Executive Committee Rewind: VPE Joe Wan

Greetings, dear readers! Today we shall continue the build-up to the Annual General Meeting and look at the work of another extremely important member of the Executive Committee: The Vice-President, Education. This individual has the responsibility of making sure that the educational growth of the members is carried on at a consistent and yet comfortable level. This is a difficult job in itself because education consists not only of the Communication Track but also the Leadership Track. As a result, the VPE has to ensure that members get adequate speaking slots as well as other appointment slots. A third complex factor involves the involvement of some external project evaluators at meetings so that our club also gets to learn from outside talent. This is, of course, in addition to applying for educational awards, taking care of trainings, collaborating with other clubs for joint meetings, assigning mentors for new members and, most importantly, arranging for replacement speakers or appointment holders for last minute dropouts. One of our veteran members had once famously quoted: “VPE is the Ring of Fire, which, when crossed, ensures the member is worthy of being the Club President and leading Tampines Changkat Toastmasters Club to greater heights”.

You all know that our Vice-President, Education, Toastmaster Joe Wan, has done a fantastic job this year. He has not only ensured a good balance of speaking slots – with every meeting having a healthy mix of new speakers and seasoned speakers as well as of basic manual speeches and advanced manual speeches – but he has also ensured that members fulfil appointment roles and go ahead on their leadership track. In fact, Toastmaster Joe has been an extremely dedicated member of our club, coming to meetings all the way from Jurong. However, let us have a look at what he had promised at the beginning of the year when interviewed by the Vice-President, Public Relations:

1. Why did you accept to join the Executive Committee?

What is a better way to love the club than to serve the club and all its wonderful members? I have learnt a lot from Tampines Changkat Toastmasters Club and not only have I gained oratorical skills but also great friends. It is time that I step up to an Executive Committee role and thereby help other members discover the joy of becoming better speakers and more competent leaders.

2. What you want to gain from your role as Vice-President, Education?

The Toastmasters movement makes you learn both the art of speaking as well as the art of being a good leader. Through my role as VPE, I want to improve my leadership skills, especially that of motivating fellow members to achieve their goals of joining Toastmasters.

3. How you plan to help the club through your role as VPE?

I plan to understand the members’ goals by meeting up with them and discussing about what they want to achieve. Accordingly, I shall design a plan to help reach their destination in the fulfilling path of the Toastmasters journey.

4. Do you want to convey any other thought?

Leadership is about influencing people to share your vision. I want to walk with the members, to empower them to lead themselves for better results and a better future.

As we go through the interview of Toastmaster Joe, we realize that he has definitely lived up to his promises. Several members have completed not only their Competent Communicator and Competent Leader manuals but also their Advanced Manuals. Many of our members have earned Triple Crown, Four Crown and even Golden Gavel Awards, which will be presented this year at the District Conference. In addition, several of our members have completed the Program Quality Director’s Quality Speech Challenge and earned their places in the PQD’s Hall of Fame. Our club meetings have been organized like clockwork and we have also seen good external evaluators. In addition, we have had quite a number of good trainings this year. All in all, we can say that Toastmaster Joe has done a thoroughly good job as VPE. We congratulate him on his success and wish him all the best for his future endeavours.

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