Coach and trainer Margaret Page has a busy year coming up.
On July 1 Page became a district governor of Toastmasters International. Her territory covers the entire province of BC with 285 clubs, including Powell River, and almost 5,000 members.
Sunshine Speakers Toastmasters Club in Powell River is on hiatus for the summer and will resume meeting again after Labour Day. Updates can be found at http://sunshinespeakers.wordpress.com.
A second club, Toast to the Coast, is expected to charter in September, meeting on Tuesday nights from 7 to 8:30 pm at Oceanview Middle School. In addition to supporting speakers, it will focus on parliamentary procedures, formal debating and advanced evaluation. A potluck dinner will be held at Willingdon Beach on August 7 at 6 pm for anyone interested in learning more.
Page, who operates a business etiquette company, has been to Powell River on numerous occasions as a guest speaker for local organizations.
After a few weeks in her new position Page sums up the job as “lots of work, but fun.” She laughed that while she is head of the international organization in BC, no one is reticent to advise her on any lapses in protocol. And that is where the value of Toastmasters lies for Page and many others — the prompt and succinct evaluation of speaking and leadership skills.
Page joined the Morning Stars Toastmasters Club in Gibsons shortly after she moved there in 2003.
“I had heard about Toastmasters and had wanted to partake in the program for a number of years,” she recalled. “Having just moved to the Sunshine Coast, I thought it would be a good way to meet people.”
After a few weeks, Page decided Toastmasters was just what she needed to help her develop critical thinking skills and a pattern for success that would be useful in her coaching business.
No stranger to small and medium business, Page has operated nine businesses in both Canada and the United States since she was a young adult. Before moving to the Sunshine Coast she had a chain of hairdressing shops in Las Vegas.
“I often say I moved from the desert to the rain forest. My sister called me after 9/11 and jokingly said, ‘I’ll meet you at the border with the car running.’ At the time it was difficult to sell any kind of property or businesses so it took a while for me to do so,” she explained.
After she returned to Canada, Page put all her belongings in storage and went on a road trip across BC looking for a place to call home. When she reached Gibsons, she knew she had found it. “It was just so beautiful and peaceful yet close to a major centre where I could immerse myself in other things that were important to me,” she said.
After several years in Toastmasters, where Page did find the all-important fellowship with club members as well as the leadership and speaking skills she required, more opportunities in the organization beckoned.
After several executive positions within the Gibsons club and later Sunshine Toastmasters, the club that meets in Sechelt, Page was recruited to serve at the district level.
“Once I started up the ladder I was asked to be the second in command in the province—district education officer—by several people I truly admired,” she said. “I took a serious look at that and decided it would be the best use of my volunteer time given that Toastmasters changes people’s lives. It gives them the tools to grow and I’m totally in awe of watching people grow like that.”
Her objective is to help give individual members what they need to accomplish their own dreams. It’s a toss-up, she said, whether members get confidence from their new speaking skills or their newly acquired leadership skills. Either way she believes it can and does change people’s lives as it has her own.
At one time, in spite of being a successful businessperson, Page found speaking in public a frightening experience.
“Since I began my path [at Toastmasters] to becoming a better communicator I’ve become a better listener, critical thinker and speaker,” she said. “All are very valuable skills in my career.”
Other advantages Page feels Toastmasters gives members are the abilities to run meetings on time and on point, create effective agendas and understand Robert’s Rules of Order. She feels that anyone in a leadership role in any non-profit or business could benefit from the program and support of like-minded people.
And although she’s very busy with her new role she still finds time to attend Sunshine Toastmasters. “I couldn’t imagine life without my Toastmaster friends,” she said.
