I met Raj nearly 4 years ago via the Official Toastmasters Member Group on the LinkedIn social media site. He posted in the group that he needed some guidance for a speech project he was doing. No one in his club had done that particular project.

By the way, Raj lives in the United Arab Emirates, half way round the world from Denver, Colorado where I live.

Reaching out to Raj was one of the first times I offered to help a complete stranger via a social media site. Since we were both members of Toastmasters International, he didn’t exactly feel like a complete stranger. Yet in many ways he was.

 

Over the years, Raj and I have stayed in touch, both via LinkedIn and just through regular email. I am honored that he calls me his Toastmaster mentor. Since I met him, I have advised him on matters relating to leadership as well as to public speaking. And he has provided great ideas to me.

Recently Raj asked me if I knew anyone who had started a gavel Toastmasters club.  He and some of his fellow members of his Apple Toastmasters club were in the process of creating a gavel club for children in their area.

Here is how Toastmasters International describes a gavel club:

Gavel clubs are a way of providing Toastmasters’ self-improvement methods and materials to people who may be ineligible for regular membership due to age, inability to pay dues or other circumstances. Gavel clubs provide Toastmasters members and clubs with an excellent opportunity for community service. They can be found in high schools, colleges, rehabilitation institutions, hospitals and elsewhere.

Read more at: http://www.toastmasters.org/Members/MemberExperience/SatellitePrograms/GavelClubs.aspx

 Immediately I thought of my Toastmasters friends Alex and Pattie, both of whom support a gavel club in a local correctional facility for women. So, I put them in touch with Raj.

They were able to provide Raj with specific suggestions for how to both start such a club and how to keep one going. I felt like a proud matchmaker as I was copied in their exchanges of emails.

Apple Gaveliers, open to children 12-18, will launch on November 24, 2012, all because there are some very generous Toastmasters who want young people to also improve their communication and leadership skills.

Who have you met via social media whom you then matched with someone else you knew? Maybe you matched them with another social media buddy. Or maybe it was with someone you know in person.

For me, a lifelong matchmaker and connector, being part of social media provides countless opportunities to help bring people together in positive and exciting ways.

 

Joyce Feustel, Founder of Boomers’ Social Media Tutor, helps people relatively new to social media to become more effective and comfortable in their use of this medium. Find her at www.boomerssocialmediatutor.com