by Joyce Piñero
“Toastmasters is Toastmasters is Toastmasters no matter where you are; and Toastmasters’ people are Toastmasters are Toastmasters everywhere – warm, friendly, engaging, intelligent, wonderful.” Emily Murray, DTM, should know; she’s visited over 100 different clubs throughout Asia, Europe, New Zealand, and the United States.
Emily joined Toastmasters just over 20 years ago while she was teaching English at a girl’s school in Neihu, Taiwan. The club was filled with warm, engaging, friendly Taiwanese who were working on their English. She felt “at home” and continued visiting for six months before making the decision to join.
In general, her club in Taiwan looked exactly like the clubs in the States: the same format, the same roles, the same people. The one difference was the added role of “Language Evaluator” which was more detailed than Grammarian and served in a similar capacity to General Evaluator. The Language Evaluator reviewed the entire meeting, providing specific linguistic evaluation to encourage Taiwanese speakers to speak English like natives. Instead of saying “Don’t want to,” which is a direct translation, they were encouraged to say, “No” as a native would.
Emily has deep affections for her Taiwanese club. She earned her first DTM there. Twenty plus years later, she still considers them her home club and often joins them for meetings online.
After leaving Taiwan, Emily moved to New Zealand, where she immediately found a Toastmasters club. There too the people were inviting, open, and welcoming; she felt like she was at home.
She began visiting Toastmaster clubs wherever she traveled because no matter where she went Toastmasters were her family. In over 20 years, and 100+ clubs, she has only been made to feel unwelcome at one, which still makes her angry when she thinks about it, because that’s not how Toastmasters are.
Recently, she flew to Hong Kong. She found a club and called to let them know she was coming. They responded by asking if they could pick her up, take her to eat, and show her around. “It’s like having family no matter where you go!” She exclaimed. Wonderful people, no matter which club you visit. “I love that!”
As she’s settled in North Texas the last few years and become involved in D25 leadership, one of her goals is to encourage people to visit clubs outside their own.
She helped design a program (originally called Nemilta) which has rolled into Destination: Become One Passport. Individual Toastmasters are rewarded for visiting one club in each of the seven districts of D25 and serving in a role in each.
