Susan Rayner

Demystifying the role of the Club Growth Director

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Demystifying the role of the Club Growth Director Having read a number of Area Director visit reports, one of the things that struck a chord with me is that many of you may not know what the District Leadership Team does and what other roles are available within our great organisation. I thought I’d focus … Read more

Growth Together

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Growth Together We were delighted so many of our members renewed and we were fortunate enough to attract new members as well We have already started planning for next March’s renewals! Firstly we are always looking for ways to attract and retain members to give ourselves a solid base. Our team ensures at least one … Read more

Reflections from our Program Quality Team

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The Toastmasters calendar has plenty of fixed points that we all work with.

Your Area Directors have been busily completing the first round their Area Visit reports for your clubs.

Now your Area Directors are gearing up, with the Division Directors, to hold Toastmasters Leadership Institutes (TLI), in January and February. The TLI events are open to all members to attend, with the bonus for club officers, that attendance at TLIs counts towards their club’s officer training record. There will also be further Club Officer Training (COTs) events across the District.

Why attend training? TLIs and COTs are a great opportunity to review your Club Success Plans and track how far your club has come on your goals set and along with the Distinguished Club Program (DCP). This is often the time to re-consider how the plan is panning out, network with fellow officers, share ideas and tweak your club’s success plans.

Contests

As contest session for the autumn draws to a close, I trust you have all enjoyed the imagination of our fellow members as much as I have. With such brilliant nonsense, hilarious humorous stories spun and weaved to make us laugh. With table topics answers that hinged on tall tales. It has been fantastic to join all your events and be duly entertained. For all the Division Contest winners, congratulations, and see you at the District finals in May.

Trainers Bureau

November saw the first virtual “From Speaker to Trainer” sessions delivered to a blended audience of members from both District 91 and District 71. In total 17 Toastmasters were coached in the dark art of training (as opposed to speaking) by one of our 5-Star capable trainers, Sam Warner.

This course covers comprehensively how to design and create a training course or session, which is quite different from writing a speech. All the component parts are revealed from setting the objectives and gap analysis, through to handling a difficult audience and evaluating the course success. Delivered using Zoom for the first time, it was pacey, packed with information and the participants had no chance to doze off with the interactive segments and exercises.

If you are interested in attending the next course, it is being held on Friday evening on 5 and 12 February 2021. It will be online, using our friend, Zoom. You need to attend both sessions to get your certificate. It is completely FREE to attend. I will be taking the lead as Trainer for the February sessions. Further training sessions will be announced in the new year.

District Webinar Series

The benefits and value of our membership shine brightly, as members have stepped forward to deliver and present, webinars. So far, our webinars have covered everything from; personal resilience, getting paid to speak, managing your energy, starting new clubs, running successful contests, youth leadership, speechcraft, closing the sale and a regular for our Area Directors, their huddle. Plus it was a District highlight to hold the inspirational interview with Toastmasters International Second Vice President, Morag Mathieson.

The District webinars are held on Sunday evenings, the virtual doors open at 18:45. The webinars commence at 19:00 and run through to 20:00. Our District PQD Webinar Manager, Andy Hessey will greet you. The December webinars are already in place. The next tranche will be ready soon for the new year. To register, go to the District 91 website, you can click the link on the District Calendar or go to the Webinar page.

Thank you to all that took part in the series and for those members that have attended and supported these events.

The power of an invitation

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Do you remember receiving invitations to birthday parties when you were younger or a ‘save the date’ card through the post for a wedding or other function? Do you remember how that made you feel? In an age where everything is digital, it’s hard for us to cut through the noise. Perhaps this is even more so, as clubs are operations have moved online. To that end, personalisation may be that much more important.

Reflecting on some invitations this month:

  • I’d been invited to serve as General Evaluator at a club other than my own – which I’d accepted. A role that continues to be a privilege and an honour to undertake
  • As a District, we’d been invited to participate in a marketing festival. We accepted this and ran a demo session for their audience – another way to promote Toastmasters to an external audience
  • We concluded our first virtual Speechcraft in the District – in the final session, it is customary to invite participants to join Toastmasters if they would like to continue their learning journey

There are many reasons to extend an invitation and most would graciously accept. Sadly, I’ve also had to turn down a few invitations to attend contests in the last few weeks. However, on the subject of contests, let’s check in on David and Carmen. Both actually had a go at competing in their club contests because the Contest Chair invited them to do so! David went on to win Table Topics!

This month, I’d like to introduce a returning member. Rob was a member of a community club and served on its committee about 5 years ago. He then went on to serve on the committee at his workplace club for a year or two and then had a break due to other commitments. He’s recently rejoined and getting back into the swing of things.

Whether it be responding to a guest enquiry, asking for someone to help with a project or an event at your club, or asking a guest if they’d like to return or join your club – most of us take the next step when invited to do so. Who will you next extend an invitation to?

Rupa Datta
District 91 Club Growth Director 2020-2021

Program Quality Team Update

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Reflecting on educational goals.

It is fantastic to view the Daily Reports (available on the Dashboard) and note we are over the 400 mark. With 17 of our members achieving the Triple Crown Award for completing three or more educational awards. Congratulations to all our members that have achieved an award so far.

Relaunch of the District 91 Trainer Bureau

The new District 91 Trainer Bureau has been created to serve the clubs and members. It provides a full printable/downloadable profile of each trainer so the clubs will know the background and experience of the Toastmaster member they book for events (based on our very own training content and additional roles). The members joining the Trainer Bureau will be recognised and rewarded for their achievements, reflected in a 5-star rating. For our 5-Star trainers, there will be a formal award/trophy to commemorate this achievement at the end of the first year they achieve it.

Toastmasters International has to demonstrate that the things we learn here are relevant to the outside world and the new Trainer Bureau offers us an opportunity to replicate the way professional trainers are engaged and booked. This means providing a full profile and the templates for consultation, contract agreement and feedback.

Whilst some members may already be delivering training professionally outside of Toastmasters and may have undertaken external training in that area, we are unable to assess the quality of that training, so this bureau is specifically for members that are fully experienced in major aspects of the Toastmasters training programme and additional roles, and who are delivering appropriate training to Toastmasters events. This doesn’t mean that other members that do not fit the criteria cannot be trainers. We have a strong network on Facebook, WhatsApp and email that will allow members who are not in the bureau to deliver training.

The Program Quality Team are creating opportunities for members to fulfil some of the criteria, such as Speaker to Trainer courses (three are planned as virtual online sessions in the evenings on 13 & 20 Nov, 05 & 12 Feb & 19 & 26 March) and/or delivering one of the weekly webinars for the District via Andy Hessey.

The Trainer Bureau 5-star system – is cumulative e.g. to be a 3-star trainer – you would also have had to complete the criteria for 1 and 2 stars.

Completed at least CC, or Level 2 Pathways equivalent and served on a club committee for a minimum of 12 months
Completed “From Speaker to Trainer” course as trainer or attendee and have completed a High-Performance Leadership (HPL) Project
Delivered one club educational, and an Area/Division workshop at Club Officer Training (COT), or District Officer Training (DOT) or Toastmasters Learning Institute (TLI) (Minimum 20 minutes each)
Recorded one webinar for the District, and organised and delivered a Youth Leadership Program (YLP) or Speechcraft Course
Delivered a workshop or keynote at District conferences or International Convention

We already have 7 people in the new Trainers Bureau and any member can apply from the new District 91 website.

District Webinar Series

The webinar series is going from strength to strength with some great sessions recently on both Toastmaster and non-Toastmaster subjects including How to get paid to speak, a wonderful session on Speechcraft and tips for successfully setting up a new club.
There are still plenty of amazing webinars to come before Christmas and they are all listed on the D91 website. For those members who haven’t seen any of these sessions, they are as relevant to new members as they are to those who are long-standing members of the organisation.
We are currently putting together the programme from January – June 2021 so if you have a webinar you would be interested in seeing or even presenting one yourself, please contact Andy Hessey.