Toastmasters Leadership Institute

Connor Cunneen

Every summer and winter, Toastmasters District 54 hosts three "Toastmasters Leadership Institutes," or TLIs. These training events generally run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on a Saturday in July and again in January/February.

Last Saturday, July 25, the TLI "North" took place in Plainfield, Illinois at the Chicago Bridge and Iron Co. It is a beautiful facility, and very well-equipped for training, with projectors in every conference room and in the main cafeteria / meeting room where the main sessions took place.

The keynote speaker for the event was Connor Cunneen, a thoroughly entertaining and motivating speaker. He gave his keynote address entitled "The Gift of GAB: How Goals, Attitude, Behavior can give you a top o' the morning feeling AND help you BEAT the recession." Check out his website at IrishmanSpeaks.com.

After the keynote, there were training sessions for all of the club officer roles: club President, VP Education, VP Membership, VP Public Relations, Secretary, Treasurer, and "Sergeant at Arms" (a name that trips many up: Just think of arms in terms of using your own arms to do physical things, and not in terms of firearms, and you'll get the idea of this job). I am serving as the Secretary of the DeKalb club this year, but I received that training at the (equally excellent) TLI south in Bloomington at State Farm earlier in the month. Instead, I attended Lauran-Bell Harrison's session on "Storytelling for Effective Communication" - using stories to help your presentations communicate powerfully and from the heart. I also provided the training for PR Officers, with a focus on the art of writing a press release. I hope to post more about that another time.

Now it's your turn: Did you attend one of the summer District 54 TLIs, or have you ever attended a Toastmasters Leadership Institute? What are your experiences?