It's who you know

So tonight we had dinner with Past International President John Lau and his wife Rebecca at the Sarawak Club (an old-school country club). We had a delightful evening talking of Toastmasters challenges and successes, and of course eating delicious Chinese food. But how on earth did this come about? Two ordinary Toastmasters from New Zealand, guests of a PIP in Borneo?

It comes down to the most basic thing in Toastmasters - communication, reaching out. We had a few days in Kuching after Convention and we figured, this being the home city of a PIP, it must be full of Toastmasters clubs. I very much enjoy visiting clubs when I travel. It can be a moment of familiarity in a foreign land (especially when traveling alone).

Looking for a club to visit while in Kuching, we hit the Club Finder, but we also got in touch with John Lau directly. If we wanted a club recommendation, who better to ask than the PIP in residence? I had his email address thanks to some reaching out of his own - while chairing a panel discussion in a very large room at Convention, John had taken questions by email, rather than try to run a mic around an audience of thousands. He'd used his personal email address for that, and so we used the same address to ask him about clubs in Kuching.

Instead, he came back with his personal cell phone number. When I called him, he invited us to dinner. It was that simple.

Over dinner we talked about contests (John is competing this year for the first time since he started his District leadership career in the late 90s); leadership ("a leader should serve with no title. Don't say I, say we"); club growth (District 72 is growing fast, District 87 slow, but facing similar challenges with empowering new leaders); and possibilities for the next Convention outside North America (maybe 2018?). It was a Toastmasters nerdfest. We had an awesome time.

Thanks, John and Rebecca! We'll never forget Sarawak hospitality.