Networking with Toastmasters

I guess that it is not news to anyone that Toastmasters is one of the best 'networking' opportunities afforded to you 'out there'.

Toastmasters self-select to improve themselves... you don't have to be invited to join a Toastmasters Club. The standards are high for language and deportment, and people come in from a variety of backgrounds and experiences. Our Club, for example, has people from the trades and the retired, working professionals and a young chap with a brain injury.

I grudgingly went to a training session last Sunday. I thought, resentfully, "There are so many other things I need to be doing," and I REALLY did an internal grumble when I saw that none of my fellow Club executives had turned up to catch the ferry with me.

I went out on deck on the way across and took some pictures of white capped mountains and let the fresh breeze "blow the stink off me" as my late mother would have put it.

By the time we got to the mainland, I was cheery and ready to rock. The training was informative and the folks hosting the event were gracious and friendly. In the afternoon I met a lovely, very interesting woman who is in a similar line of business to what I am. We chatted and traded cards and I'm pretty sure that we will 'do business' and become friends. I also had some good laughs and conversation with the woman who sat beside me at the table. She suggested that women our age are just "coming into our power."

So, if you want to network-- join Toastmasters!