Motivation

The VP of CL is a new officer role in Agora clubs.

Ever since Agora Speakers International was started, one of the goals was not merely creating a friendly club environment where members could learn and practice public speaking and leadership skills but also providing them with speaking and leadership opportunities outside of the club environment. Furthermore, one of the goals of Agora was letting members have an impact in their community during the learning process itself through the leadership of local projects that make a difference to people. 

We must also distinguish "Leadership" from "Management". While management can be learned to a degree by managing small teams, a club, or a higher-level Agora event, Leadership requires much greater and different skills. It can never be learned within the constraints of a structured organization.

While we will strive to reach global – either country or worldwide - deals with different entities (commercial, governmental, educational, etc.) and increase the projection of our organization, there's only so much that can be done at a global level. In fact, probably most opportunities will be local events  - fairs, conferences,  exhibitions, interest-group meetings, etc.

In terms of leadership, we face the same challenge – most opportunities to help will be local, on a small scale, tackling specific problems.

The role of the Vice President of Community Leadership

The Vice President of Community Leadership (VPCL) is a required officer role in all clubs and is in charge of centralizing all community leadership work and projects.

As the VPCL, you:

• Act as a single point of contact between the club and any external organizations interested in cooperating, including local authorities.

• Are responsible for finding both speaking, leadership, and volunteering opportunities for members.

• Are in charge, together with the VP of Education,  of determining which eligible club members are suitable for the different speaking opportunities, depending on experience and progress through the Educational Program and their time commitment and involvement with the club.

• Are in charge of coordinating the activities of the club with other Agora clubs in an area.

• Are in charge of approving proposals for leadership projects by members, including judging whether the project's scope is appropriate (neither too big nor too small), considering the leadership experience of the specific member.

• Suggest and approve individual member participation in existing leadership projects.

As with all officer roles, except for the Club President, more than one person can have the role of VPCL if the effort and time so requires, and they can enlist the help of other members for a particular task. Also,  a person can simultaneously have both a VPCL and other officer roles simultaneously for small clubs.

The VPCL should also coordinate with the VPCLs of other clubs in the area of interest to avoid duplication of efforts.   VPCLs of all clubs in an area should act cooperatively and never in a competition of "who gets this or that project or speaking opportunity". Information about available options should be shared, and the rest of the VPCLs should help VPCLs who have problems finding community leadership or speaking opportunities in the area. In fact, the end goal will be creating a worldwide database of opportunities created by VPCLs from which the members can choose.

External Public Speaking Opportunities

Members that have completed the first two blocks of the Basic Educational Program ("The First Three Projects" and "Basics of Speaking") are eligible for external public speaking opportunities.

Guidelines and suggestions on how to find and/or create external public speaking opportunities will be published once all the feedback and suggestions for this role have been received. In general, these will include:

• Lectures and workshops in schools, universities, and social action groups
• Club-organized open events
• Other public speaking organizations
• Conferences, Fairs, and exhibitions
• Club / Agora YouTube channels and podcasts
• Business networking groups and events
• Social events (weddings, parties, etc.)

Participation Requirements

When there are opportunities for external participation, extra care must be taken that they are aligned with the ideals and values of the Foundation. In particular, the following must be observed:

• External participation must be offered to all club members in a non-discriminatory way. For example, Agora Clubs may not be involved in organizations or events that ask for speakers matching a discriminatory profile ("We're looking for white males for a speaking event", "We're looking for a Christian to speak at a church event").
• Any such participation is voluntary for all club members.
• Any such participation is done on an individual basis (and never as a representation of the club, or much less of Agora Speakers International).
• These participations do not constitute any permanent partnership or association between the club and a third-party entity.

Sometimes, these participations will happen regularly and require symmetry (e.g., Agora club members speak at place X, and in exchange, members of X speak in an Agora club). In those cases, please note that:

• This regular external participation in Agora club meetings must be approved by a majority of the club members, with the approval lasting for one year. This approval may be revoked at any time by a majority of the club members.
   
• There may not be any discrimination between guests (a guest being a non-Agora member attending in any way - physically or virtually - an Agora club meeting).
   
• All guests must be able to perform the same roles regardless of where they come from and their background, and these roles must match the club registration information.
   
• All external participations are subject to the Agora educational guidelines. In particular, all participations are timed, monitored by a grammarian, must have a clear set of goals known in advance, and are evaluated according to the Agora evaluation guidelines.
   
• External participation may not require any changes to regular meeting business operations, meeting structure, or specific assignment of roles. For example, an external participant may not require that he's the first to speak or that someone, in particular, evaluates him.
   
• The leader of a meeting activity and her evaluator may not be external to the club. In other words, and specifically for prepared speeches - either the speaker or the evaluator must always be a club member.
   
• This external participation may not violate any of the Core Principles. In particular, there may not be any regular external participation from organizations that promote any particular political, ideological, or moral worldviews, and these participations may not promote any third-party organizations, services, or products.  Participation from organizations that promote pseudo-scientific worldviews is not allowed.
   
• The number of these external participations per year must be limited to the number specified in the Operational Club Requirements checklist (depending on the club type).

External Leadership Opportunities

The VPCL is also in charge of finding leadership opportunities for members. This part will be fully developed at a later stage, together with the Leadership Path publication and the guidelines for Community Projects.