Tuesday, October 26, 2021

WINning It is ALL About WINGing It









Toastmasters is NoT JUST about speaking; the other half of the program is about making it all happen, running clubs, club areas and Districts.  Every Toastmaster member has at one time ran a meeting from beginning to end, making them the Toastmaster [for the evening].  Where do we LEARN to do that?  At best, we learn by watching others run a meeting and then making the process our own.

This approach I call the Joe Walsh (WB6ACU) method - act like you know what  you are doing
and those around you will come together to make it all happen.  For the 2021 California QSO Party (CQP) I used the WB6ACU method to activate the ARCA - Amateur Radio Club of Alameda's - K6QLF (K-Six Quebec London Foxtrot) callsign from Alameda County, for a 2nd-place CQP finish.

I attribute my abilities to making this all come together to what I learned from doing Toastmaster's
HPL (High Performance Leadership) Program.  K6QLF ran an Expedition-style event for CQP, meaning that we brought equipment and antennas to the site, eventually taking everything down @3:00pm on Sunday.  

To make this all happen, an operating relationship needed to be established w/CHRS (California Historical Radio Society).  As president of ARCA, I sought out the president of CHRS - Steve Kushman.  Volunteers at CHRS went out of their way to assist us towards making it all work;
having access to a kitchen and restroom gave us "all the comforts of home", while running
a FD-style expedition event from their back patio.

10+ days later, looking back, I smile in amazement over what we accomplished (in such a short amount of time) applying the Walsh method.  A 2nd-place win for 1st-timers speaks for itself.  As it turns out, we ALSO took a 1st place for the Expedition category - sometimes just showing up is enough.

As it turns out.... Winging it is not necessarily a BaD thing.

Do you ever WING IT?

How DiD It Turn Out?



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