Meet A Toastmaster

Spread your wings! We’re a global family

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Lyn Roseaman,  recently visited First Hanseatic Toastmasters club in Hamburg. As she says “this feels like a good moment for us all to remember that we are part of a global family.”

global family - Toastmasters

It was First Hanseatic’s Christmas party and they made me feel very welcome. We had plenty to eat (Asian) and drink (German), washed down with a hugely warm and friendly welcome and a healthy dose of table topics. The TT started with Christmas in various countries around the world … Sorry everyone, I did my “bah humbug!” impersonation. This was followed by a good old carols sing song and then a secret santa … with a difference. We ended up debating why we should keep our presents or swap them with someone else. Needless to say, I was busy hiding the chocolate gifts!!!

A big thank you to First Hanseatic und frohe Weihnachten one and all.

Next time you find yourself away from home, try and make time to drop into a local Toasrmasters club … you never know what delights might be waiting for you.

You can see more pictures on the clubs Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/First-Hanseatic-Toastmasters/111561948917396

Jeremy Robinson competes in Semifinals World Championship of Public Speaking

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Jeremy Robinson at World Championship Public Speaking
Jeremy Robinson
Toastmasters International Speech Contest Semifinals, Las Vegas

Best of luck to Jeremy Robinson who is representing District 91 at the Toastmasters International Speech Contest Semifinals. These take place at the Toastmasters International Convention in Las Vegas.

Contest Process

Jeremy Robinson is one of 96 contestants who have risen from a pool of 30,000 participants. These participants come from clubs in 126 countries. During a six-month process of elimination through club, area, division and district speech competitions he has earned his spot in one of the ten World Championship of Public Speaking semifinals.

One winner from each semifinal speech contest will then participate in the Toastmasters World Championship of Public Speaking. One of these ten will become the 2015 World Champion of Public Speaking.

We wish Jeremy lots of luck in his semifinal. Whatever the outcome we know that he will learn a huge amount and have a great experience.

Jean Gamester DTM District Director 2015-16

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Jean_GamesterMy vision is for us to be collectively inspiring and supportive to all our members in 2015/16.

By doing this we will consistently perform as one of the top districts in the world: benefiting every club and helping members achieve their goals.

Toastmasters are experts at creating confident communicators. Let’s also focus our expertise on developing ourselves and each other into amazing leaders.

In practical terms this means sharing the best of what clubs and members do. This will develop an even stronger shared culture and a desire to take the leadership opportunities Toastmasters has to offer. I look forward to working with you all.

Here are the guiding principles and focus areas that will guide my work as District Director.

Direction and Planning

• Focussing on the long game – 3-5 years rather than just one year. Embedding what has been implemented in the past, ensuring the present is well taken care of and building strength for the future. Driving a culture where it’s expected that we will be a Presidents Distinguished District in 2015/16 and for the years that follow.
• Involving members and officers at all levels in planning and decision making. Working with them to make sure we are focussing on the right priorities so that members achieve their goals and clubs provide a brilliant learning environment. Learning from those within our district and beyond who are doing great things.
• Planning for growth – building on the great work of this year’s new alignment committee, shape the growth of the district for the long term. We will make sure we are ready to realign in a way that works for our clubs, areas and division, and ready to act when the next district reformation is required.

People & Leadership

• Developing a coaching culture where our leaders are empowering and supportive, where there is space to learn and experiment so our leaders can further develop their skills. A culture that understands that we are all volunteers and inspires us to get involved to develop ourselves and support our fellow members.
• Succession planning involving providing encouragement, development and recognition for people at all levels in the district so they develop the confidence and skills to take on new challenges, both in the short term and the long term.
• Providing opportunities for people to get involved – there are lots of ways for people across the district to get involved in driving our Toastmasters mission forward – we will raise awareness of those opportunities and provide support to help them be successful.

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Reflections of a Toastmaster two years after breaking the ice

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From Florian Bay, Area Director 2015/16

Florian with club President regalia June 2015As I came home from district officer training ten days ago, several things bubbled in my mind. Relief at having escaped a Martian tripod invading Earth. Empowerment at having reached another level in my Toastmasters journey in so many different ways. Finally, thoughtfulness at the journey taken so far, just over two years on from my icebreaker in Cheltenham Speakers.

It first heard about Toastmasters in early 2007, through some American self-help tapes I had purchased while studying in Bath. A quick search sadly only yielded a club whose meetings finished after the last train back to Bristol and Bath. But always wanting to become a better public speaker, a seed had been firmly planted in my mind. One evening in March 2013 while living in Gloucester, the search made a few times since 2007 was made again. “Oh there’s a club in Cheltenham, I could get the bus there after work on Tuesday!”

I still remember the first meeting I attended. It was the club’s speech and evaluation contest. One of the speech from this evening, ‘Beautiful people’ is still in my mind, especially the speaker’s fantastic vocal variety and use of rhymes. A fortnight later I was doing my first table topic. A fortnight after that, I was a paid-up member. The humble but oh so important role of timekeeper was mine one a month later. June 4th arrived and with it my icebreaker ‘Once upon a Franco-British dream’. A work placement in Scotland meant a pause in the journey, but the bug was there with desires of attending the Glasgow club one hour away by train suppressed with difficulty. In September 2013 the news was confirmed, I was due to be in London from October onwards! Less than a week after arriving, I attended and joined London Olympians, followed by St Paul’s Speakers in November.

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William Hagerup K59 Area Director 2015-16

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William Hagerup K59 Area Director

William Hagerup, ACB CL

William came to England from Norway in 1997. A published writer in Norwegian, he is currently writing his second novel in English. He works as Senior Associate Editor for McGraw-Hill Financials in Canary Wharf, and it was through this company’s corporate club, Speakers’ Corner, that William came to Toastmasters in May 2012. He won the Area Humorous Competition that year, became VPE in 2013 and President in 2014. As he takes over as Area Director his focus will be on raising the profile of TM in the public’s mind and ensuring that members are lifted up through quality mentoring.

Clubs in Area K59:
• Speakers’ Corner (William’s home club)
• CitiCriers
• London Trustmasters
• Lewisham Speakers Club
• Meridan Speakers Club
• Stratford London Toastmasters