District Administration
Recognising Excellence in 2022 – 2023
On 30th July this year, we hosted your District’s Hall of Fame over a social event on London’s Southbank. The full list of those individuals and clubs recognised at this event can be found here.
For several years, we’ve recognised individual clubs with the ‘Club Excellence’ award; a recognition that goes beyond the dashboards. Clubs are recognised for some of the more intangible elements that show success aside from membership and training numbers. Examples here are contributions of members beyond the club such as in leadership positions, conducting wider Toastmasters education programs and the overall ‘feeling’ someone gets if they visit such a club.
Why not visit one of the clubs listed and discover the magic?
We also recognise clubs who have suffered a little but bounced back over the course of a Toastmasters program year with the Phoenix Award.
Due to the nature of our organisation, we celebrate milestones and length of service largely through education achievements. For example, to become a Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM), individuals must complete several projects and leadership service over a period which make it quite a milestone when achieved. I know this year’s team have a renewed emphasis on length of member service and anniversaries.
Reflecting on my own Toastmasters career journey, I got stuck in very early on simply due to a combination of my own curiosity and others opening doors for me. As a result, I wanted to pay this forward by recognising new members who had dived straight in and added value outside of their club in their first 12-18 months of membership.
After the May elections, many individuals start to wind down. This year, we felt compelled to recognise a District Officer who kicked it up a gear in the final stretch with the District Mission Award. This year, to the best of my knowledge, was the first time District 91 issued the Communication and Leadership Award. This award recognises someone who has made significant impact in a community under these categories and need not be a Toastmasters member.
Spreading the footprint of what we do is a collective responsibility. Two members were handpicked by our Public Relations Manager for their consistency of effort. A key function or mission of the district is to ‘build new clubs’ and as we stepped out of the pandemic 6 new clubs (all corporate!) were recognised with the Pioneer Award. This is testament to the fact that companies see the value of our program for their employees.
Every now and then we get asked if there are criteria for the main awards i.e., Toastmaster of the Year, Division Director of the Year and Area Director of the Year. The simple answer is – yes! There are checklists that act as a guide for these and often it is quite clear at some point in the year who the recipient will be. In some cases, the deciding factor may be because of something an individual has contributed (often quietly) to the cause or overall mission.
In my deliverance speech at the May Hall of Fame, I referred to the fact that I searched high and low for the checklist for the District Director’s Award. This one is understandably quite subjective, and you can find out why here.
I didn’t get off Scot free, though. There’s a certain type of speech known as a roast in which the subject matter is often someone leaving a role. When it became clear that this was about to happen, I was incredibly nervous however couldn’t help but choke up at the affection that came through not one but four roasts! One was delivered by immediate past District Public Relations Manager, Chris Arning and can be watched back here.
I once again thank the 2022-2023 District Leadership Team for their service, commitment, secret scheming to put this on, and for their friendship – a lovely byproduct of working intensively in a team for 12-15 months.
As ever, thank to event photographer Chris Bovell from Blaqpix for capturing special moments. You can view the photos here Password: Limin
Rupa Datta
Immediate Past District Director 2023-24
A Toastmaster’s Thanksgiving Toast
It’s November and that means Thanksgiving for Americans who have so much to be thankful for! Like chunky chocolate chip cookies, plentiful pecan pies and bountiful buffalo wings! Last time I asked for the latter the take-away container was bigger than a London flat!
On this side of the Atlantic many Brits will also celebrate the day, as it marks the plight of the Pilgrim Fathers who admittedly, were the first ‘anti-Brexiteers’, as in they voted to leave … the UK. In many ways the Mayflower crossing was similar to Brexit: costly, never-ending and like many UK politicians, many didn’t survive.
Politics aside, I’m a Thanksgiving fan! If the Pilgrim Fathers were running away from religious persecution, Thanksgiving gives us a chance to run away from ‘Health Gurus’ persecution and do what is innate in every human: PIG OUT! Oink, oink, burp, burp, ‘I want more!’.
My love for Thanksgiving started when I was a child and my family moved from Spain to upstate New York, to a town so near the Canadian border. that we were considered ‘exotically foreign’. (Unlike my cousins who had moved to Texas and were called ‘idiot immigrants’). Canadian influence was so great no one thought ‘socialism’ was the end of the free world, as many crossed the border to get free medical care.
Thanksgiving Dinner was proof that we were fully integrated and living the American Dream. My family and I felt like we were part of Norman Rockwell’s ‘Freedom from Want’, except louder and browner.
I still love that painting although today many argue it’s not politically correct. There are reasons for this. Let’s start with granny’s apron. It’s our feminist’s view that if grandma is wearing an apron, so should Grandpa! Why isn’t he helping? The fact that all he’ll do is carve the bird is turkey sexism!
Another offending theme is the lack of ‘Diversity and Inclusion’. Where are the African Americans, Asian Americans, Oriental Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, Aussie Americans and Swedish Americans (who are, by the way, whiter!). My humble suggestion is to paint the UN assembly having Thanksgiving dinner and add some drag queens to be safe. As for the LGBT community, they’re probably in the painting, but locked up in the closet. It’s the 1940’s.
Let’s not forget the turkey itself. Animal rights groups want proof that the bird was free range and locally sourced from a humane farmer. Extremists insist the bird should be replaced by tofu. Apparently, you can carve tofu into a turkey shape.
Then there’s my American cousin Katie, who celebrates Thanksgiving in a big way. I say big as she is a plus size model and ‘YES!’ she is going to eat four helpings because it’s her livelihood! Katie finds the painting very offensive as it does not show any ‘curvy size’ eaters.
Which leads me to the final point. The painting’s name: ‘Freedom from Want’. Well, that’s a downright lie, isn’t it? In today’s Western World a turkey, couple of celery sticks and some jelly won’t feed a five-year-old.
So here is my Toastmaster’s Thanksgiving toast, ‘Change the name to ‘Freedom to Ask for More!’ and add the following:
A vegetarian option. Let’s face it those celery sticks won’t fill the gap … where’s the kale? AKA ‘that green stuff that tastes like newspaper’.
A vegan option (otherwise they’ll start with their martyr–no-one-understands-me tweets), not to mention they could choose to die of hunger at your home and no home insurance covers that.
Add the whey free, gluten free, pineapple & peanut free, salt-free, sugar-free, lactose free, yolk free and free- of- anything else- I- have- missed options. You don’t want to be accused of discriminating diners who are ‘Dietary Challenged’.
Oh! And don’t forget to add ham, lamb, cow and pig for out-of-touch-have-no-clue Cro-Magnon meat eaters like me.
I’ll stop now … I’m getting hungry. Time for my double salami, sausage and serrano ham sandwich.
Before I go, here’s my fail proof recipe for kale:
Dye an old newspaper with green food colouring. Dry thoroughly. Shred and drizzle with some olive oil.
Fools them every time.
Have a great Thanksgiving!
——–
Sonia Aste is a Harvard MBA, Engineer, Meng, and a proud Toastmaster at Riverside Communicators Club.
More from Sonia on her website, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram
Appreciation & Gratitude
While Toastmasters is giving us a development platform to excel in our communication and leadership, we receive appreciation and gratitude by showing up for others.
I like to SHOUT OUT my appreciation and gratitude to my DUTCH mother, for not only giving me a VOICE to share but also for being so brave to adopt 3 children at the ages of 5, 7, and 9, my father left behind in Turkey from a previous marriage.
…and, yes, I was that little 5-year-old.
You can say I am lucky to have 2 mothers and 3 birthdays:-)
But it’s not that simple because:
1. My DUTCH mum passed away far too long ago and has missed seeing my beautiful girls grow up into ladies with their own unique VOICE…
2. and as to my TURKISH mum however beautiful she is, the lack of not being able to communicate in the same language, nor living in the same country, makes it hard to connect…
Why am I talking about this you may wonder…
Well, this month, 24 years ago I gave birth to my oldest daughter, and I am feeling sad not to be able to share this with my mothers.
It was my daughter who sparked this off last week by saying “Mum, I really like to celebrate my birthday with you” a question I have never been able to ask my mothers.
I feel blessed… that I can jump in the car to be with my daughter in London to celebrate….
I feel blessed…that I can jump in the car to be with my Toastmasters family to celebrate our Humorous and Table Topics winners to the next level, this month.
What are you most grateful for?
P.S. …as to the 3rd birthday, that’s a story for another day. 🙂
Living the Dream
Last week, for the first time, I really felt the benefits of my Toastmasters public speaking training.
I joined toastmasters on the edge of the pandemic, with a mix of online and masked in-person meetings at my local club. Like many of my club mates, I am a natural introvert, who recognises the importance of being able to confidently speak in public. Also, like many in my club I am not a native English speaker, so I treasure the opportunity to improve my English.
I clearly remember my first public speaking experience. I foolishly agreed to be the presenter of my primary school graduation event, where I moderated an evening for my classmates’ parents in the local theatre, whilst also having a role in the musical itself. I was terrified. My mum helped me calm my nerves, but it was not easy, and I embarrassingly stumbled my way through the evening, hoping nobody would remember.
This terrible experience prevented me from taking any speaking assignments for many years, until I ended up in the corporate world, where I got involved in project group discussions and board meetings, and I was asked to present technical projects to increasingly large groups of staff. I found that when speaking about technical topics that I well understood, to a safe, captive audience of fellow professionals, I was not laughed at, and could engage in meaningful debates. I felt my nervousness dropping with every opportunity.
As things go, I then moved into a job that included much bigger public speaking challenges. I got involved in social media communication and online marketing, which initially consisted of writing text messages, often fluffed up with photographs and infographics. But anyone familiar with the online media industry knows that nowadays video rules.
I withstood the pressure to move into video until a few years ago. I started experimenting with explainer videos at events and got immediate success. Supported largely by positive feedback from my partner, I continued making short ‘citizen journalist’ videos from events, which became increasingly well viewed by my online audiences.
This initial success became my reason to join Toastmasters. The type of videos that I produce are basically a series of table topics, where I ask myself a simple question, which I answer from the top of my head, in a single take, which I then immediately post online. Speed of posting and authenticity are critical, so I need to be confident, seem knowledgeable, have a structure, and have a clear take away point. These are all things that Toastmasters teaches, so I am finding great value in my pathway and the feedback I receive at my club meetings.
Now Table Topics is one thing, but full-blown speeches are another. A few weeks ago, I was invited to present at a workshop organised by the United Nations. This annual workshop, about ‘Space technology for the benefit of socio-economic development’ is held in a different country every year. It consists of a series of presentations and panel discussions with specialists from all over the world, and I was selected to be one of the speakers and panellists on the topic of space education, with an opportunity to give a 10-minute speech in front of a global audience of about 200 people, in Azerbaijan, of all places.
The presentation format was very traditional. Five or six speakers behind a table on stage, all working their way through text-heavy PowerPoint presentations on incredibly detailed topics, most of them reading their slides from a laptop in front of them, basically breaking all the rules and ignoring all the good advice that Toastmasters provides.
I decided to do things differently. I removed all but the most essential bullet points from my slides, leaving a few images only. I learned my speech by heart, which I find very difficult and is by far my most frequent topic of feedback at the Toastmasters meetings. I stood up from the safety of the table and my laptop, to face the audience from the edge of the stage, looking them directly in the eyes. I started with a question. I introduced short silences after important points. In contrast to some other speakers, I actually HAD a point. I closed with a simple take away message. I even finished exactly when the 10-minute countdown clock ticked zero. All used all the ‘tricks’ I learned from Toastmasters.
And it worked. I noticed people in the audience actually paid attention. They looked at me instead of their phone. They replied in silence to some of my reciprocal questions. They seemed engaged, nodding, laughing, clapping after some statements.
But the biggest proof was after the presentation, and after the event was over. Many people came to me to share their positive feedback, saying this was the best presentation of all, and how my point came across so clearly. The organisers told me how much they appreciated my presence, hoping I would consider coming back next year. And most importantly, several key decision makers continued the discussion about the point that I had made, triggering the debate I had intended to provoke.
From Toastmasters to the United Nations. I am thankful for the knowledge and methodology that Toastmasters provides. It may seem simple and small in our club meetings, but the impact is profound and worldwide.
Thank you, Didcot Speakers!
Remco Timmermans
Didcot Speakers