24.05 | May '24: Slow... As expected

Well.. Not much to share to be honest... Read it down below!

ToastMasters

The first session in May was only with 3 participants, which gave a different feeling to the whole thing. Not bad, but clearly not as productive as it would be with multiple people. On the other hand, it was mentioned that it is easier (less nerves) to practice in front of 2 people, instead of a larger group.

The second session was again with 3 people, but now it was the people that will actually present during our yearly event, which meant the focus went to actually practicing our presentations! Really nice how we could share and receive feedback in advance and still have time to make the needed adjustments! We never had this before!

The last session, two days before we needed to stand on the actual stage, it was again a small group and we again focussed on the presenters that would go on stage at the event. Noticeable was the progress we all made compared to the week before and it showed that we were ready for the event. Sure, we still had some minor tips & tricks, but nothing big anymore.

Thursday came and with that, the moment of truth... All of us went on stage and what can I say... Perfection! I mean seriously... I have witnessed the event 10x and this was by far the best version with the most interesting presentations and presenters and we were definitely in the top of those presenters! Every year, after the event, all the participants are asked to rate each of the presentations and without a doubt, the ToastMaster candidates will be present in the Top 3 of this list, maybe even take all 3 spots.

There are two actions that will come out of this, the first one being a ending report towards our employer, with the request to continue the ToastMasters and open it up for the full organisation. The second action is right here on StageRebels.com, where I will start a series of articles on how to start this up for your organisation.

Writing the articles...

With some holidays in the UK, the ToastMasters in full swing and the yearly event coming up, I noticed I had a lot less time to spare for StageRebels compared to what I thought... This means that I did get around to finishing a two articles, named "Functional Gestures" and a very important article named "Be Yourself!", which can be found in the "Power-Ups!" category. Especially the second article is the one I can very much advise you to read!
Unfortunately, I was unable to find the time to write more articles.

Videos & Scripting...

As expected, nothing new came out of this and my hope is still to get some things done in June and July. Good to know is that I did get a chance to practice with some of those bluetooth lavalier microphones, which connect to your laptop and the sound of those things was amazing! The ones I tested were the Rode Wireless Go II. I found those a bit expensive for the time being, so decided to buy some more affordable ones and ended up with these "DynaBright" microphones from Amazon... Sure, the sound might not be as good as the Rode Wireless Go II, but it is still much better than the default IOS one, especially outside! Best thing is, you get two, so you can even do interviews and the likings with it :)

I also took up a quick course on the best way to make vlogs and keep it interesting, so I played around a bit with some of the things I learned, like using multiple different camera angles and switching between them :)

Social Media Update...

I posted my first posts on Instagram and Facebook! Well... It was just a test on how this "feed" and stuff works... So nothing special, but there is a start!
Given I am reusing an old account which I simply renamed, there are already 52 followers on Instagram and 20 on Facebook, so at least there is a bit of reach :)

Instagram: @rebelsonstage
Facebook: @stagerebelscom
YouTube: @StageRebels

Costs vs. Income

My goal is to keep providing all the basic information on StageRebels.com for free to those that need it, but at the same time, it does cost me time and money as well. In an attempt to just cover some of the costs, I decided to use Amazon Affiliate links. Later on I might look into other ways of getting some funds to cover (a part of) the costs, but for now I will limit it to just this. Again, the goal is to keep all the basic information for free!

Conclusion

For me personally, this month was insanely productive, but unfortunately, this was mostly for work, not so much for StageRebels.com :(

While writing this last bit for this blog, our yearly event has just ended, which also marks the end of the ToastMasters pilot group. Reflecting on those 5 sessions, they definitely made a difference for the people that joined and I will fight hard to set it up as a regular session for everyone in the company to join. I also learned a lot from these sessions and will use all this new information to update the website again and in the very near future, I will try to create a "How-To" on starting your own ToastMasters... Probably under a different name though ;)

Header Image
During our family trip to the Seven Sisters in the south of the UK, we saw these seagulls sitting and I just had to take a snap. Not sure why, just really liked the composition I guess.