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The Flight of the Canadian Geese

VPE’s Message for 2009/2010

"The Flight of the Canadian Geese"

More than 25 years ago I was travelling in Eastern Canada in autumn. Autumn in Canada is one of the most beautiful experiences in my life because all the maple leaves turn into different shades of golden colour. Another astounding experience I had was to see the Canadian geese migrating from the East to the West for the warmer weather.

Now, fellow Toastmasters, for your information Canadian geese fly in a fascinating V-formation with a loud honking sound. Observe closely & you’ll see that after some time the lead goose at the tip of the V will fly to the back of the wing & another goose takes over the lead. This goes on continuously & consistently throughout their flight. At that time none of us could explain why all this was happening. Much later I found out why.

When geese fly together as a group in V-formation, they have a better lifting power. When they fly on their own, they will feel drag & resistance. But with group synergy in a V-shape, they get more flying power. Their honking sound is to encourage those in front to keep up with their speed.

By doing all this, the Canadian geese can fly further, faster & easier - & so reach their winter destination on time.

Fellow Toastmasters, for our club to reach our destination further, faster & easier, we need to be like the Canadian geese.

By this I mean that this term our club can reach further than 9 points to be President Distinguished Club. We can reach 10 DCP points. We can reach this destination faster. Rather than waiting until the last minute to achieve our goal in June 2010, we can aim to reach our destination by March 2010. To help our club have an easier time reaching this goal, we all need to take turns like the Canadian geese, to occasionally fly at the tip of the V as a leader.

As VPE for this term, let me share with you from the education perspective how we 33 members of Taman Indrahana Club can be like 33 Canadian geese flying in a V shape to reach our destination further, faster & easier.

Goal #1 – to reach further, to arrive at 10 DCP points.

Out of this, we need 6 points for achievements in education. We have identified 11 Indrahanian geese to help achieve this goal: Jenny, May, Wooi Hong, Lydia, LeAnn, Olga, Han, Thian Seng, Kit Ping, Chrristine & myself. We have actually over-targeted but it’s better to aim to soar higher to catch the wind than to fly lower & then fall prey to shooting guns.

We need 1 point from our 9 EXCO to continue their learning by attending two training sessions in the year. Out of these 9, 6 are already contributing to the education points. So we have 3 remaining EXCO geese to back us up: Choi Woon, Dom & Yeoh.

Goal #2 - to reach our destination faster.

For this, all the identified 14 Indrahanian geese have to be committed to achieve their education awards by consistently finishing their speeches, and/or playing the necessary roles required in their leadership track or EXCO training sessions. An ideal aim is to do at least one speech every 2 or 3 meetings and to play a club role during every meeting.

Goal #3 – to have an easier time reaching our destination.

This is where we need our remaining 19 Indrahanian (& new) geese to play their part while flying in the V-formation.

We can earn another 1/2 point if any of the remaining geese, especially the newer geese, can volunteer to be a club officer for the next term. This will be an invaluable learning experience.

At the same time, the remaining 19 & new geese can also proactively volunteer to play leadership roles (eg) TME, contest organiser, contest chair, special projects organiser. Or else, to play other supportive roles during club meetings, club installation, club contests & ad hoc special projects. The flight of the geese is easier when all the geese play an active role during flight.

So to all of us Indrahanian geese – if we can all fly in a V-formation together, we can arrive further with 10 DCP points, arrive faster by March 2010, & arrive easier by adopting the self-leadership inside all of us.

May all great blessings come your way during your Toastmasters journey in 2009/2010.


Kay Wong
Taman Indrahana Toastmasters
VPE 2009/2010
019 326 0233

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