Patrick Olson joined Toastmasters in 2010. At the time, he was in college and sure whatever job he did, developing his public speaking skills would be useful. He stays in Toastmasters to help others, to continue to develop his skills, and to keep his skills sharp. Patrick has seen in the past how much one’s skills can degrade by simply not practicing for six months and is unwilling to let his skills slide.
Patrick has been a club officer since 2011 and will continue to serve as a leader. His favorite club officer roles are President and VP of Education. President is a great opportunity to set the tone and vision of the club. VP of Education is both about serving the members and preparing the agendas. Patrick has previously served as both Area and Division Director. Being Area Director is great because it gives you the opportunity to connect with new individuals and to speak in front of people outside of his comfort zone.
Through growing his impromptu speaking skills, Patrick has had more experience. In 2014, Patrick went to Washington D.C. as part of the National Federation of the Blind to talk to representatives, a senator, staff members, and aides about 5 bills to either get support for or get created and supported. At each opportunity to speak to someone, there were 2-5 blind individuals to talk about the bills and one had to be prepared to speak on any of them assigned to him and answer questions. Patrick got an opportunity to speak off the cuff about volunteering at WIU-QC when students that would have spoken about it weren’t available. This led Patrick to speak on a panel at a volunteer conference. When Patrick and two other blind individuals were interviewed about a situation involving a blind person getting arrested, more clips of what he said was used due to having fewer filler words and clearer, though the others expressed similar opinions. Previously, being VP of Public Relations pushed Patrick into networking events which are outside of his comfort zone. This helped him grow greatly.