President's Message

Published 2 years ago
June this year will mark three successful years of the BKC Fireflies Toastmasters Club. As a charter member of this club and now the President, I have seen this club grow from strength to strength, despite two of these three years being challenging times for the entire world. 

pen-g8908b6c9a_640.jpg
Courtesy: Pixabay

This goes to show our resilience as a club. If you ask me the reason that BKC Fireflies continues to fly high despite all the odds, it is quite simple, we have the three Fs in place

Fun, Family and Fortitude

We ensure that our meetings are fun to attend. Learning cannot happen in an ambience that is boring. Cracking jokes at each other, adding variety to the meetings by introducing interesting themes, organising joint meetings, speakathons and table topics marathons have been our ways of making our meetings enjoyable.

Our club is nothing less than a family. Brad Henry once quoted,

Families are the compass that guides us. They are the inspiration to reach great heights, and our comfort when we occasionally falter.

At BKC Fireflies, members have always been guiding and inspiring each other to grow as speakers and as future leaders. We do not shy away from suggesting areas for improvement in each other, while continuing to cheer fellow members when they excel. This space that the club provides each member to try, to fail, to get up, to try again until they finally succeed is what makes me a proud member of the Fireflies family. Every person here enters the club as a new member, and soon without even realising, becomes not only a friend, but a part of the family.

Finally, any of this would not have been possible if members did not display the fortitude to become  better speakers and leaders, despite their other personal and professional commitments. Even small things such as ensuring to meet as per schedule despite all odds (I remember we continued to have a meeting one monsoon, despite the city of Mumbai being at the risk of getting flooded), starting meetings on time, encouraging members to be consistent in progressing along their chosen Pathway, and take up meeting roles, go a long way in enabling us to grow as a club. Fireflies have always shown the grit to reach their desired destination as Toastmasters, come what may.  

To continue to grow individually as speakers and leaders; and together as a club, it is essential that we nurture the club further and preserve these three qualities. BKC Fireflies was founded on the principle of creating an enabling environment for every member to learn and grow. If we want to continue to achieve these, it is essential that we take our next step towards upskilling. Let this step be about taking our club to the next level by improving our meeting quality and creating more accomplished speakers and leaders. The journey of a toastmaster is indeed about growing while learning and chartering a memorable path.

Author: TM Sandhya Krishnan