Club Officer Training #1, July 15, 2024 (In person)

Toastmasters clubs are self-governed with seven club officers at the center of club management, with the help of the Immediate Past President. It does not mean the club officers are the organizers and other members are the customers. Never. Club officers are not paid. They pay the same membership dues as the regular members. They spend some extra time and effort than other members to lead everyone in the club to contribute to creating the best possible learning environment for all.

In Shin-Osaka Leaders, these club officers are President Hideo, Vice President Education Lijani, Vice President Maho, Vice President Public Relations Poh Luan, Secretary Tonette, Treasurer Junko, and Sergeant-at-Arms Sweet, together with the Immediate Past President Mariko this program year.

Seven club officers, except Junko, who had to work, participated in the first round of Club Officer Training (COT) on July 15. What was special is that our Vice President Public Relations, Poh Luan, came all the way from Malaysia to attend the training even though it was not necessary because she could have joined a session in Malaysia. Thank you, Poh Luan for your dedication!

The COT is an important opportunity for club officers to learn more about their roles and share their challenges and good practices with officers of other clubs. At the last session of the day, we created our "Club Success Plan" with our goals and action plans. After that breakout session, representatives of each breakout made a brief report of their discussion. President Hideo won the Best Report award winning all the breakout members a can of drink, courtesy of Program Quality Director Stefano Spillo.

In his report, Hideo shared a goal of collectively delivering 100 prepared speeches in one year. This is a tall order considering we have 28 regular meetings and the maximum number of prepared speeches in one meeting is four. We will probably create some extra opportunities to reach 100. We believe that will give us an additional boost to make Shin-Osaka Leaders a more energetic, engaging, and effective club.