Welcome as a new member of Agora Speakers International. The club that you joined is one of the many that Agora has around the world.

So now what?

As a new member, you might feel a bit overwhelmed initially, and you may even think that all the existing members are already very advanced speakers. The truth is that only one or two months ago, they were exactly where you are now. 

How to start

First and foremost, read all the introductory chapter, as well as the overview of our educational program, so that you can understand how exactly clubs work.

Ideally, you should try to participate in meetings by taking roles. It doesn't matter if you're just beginning - there's always a first time for every role.

Look at the agenda posted for the next meeting (if any), check which roles are available, and volunteer for them. Even if you don't have a role, it's important to attend club meetings - at least twice a month.

The full list of possible roles is located here. We recommend that you start with a simple role such as Timer, Grammarian,  Filler-word counter, or Thought of the day. To volunteer for a role, ask for it in the club's chat group or mailing list, or indicate it in the planning sheet.

The full documentation of Agora is located on this wiki. This is the index. It's unnecessary to read it all in one go (in fact, you might find it overwhelming). It's usually enough to read the role that you'll be performing in the meeting. Many of the roles have video tutorials on how to perform them.

You can also participate by providing your general feedback to speakers. Don't shy away from expressing how you felt during a particular speech, and don't be shy to point out if something didn't quite work well for you.  While this is not yet a formal evaluation, any constructive feedback (especially from new members) is always welcome by speakers.

Finally, ask your VP of Education or your club President to assign you a Mentor. A mentor is a more experienced member who will help you make the most out of your club membership and guide you through the first projects.

Important things:

• Attending at least twice a month - even if you don't have a role at the meeting. If you can't attend for a long period of time, let us know to avoid removing you due to inactivity.
• Most of the clubs have some internal communications channel. It may be a shared Facebook conversation, a WhatsApp or telegram group, or any other similar channel. Reading the club's group messages at least once every two days is crucial to keep up to date with changes and club news.
• Volunteer for roles and prepare them.
• Monitor our International Group, since that group is where all news about the Foundation is published

We hope that Agora is useful to you and that when you have enough experience with our format, you step up and launch your own Agora club in your city.