Star Performers

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Just as club have a Distinguished Club Program to recognise the achievements of clubs in serving their members, Districts also have a District Recognition Program.

Divine Divisions

We have an excellent group of leaders in our district and I’m pleased to say that all 5 of our divisions have achieved Select Distinguished Division or better.

In particular, we celebrate the achievement of Neil Coleman, Division B Director. All seven of his areas have achieved Distinguished or better.

Neil-Coleman-150x150

Congratulations also to our other Division Directors on their achievements:

Richard-Blackman-150x150 Richard Blackman, Division J Director, President’s Distinguished Division

Barry-Greenan-150x150 Barry Greenan, Division L Director, President’s Distinguished Division

 Doug New, Division H Director, Select Distinguished Division

Samir-Malak-portrait-200x300 Samir Malak, acting Division K Director, Select Distinguished Division

Awesome Areas

The following areas have achieved something very special. Excellence means doing more than the minimum required for recognition and the following Area Directors have certainly done that because 100% of their clubs have achieved Distinguished or better:

Julia-Kettlewell-150x150 Julia Kettlewell, Area 52

dawn-rowlatt-150x150 Dawn Rowlatt, Area 32

Laura-McHarrie Laura McHarrie, Area 42

Peter-Varholak-150x150 Peter Varholak, Area 58

Nick-Bailey-150x150 Nick Bailey, Area 21, plus one new club

Dudley Flynn, Area 47, plus one new club which is also distinguished!

David-Salamons-B45-Area-Director-150x150 David Salamons, Area 45, plus two new clubs

Toastmasters Year End Tips #2

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Here is the second of our series of Year End Tips for all our leaders.  We both hope that they will be helpful to both outgoing and incoming leadership teams.

Finishing off this Toastmasters Year in Style

Membership Growth – Your District Needs You!

At the beginning of this week, we were a Distinguished District and we had just welcomed in Tech Data as our newest club in Area 46. Today, as I write, we are Select Distinguished and have achieved the President’s Distinguished Goal for Club Growth.  We have had some great membership growth this week– 116 new members, including a new charter club – welcome to Payments People also in Area 46!

We are getting close – we need to register every new member and encourage them to join up this month to achieve our goal of President’s Distinguished District with 90% of our clubs being distinguished.

You can keep track of how we are doing together both on our website and on the Toastmasters International dashboard.

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High Performance Club Leadership

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Leadership is the key ingredient that makes the difference between an average club & a great club

leadershipLeadership is the key ingredient that makes the difference between an average club and a great club.  High performance leadership at club level is multifaceted and requires a combination of strategic thinking with thorough attention to detail.  It is important to remember that all club officers can make a significant impact on their club regardless of their role.  It is all down to you whether this impact will be positive or negative.

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My journey from stammer to public speaker

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By Tia Atanasova 

Why did I join Toastmasters?

I haTia Atanasovave always had a very lively, energetic, social personality.  I absolutely love being around people!  But as a child growing up with stammer, it was hard for me to find my voice.  Engaging an audience, no matter how big or small, was a deep rooted fear.  On the one hand, it made me a good listener.  But on the other hand, it was holding me back from what I wanted – to be a strong and eloquent speaker.  Not being able to express my thoughts, I spent a sufficient amount of time reading, mostly classic Russian novels, Ancient Greek literature and philosophical essays.  I ended up having so much to say, but at the same time so little confidence to stand up and do it.

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How to do a Club Success Plan..

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With Post-It Notes!

Goals Goals Goals.. yes I know the Euros are on but those aren’t the sort of goals I’m talking about…

I’m talking about your educational awards, your progress in the Toastmasters Program.

Now, not everyone wants to set goals and I’m completely fine with that. One of the many wonderful things about the Toastmasters program is the fact that it is entirely self-paced. It’s up to you when you what to do something and there are lots of people who are quite happy attending meetings and just having a good time not concerning themselves with goals and progress and recognition (oh my!)

CSP Poster 2This idea is for members and club committees who do want to set themselves goals and do so in a fun way.

I spotted this idea on the The Official Toastmasters International Members Group on Facebook.  Many thanks to incoming VP Education Kathy Shine, DTM of Cream City Communicators, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.

Her club completed Moments of Truth two weeks ago. They have already implemented several suggestions from our members and have begun to develop plans for further action that will be included in their 2016-2017 Club Success Plan.

One suggestion was to find a way to display member goals and progress in a non-threatening and non-embarrassing way for all members, and to encourage others who are taking a slower pace as they focus on building self confidence.

Their solution: they invited their members to sign their name and indicate their goal on a super-sticky post-it note, then placed them all on a large poster board marked simply as “2016-2017 GOALS.” They plan to have a second poster labelled “2016-2017 GOALS COMPLETED” and members can move their post-its from one board to the other in a simple recognition ceremony during a club meeting. What a great photo opportunity!

CSP PosterThey have several fun, colorful shapes:

  • crown shaped post-it notes for members who want to work toward their Triple Crown award
  • red apple post-its are for members who want to serve as mentors – they will be paired up with a green apple / mentee
  • dialogue post-its for people who want to attend their first conference or convention
  • other post-its for goals specific to their club, for example Club Ambassador, being part of their traveling “Cream Team” (a Capture the Banner program, which sounds a lot like Thomas the Travelling Gavel in Area 55)
  • stars for Competent Leader and Communicator awards
  • clouds for Advanced Leader and Communicator awards

It’s a Club Success Plan on a poster board! Why not try it in your club? If you do, send photos to dltdistrict91@gmail.com.