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What is Toastmasters?
Mark your calendar for the Spring Conference
Hosted by Division I, Friday and Saturday, May 30 + 31, 2008 in San Antonio.
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Visionaries
Kathy Moore, AC-G, Public Relations Officer, pro@tmd55.org
Richard Harder, DTM, has been a Toastmaster since 1955 and is presently a member of Business & Professional Toastmasters. He has been conducting Creativity Training throughout his military and professional speaking career. He is one of the Breakout Session instructors at the May 31 District 55 conference. His workshop will be entitled: "Try Thirty Different Formats to Create Better Table Topics Sessions."
KM: Dick, how long have you been a toastmaster and how did you get involved?
RH: I've been a toastmaster all my professional career, except for the break in service I had during the war. Wherever I've been, if there wasn't a club, I helped to organize one. I organized one in Kansas and two in Kentucky.
I got involved when I was working at the Menniger Foundation Psychiatric Hospital in Topeka, KS. Two of the staff members there were toastmasters and invited me to a meeting. Toastmasters was part of the Leadership Development at the hospital.
KM: What is it that you liked about the toastmaster experience?
RH: The friendliness of the club members. And I've always been interested in Oral Communication. Before my military career, I was an elementary school teacher, grades five through eight.
KM: What do you feel are your most important Toastmaster accomplishments?
RH: Organizing the three clubs, and leadership development. I served in the area and division aspects of district government and was a Lt. Gov. twice in Kentucky.
KM: How was that experience for you?
RH: There is a special set of challenges working in a rural area. When I was in Kentucky, I traveled half way across the state. The clubs I went to were 40 miles outside the city.
KM: Good thing gas was cheaper back then, huh?
RH: Yes.
KM: OK, how did you get involved in Creativity Training?
RH: I was an active duty Army medical officer in 1961. From 1967-70, I taught in the Healthcare Administration graduate program through Baylor University. One day my supervisor asked me to teach a class in Creative thinking. There was no literature at the time on creativity, so I became a pioneer. We did pioneering work in the classroom, too.
KM: How so?
RH: Because of the foresight of my supervisor, I had no limits on what I was allowed to teach. I would bring snacks into the classroom. I still give out baloons, bubbles, candy and toys.
KM: Why's that?
RH: We are most creative when we are around five years old, so I try to get people back at that state.
KM: So give us a little preview of what you'll be doing at the District Meeting in May.
RH: I'm doing a program called "Thirty ways to do Table Topics." I tend to be an innovator, professional or otherwise. In this program, I'm showing people how to stretch their imaginations and get away from the typical table topics which can be routine and boring. I've done this presentation at least five times in the district, and am available to do it for particular clubs.
KM: I missed it when you did it the last time at our club and EVERYONE told me I really missed a fun time.
RH: Yes, I've had people do things like: stand in a corner or get under the table and do topics, or give a topic on something they smell or feel in a bag, do a topic with only pantomime. The goal is to promote creative thinking, show variety, use things from the real world, and most importantly to have FUN.
If you'd like to talk to Richard Harder directly, contact him at 210-653-3526 or through Business & Professional Toastmasters.