My District 86 Workshop Experience

When our Cambridge Toastmasters club president, Bill Kirby, suggested that I run a workshop at District 86 conference, I personally thought it was a crazy idea. Even though I have been with Toastmaster for many years, and have grown tremendously since joining the club. I am not a competitive speaker and have never spoken outside of the club. 

Running a workshop at a district level, and open registrations to all District 86 members from all different countries?! That is an insane idea! The second time Bill suggested the idea, my clubmate Yushika showed interest, Bill suggested that we could run a workshop together, I thought to myself, why not push myself out of my comfort zone, isn't that what I am coming to Toastmaster for? Getting out of my comfort zone and growing from each uncomfortable challenge?

The application process is lengthy but really made me think and reflect. Yushika and I had chosen the topic of collaboration, both of us have done education sessions about it, and both of us shared similar international work experience and education, and agree that it is critical to build collaboration skills and be able to convert conflicts into collaborations. These skills are not natural to everyone and are more challenging in a virtual work environment. We both have a passion to share what we have learned and wish to help others.

From submitting the application to deciding the content and presentation flow, we had numerous meetings. We received tremendous support from Cambridge Toastmasters club members. Bill, Neila and Puneet helped us through workshop development. Neila, as our activator did amazing job, she spent her weekends helping us practice. During the workshop, Neila was fantastic in facilitating audience interactions. The April 16th 2024 workshop was completed successfully! Marking an important milestones at Toastmasters.

Life is about experience, growth, and relationships. At Cambridge Toastmasters, I have met so many people with similar positive growth mindsets, we encourage, support, and cheer for each other. They see potentials in you that you don't even believe at times, this makes us grow and shine!

2024 is a special year, I call it "Get comfortable being uncomfortable". Cheers!

Best Regards,
Jing Li