District Administration

A new year. A new beginning. A new focus.

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Happy New Year from the D91 Club Growth Team.

A new year, A new beginning, A new focus.

Thanks to all volunteer members of the D91 Club Growth team Emmanuel Karamagi, Ron Mayne, John Drinkwater, Sadiq Owo and Andrew Deer who have contributed immensely towards our District mission in the first half of the Toastmasters year.

 

History has shown that January of each Toastmaster year, is the best time to attract new members.

Many people begin a new year with resolutions for personal development. The start of 2024 presents us with an opportunity to renew our membership and club building focus and to engage guests by sharing the many successful Toastmasters stories with a view to bringing the best of Toastmasters to many more by actively supporting each clubs’ growth initiatives.

How can we strive for a more successful second half of the Toastmasters year? Reflecting reasons, relationships and respect.? Asking questions to focus our actions?

Reasons are the foundation of commitment, focus and success. I consistently ask our existing members why they joined, how have they benefited and what’s next. The answers to these questions highlight the 100-year growth of Toastmasters International and the 10-year success story of our district. The many reasons why we joined Toastmasters have or changed over the years and perhaps opportunities for the organisation to grow and impact many more people is increasing with advancing technologies and population trends.

 

Relationships are fundamental to successful teams and even more so in a volunteer organisation like Toastmasters. The focus on teamwork, team building, using the wealth of knowledge available within the Clubs/Areas/Divisions, encouraging going beyond our clubs to network and build new relationships is an opportunity available to all our members. There are tremendous benefits to learning and practicing how to win new friends and influence new members to join your clubs or building new clubs.

Respect is the Toastmasters International core value that underpins good relationships and effective teamwork. The diversity our members and their aspirations are a unique opportunity to learn and grow as Toastmasters.

What will define success for you as a Club or member? Do you want to organise an open house event to grow your club’s membership? Do you want to achieve Distinguished status? Do you want to organise anniversary celebration or special event or learn a new skill?

What will define success for you going beyond your club? Do you want to organise an Area open house? Do you want to setup a new Toastmasters club or support a prospective club?

 

Our district thanks to our members has made significant progress with membership growth this year and as we start the 2024 calendar year to celebrate the centenary or Toastmasters International and the 10th anniversary of District 91, I look forward to supporting you to ensure we make the second half of the Toastmasters year a greater success by focusing on building our average club membership base and building new clubs to share the benefits of Toastmasters to others.

Mo Dawodu

D91 Club Growth Director 2023/2024

2024: Relatively Clean

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2024 is here. Toastmasters are putting the finishing touches on their New Year Resolutions. Each resolution includes a detailed project plan, meticulous milestones and that stubborn self-assurance that makes people dislike us. 

Meanwhile the rest of the world are downloading last year’s list, that will do, thank you very much.

Me? I have one NYR: ‘I will never have my cousin Kathy over again’. Not being petty, but she overstayed her welcome … after the first minute! She took one look at my flat and instantly began praising the merits of decluttering and housecleaning, which she claimed had helped her succeed and create the life she wanted.

I thought how boring! In my fantasy life I want a male stripper cleaning up after me, but I didn’t interrupt her tidy enthusiasm, thinking she would leave it at that.

But no, she’s American and has never encountered the words, ‘subtle’ or ‘polite’. She turns to me and says, ‘Your New Year’s resolution HAS to be to clean this place up! It’s a dump!’   

She continues, claiming a grubby home affects all aspects of your life, including finances and sex. I’m not sure how that works, unless bank interest rates are linked to airing your dirty laundry? As for sex, add the word ‘clean’ to it and it begins to sound like a chore.

To my utter horror she hands me a copy of ‘The Life–Changing Magic of Tidying’ (Best Seller – 13 million copies sold) and says ‘This book will change your life’. Well, it definitely changed our friendship. 

I felt like giving her ‘The Life-Changing Magic of Minding Your Own Business’ (Best Seller by Sonia Aste – Gazillion Copies Sold), but I haven’t written it yet. So instead, I just complained about her to my sister, which is a lot easier. I kept thinking, ‘Two more weeks with this condescending cleaning freak?’

I’m not going to lie, there’s been a couple of ‘minor incidents’ related to being untidy. Like when a box of books fell from the top of the closet causing a slight concussion (OK, two stiches). Or the time I lost my purse, cancelled all my credit cards in a panic only to find it behind the vodka bottles.

In contrast, Kathy’s house is hyper clean and tidy. It’s so clean the ‘white glove’ test wouldn’t be allowed, unless she washed it first. This is a woman that washes her Fairy Liquid bottle! In her house even Mr. Muscle has self-doubts.

The thing is she enjoys it. I’ve heard her proclaim, ‘Housecleaning gives me a sense of accomplishment’. Accomplishment?! That’s like people that love doing their tax returns! Surely something went seriously wrong with their DNA sequence. 

Besides, cleaning is sooo overrated! Look at rhinos mating. They don’t let a little mud stop them from getting on with the job, proving Kathy’s spotless suggestions just muddy the waters of pleasure.

Now take my great aunt Carmen. Her house is not yet, ‘Hoarders, Buried Alive’, but it’s in the mail. ‘Junk’ mail that is. Nevertheless, I love visiting her because she’s living proof that happiness has nothing to do with your home looking like the ‘Immaculate Conception’. (I was raised a Catholic – trust me that’s clean.)

What if I have to clutter-surf to get to her toilet? There’s comfort knowing there’s enough loo rolls for every backside in the world and sufficient bars of soap to clean at least one Glastonbury festival goer.

My great aunt went through the Spanish Civil war, so all that ‘stuff’ reassures her and gives her joy. She hoards items that were scarce in those years, like coffee, olive oil, hand grenades. A little scary, but no more terrifying than Kathy plastic coating her Chesterfield sofa ‘So it doesn’t get dirty’.

Maybe it’s just a matter of finding a middle ground. Somewhere that’s comfortable, but still leaves you with joy and happiness. Something like, ‘Keep my home relatively clean’. I’ve already started on this NYR. As a first step I’m throwing away things I don’t need. First to go ‘‘The Life–Changing Magic of Tidying’ (13 million copies sold). Minus one.

Happy New Year.

 

Sonia Aste is a Harvard MBA, Engineer, Meng, and a proud Toastmaster at Riverside Communicators Club.  More from her on website, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram

Division J Nativity Play

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Just taking a break from the rehearsals from the Division J Nativity play to wish everyone a Happy Christmas from the Thames Valley & Welsh clubs.

Our Area Directors are enthusiastically practicing their lines – John Christie is simply divine as an angel and Helyn Ashford is perfectly cast as the Welsh Virgin Mary.

We end the year on 464 members in our five areas and we are targeting at least 600 members by the end of the Toastmaster year which would make us one of the strongest Divisions in the District. January is the perfect time to get new people in and take advantage of New Years resolutions.  Encourage friends to come along and make 2024 a perfect year for your club.

If you work for a company with more than 500 employees, have you considered setting up a corporate club?  HID Global did that earlier this year and became the 23rd club in the Division and has brought Toastmasters to a brand-new audience in South Wales.

For those who have been finding Toastmasters less challenging, Division J is also proud to be setting up an advanced club, Oxford International, an on-line only club for those who want to look towards being a professional speaker.

Division J in the first half of the year also had the most Club Officers trained in the District.  Only 3 clubs failed to get four or more officers trained in the summer – we are expecting every club to hit the target this winter – training is open until 29th Feb (yes, it’s a leap year!).

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to help our District Newsletter team out of the donkey outfit… the zipper broke and they’ve been in there for hours!  I’m coming Nikita!!!

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