication it takes to make a club successful. At the end of the day, we always have each other’s back so there might be times when you step up and take on more responsibilities than your role actually entails but as soon as you walk into a meeting and look at all the smiling faces you know that it was well worth it.
About Corinna Koehler:
Corinna joined San Diego Toastmasters 7 in November 2017 because she felt the need to get rid of all her “so’s”,“uhm’s”, “ah’s” and all the other weird noises she makes when she is speaking. Plus, she is trying hard to properly speak her second language, English. All of that and the amazing members of San Diego Toastmasters 7, were the reasons she joined.
She is currently enrolled in an MBA program with a specialization in organizational leadership and international business, basically a perfect fit for toastmasters, wouldn’t you agree?!
In her free time, Corinna loves to spend as much time as possible with her friends but usually she is off traveling and exploring the world to see the many opportunities out there.
For Corinna, San Diego Toastmasters 7 is more than just a club. It is a place to laugh, learn, make new friends, experience the unexpected, develop skills you didn’t know you have and so much more. She highly recommends for you to visit San Diego Toastmasters 7 and experience what this amazing club can do for you!
Corinna has been awarded Competent Communicator, served as the Club Secretary and continuing on as the VP Education for a second term.