Susan Rayner

I am impressed with the way our Club Officer Training went over the past few weeks, inspired even. Feedback on the recent District initiative to standardise content into a series of high-quality training modules has been excellent so far. These modules also led to further creative efforts, such as offering differing approach to problem solving when the module was presented twice at the recent London Leadership Institute.

Together, we, you are truly raising the flag of excellence all over District 91! In just a few weeks, nearly 20 people have already signed-up as Club Ambassadors. Over a dozen clubs have already Talked-Up Toastmasters and recruited over five members. Finally, countless Pathways awards have been submitted and completed.

Excellence is the fuel that makes us grow forward together!

It is the Levels that marks a member conquering his or her nerves to become a confident speaker. It is the buzz that makes guests go “Wow! I want to join this group”. It is most importantly the helping hand that mentors us into better speakers and leaders.

Onwards to greater successes.

Oh, and don’t forget to have a look at our newly created incentives board.

Let’s celebrate our 7th and newest Club so far this Toastmasters year, welcome Godalming Speakers to our District! A fine job executed by Tania, Marlane, Nikos, Janet and many more to bring this Club to our District, thank you! We have more news with 2 other Clubs expected to join our ranks in the next few days.

In March, it is time to re-double our efforts when it comes to renewals, you wouldn’t want to miss out on the amazing Toastmasters programme, would you? Please talk to your VP Membership on how best to renew your membership and I look forward to your continued growth over the coming period. And let’s remember access to Base Camp will cease on 1st April unless a membership is renewed.

It is also a fantastic time to bring a guest along to your next Club Meeting, imagine the difference you can make to somebody’s life, imagine being able to master that talk at work, that best man speech or that conference presentation. You can help someone achieve all this and more and while doing this, help your Club win the Talk Up Toastmasters Award! 

February was a particularly busy month for the extended District team with Area Directors and Division Directors leading numerous Club Officer Training (COT) and Toastmasters Leadership Institute (TLI) events across the District. A huge amount of time and energy goes into these events to offer leadership development opportunities to our Club Officers and all Members. Thank you to everyone involved.

My own efforts were focused on the District Executive Council meeting on 24^th February. The bulk of the meeting is spent on hearing updates from each Area Director, Division Director and District Leadership Team (DLT) member on how we are meeting our own goals on your behalf. We also had an update on draft plans for realignment of clubs and Areas. All the reports are available to read on the D91 website by clicking on the link: District Executive Committee – 24 February 2019

The mid-year finances have also taken up quite a bit of my time this past month. Not the most enjoyable part of my role because of ongoing problems with information from HQ, but nonetheless a very important area to ensure that we have the resources needed to continue to support our members.

I can only be District Director because I am a club member, and I try to stay grounded in that experience. I am proud to be continuing my Toastmasters journey, and to be the first member of my club to complete Level 1 in Pathways. I challenge each of you to be the Pathways pioneer in your club.

With only a third of the year remaining, we will inevitably be even more focussed on the District Goals, and Club Officers will be striving to achieve the Distinguished Club Program goals. It may at times seem that we are obsessed with the numbers. Always remember that while the numbers matter, and we all want to achieve the highest level of Distinguished that we can, what really matters is what those numbers represent in terms of making a difference to more peoples’ lives – one speech at a time.