Tag: Thankful

The Aspie #14 – Being Thankful for… Student Radio

It brought out my confidence and was a joy to volunteer for. Which is why I’m glad I did it!

I didn’t generally enjoy my student experience in college, a post for another time. But there was one bright spot that came in the second part of my final year, and that’s an unconventional interest in Radio thanks to Wired 99.9 FM. In the first part of this Easter Weekend’s Double Bill, I want to explain how the experience went and why I call it an unconventional bright spot in my first college experience.

Now one thing I’m interested in that some would call unconventional is reading the news. A lot of people, especially in today’s Socio-Economic Environment, would consider reading the news a complete waste of time because of how depressing most of it looks. I share that sentiment to a degree, but I overcome it by ignoring most blatant rage-bait and right-wing brain rot, as well as filtering what I read and where I read it. When I first went to college, I spotted the Student Radio station and was keen to do something there, although not entirely sure what at first. Unfortunately, I couldn’t bring myself to volunteer for the first three years because my college timetables were constantly packed with lectures and tutorials and limited windows to study in the library, which made it impossible to achieve anything there.

That is until my final year, which was split into two thanks mostly to COVID-19. I was a frequent visitor to the Student Union building which I eventually just used to have lunch, listen to music via YouTube on my phone and start drafting the first wave of posts for this site, even if I sometimes hated the noise at peak times. I then started noticing a very handsome guy who dressed very casually walking in and out of the studio, which my eyes were drawn to every time he passed me by. That turned out to be Daragh, who, one Wednesday in January 2022, approached me and said the station was looking for volunteers and asked if I would be interested. And I said yes because I’d always wanted to do it, plus the fact it was my final few months, and I wanted to do something that would finish my time in college on a high note.

I showed him the outline of this Blog and he said it was a really great idea. Then one month later, he came back to me again to follow up on my initial interest. I said I was keen on doing something in Current Affairs such as reading the news or something and he put me on the spot by asking if I was prepared to record a brief news bulletin for that afternoon’s edition of Wired In. It literally was on the spot, but I said sure, why not? My first bulletin was three national and three international news stories that caught my eye and a lead into the Sports News being read by someone else. I recorded it all in about 15 minutes and still made it to my lecture that afternoon on time. And that’s how it started!

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The Aspie #15 – Being Thankful for… Toastmasters

Having gained confidence in Student Radio, this Worldwide Organisation seemed to be the place to build it up some more.

Between 2022 and 2023, I enjoyed a spell on Student Radio. And in between, I discovered something that allowed me to build on the confidence gained from doing it and a whole lot more besides. In the second part of this Easter’s Double Bill, I’m going to talk about my journey so far in the international organisation known as Toastmasters. From how a typical night goes, to what I’ve accomplished so far and most importantly, why I’ve kept doing it for over two years with many more years to come, I hope.

So, Toastmasters is an international organisation specialising in the development of two things: Leadership and Communication. It’s been in existence for 100 Years and yet I only heard about it in January 2023, let alone the existence of a club here in Limerick City. Now, your mileage may vary in how a club meeting is run but generally, a typical night at Limerick Toastmasters has a more relaxed tone and attire but still has the three fundamental parts of one: Three Prepared Speeches by club members engaging in a Path (more on that shortly); Evaluations of those speeches; and Table Topics which practice the skill of Impromptu Speaking. There are also five roles that are mostly filled for every meeting:

  • Toastmaster of the Evening, who chairs the meeting, introduces Speakers and the other roles and transitions from role to role.
  • Speech Timer, who times Speeches and Evaluations using a Tower of Lights.
  • The General Evaluator, who manages the Evaluations and gives feedback on the meeting as a whole.
  • The Topics Master, who prepares and asks questions for Table Topics.
  • And the Grammarian who monitors the use of Crutch Words and picks a Word of the Day that everyone is encouraged to use wherever they can.

On the point of Paths… Every member delivering a Speech does so by way of Pathways by Toastmasters. There are six different paths to pick from (it was about 12 but cut in half last year by Toastmasters International after a system wide review and feedback from members across the world). The one I’m currently engaged in is Presentation Mastery, because I treat it as learning the fundamentals of Public Speaking and then some. Each path has five levels, which each require a series of Speeches to be delivered at club meetings. A speech can be about anything you want but… It must incorporate the objectives of each speech project. The first two levels have projects that are all compulsory. From Level 3 (which is where I am right now) onwards, you have one compulsory project to be done and then a minimum number of electives to be completed on top. In my current level, I need to accomplish two out of a total list of 14. And call me crazy… But I’ve got a vision to do ten of them! And that’s because a lot of the projects appeal to me and I want to expose myself to a variety of speech types since you never know when you might need some of them in life.

Besides Speeches and Meeting Workshops, all Toastmaster Clubs have Officer Roles that need to be filled year after year. For the last two full seasons (I joined in the middle of season 2022 / 23. A full season, at least in my club, is from September to May / June, which marks season 2024 / 25 my second full season), I’ve been in the role of Treasurer, basically the manager of money coming in and money going out. The other Officer Roles are the following:

  • Membership Officer, who is responsible for setting up people on TMI and keeping the list of members of our club current.
  • Education Officer, who is responsible for ensuring roles get filled for each meeting and people complete their speeches and paths in a timely manner.
  • Sargent-at-Arms, who is responsible for setting up the Meeting Room and meeting and greeting all members and guests.
  • Public Relations Officer, who is responsible for promoting the club through PR and things connected to it.
  • Secretary, who is responsible for basically making meeting minutes and being there at meetings of Club Committees.
  • And the President, who basically represents the Club at Town Hall Meetings and things like that which I’m personally not too bogged down with.

So that’s the Club, but what about my experience in it so far?

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