Trollmaster

The value in joining a community toastmasters club is the experience either led by those who take the club seriously and become sergeant majors of process and this group of people regiment around the basis of excellence or it is led by people who take community seriously and become curators of social experience and this group work hard around the basis of fun.  When I joined a club that had both groups vying for their positions it resembled the partisan fever of right vs left, except the division here was not political but educational.

College Toastmasters may take on a social component and may be driven by people who inject their project management skills, but this is driven in part by the program they study at the college and how that manifests in their club contribution.  Like society there are students which are high GPA and there are students who middle of the road and there are students who just want to get their studies completed so they can begin living their life.  All of that sits with the culture of the college and the degree of influence the student union leadership has upon their student membership. 

At more liberal colleges the students union hand out condoms to new grads as a part of new student orientation - which is better known as Frosh Week.  The purpose of Frosh Week is more than just an orientation event, it is a message that college or university is not school anymore and so get used to this new type of environment.  That sets the environment or contrast with how a club is organized at the campus level.  Most students understand the purpose of this orientation and the resulting commitment to studies is impressive, even more so when one notices how much of social media aids group study and individual research - and that does not mean plagiarism or studying at the Wikipedia level.


The great thing is that when students are challenged to be more creative, they do so more readily when their efforts are recognized in the context of them being social being, and that is why they use social media in a completely different way than boomers or even working adults do.  The key is to understand the culture of the college and the natural ways of students and in that the member experience and member voice is formed.  Deal with one student in a ham-handed way or manner and that will play out in college-centric social media.  Word of mouth is a powerful thing in the market but even more so in a college environment.

It is the way troll behaviour is transformed which is key in context of the group and peer relations, otherwise one is fighting a losing battle because one cannot control control with control - one must see things from the level of each student and that is called in the bigger scheme of life, making a difference.  Those college leaders who are willing to engage at that level and who can make the campus club experience a creative but still challenging one, can transform any disadvantage into a huge advantage.  That very transformation is the basis of future respect and credibility among the student population.

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