Parker Toastmasters is pleased to announce the launch of the Parker Toastmasters Speakers Bureau on September 1, 2012.
This has been a project in play for around six months, arising out of then VP of Education Eric Dunham’s vision for the club. Now Eric is President of the club.
On September 19 co-chairs Eric and Immediate Past President Joanna Knott will accompany speaker Marcy Brack to support her in making the inaugural presentation to the Parker Artists Guild.
Bill Morgan and Bruce Ekins began planning discussions in March and April and Bill presented the overall steps and timeline to the club in April.
From there Bill spent May, June and July (in between business trips) in designing the website. Bill enlisted the help of his friend web designer Kathy Zant for suggestions and input.
Bill also began researching how to get information on local non-profit and service organizations in the area. Along with Douglas County Librarian Amy Morgan (no relation), Bill enlisted the help of his friend David Oberhelman, a professor in the Library Science Department at Oklahoma State University, who added to the already burgeoning list hundreds of potential organizations.
At District Officer training in June Bill was introduced to District Public Relations Officer Luc Moens by Joanna. Mr. Moens liked the initiative taken by the club to create a speakers bureau and throughout he has been very supportive.
Recently Eric and Joanna have joined as co-chairs with Bill. Both have been a great help in tackling tasks large and small to move the bureau towards a successful launch. All three will be in charge through December. After that there will be a six month term, and Joanna will take the helm January-June 2013, while Eric will have his turn July-December 2013.
There is certainly more work ahead. Joanna, Eric and Bill still have lots of organizations to review from the lists generated in the summer, and they anticipate the help of club members in contacting potential clients. Jodi Michael Horner, VP of Public Relations, has been enlisted with her erudite writing skills to help craft speaker biographies. Jodi is also expected to be a big contributer in marketing and promoting the bureau.
Eric’s vision – and ours – is that the Speakers Bureau will invigorate our local organizations with dynamic speakers. Let’s celebrate the accomplishment of the launch but let’s also continue to work diligently towards reaching out to our community.