Carly – Committed to Excellence

I met Carly at a Toastmaster club visit in 2018 when I was a division director. She was the club VP of education. Though the club was started 2 years ago, the meeting was well-organized and attended. After the meeting, I asked Carly if she could share some tips as some corporate clubs struggled to attract new members and maintain meeting attendance. Carly sent me a long email detailing member communication and programs. No wonder of the club success.

I also asked Carly if she’d be interested in joining my team (I led 6 area directors to serve 21 clubs) and being (sub) an area director who left in mid-year. Finding a good area director wasn’t easy (unpaid/ volunteer with duties such as attending trainings, visiting/ supporting clubs & submitting 2 club visit reports a year, and hosting are contests); finding a sub in the middle of the year would be even harder because it’s passed the deadline to receive Toastmaster leadership credit (required to serve full year). Carly and I had a call to discuss the role and she said Yes.

For the rest of the year, besides fulfilling the usual area director duties, Carly assisted prospect club demo meeting sharing her story of going from a shy engineer to a confident speaker. She also contributed her superb organizational skill in the district club planning/ alignment. The following year, Carly not only became the president of her home club but also a club coach for a struggling club. When Carly and I visited that club in 2019, there were 4 people, including us, in the meeting and the club was going through a tough corporate restructure (members were laid off).

In late 2020, I heard from Carly that she became a division director leading area directors in supporting 20 clubs. She shared that the then-struggling club has 20 members now and has achieved president distinguished club (highest club achievement) in 2020. What a turn-around yet no surprise with a coach like Carly!

It’s my honor and pleasure to have Carly as a partner and friend who commits to excellence whatever she does!