Susan Rayner

Thien Trang wins world semi-final

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Many congratulations to to Thien Trang Nguyen Phan our District 91 International Speech Champion who is through to the final of the 2016 World Championship of Public Speaking!! (having won her semi-final)

pictured here: Jean Gamester, Thien, Pedro Casillas, Vanessa King

Thien

Message from our International President

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August 8, 2016Dear Toastmasters Leader,

On behalf of your Board of Directors I offer greetings and I thank you. We appreciate your tireless efforts to support club excellence and member achievement and to engage so many others in the benefits of Toastmasters.

The International Convention is fast approaching and with it the Annual Business Meeting and elections on August 20. At this meeting, clubs via their proxyholders, and delegates at large will elect new members to the Board of Directors and vote on important proposals. We encourage you to stay informed and vote using your best judgment in the best interests of our members, clubs and our growing organization. As you vote to select people to the next Board please consider each candidate’s experiences, skills, and ability to contribute to the board as we execute our strategy focused on members, clubs and broader engagement. You can learn more about the candidates and proposals here:

www.toastmasters.org/officercandidates
www.toastmasters.org/directorcandidates
www.toastmasters.org/2016-proposals

The people you elect to the board of directors are members first and take very seriously the responsibility you have entrusted us with. Recently, you may have received communication that questions the trustworthiness and validity of the Board’s decisions as they relate to financial responsibility.

As you’re aware, earlier this year the Board announced an increase in membership dues. This decision was not taken lightly or without significant discussion and analysis. The Board continues to believe this decision was the right one in order to ensure continuity and significant improvements in services and programs for members, clubs and volunteer leaders at all levels of the organization. Membership dues fund day-to-day service, operations and program development. Reserves and investment income are set aside to support long-term infrastructure, development needs and unforeseen factors that could affect service and continuity. You can learn more about the dues increase here:

www.toastmasters.org/Dues-FAQs

There also has been discussion and critique of the salary paid to our Chief Executive Officer and senior staff. Your Board considers compensation following specific methods and processes, including legal requirements, to ensure that pay is fair, reasonable and comparable to other organizations of similar size and type in Southern California. We engage outside consultants to study compensation norms and trends and provide the Board with ranges that ensure that our staff members are reasonably and appropriately compensated. Our pay scales range from the 65th to 75th percentiles for each role. No staff member exceeds the 75th percentile. Our staff, by these measures and in our collective judgement and organizational responsibilities, are reasonably compensated.

Many of you will recall that Nobel Prize recipient Mohammed Yunus received the Golden Gavel award at last year’s International Convention and spoke to us about Toastmasters and other ‘social businesses.’ In his book Building Social Business, he wrote this regarding staffing and compensation:

‘many people assume that employees of a social business don’t get paid well…’

‘that’s a very wrong idea’

‘a social business has to attract talent from the same labour market that for-profit companies plumb. That means offering competitive salaries and benefits.’

Commenting as a member, I’m disappointed to see questions related to individual salaries discussed publicly. Commenting as International President I want you to have confidence in the work your board performs to see that our capable staff members are treated fairly and that our finances are managed well to enable service to our members, clubs and volunteer leaders around the world.

Toastmasters is an amazing organization that has changed the lives of so many. Your life and my life have been positively impacted by Toastmasters. I’m proud of our past and excited for our future. I look forward to seeing many of you in Washington, D.C.

Sincerely,
Jim Kokocki, DTM
International President 2015-2016
Toastmasters International
www.toastmasters.orgPlease feel free to share this message with Division, Area and Club leaders and individual members.

This message has been sent to current Club Presidents, District Directors, Program Quality Directors, Club Growth Directors, Administration Managers, Public Relations Managers, Finance Managers and all Past District Directors/Governors, as well as Region Advisors, Past International Presidents, Past International Directors, Past Region Advisors and International Officer/Director Candidates.

Read more

Core Values Exercise for the DLT

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On the 4-5 June 2016 the incoming District Leadership Team travelled to Wellow, near Bath, to get to know each other and plan for the year ahead. One of the exercises we did was to write a sentence about what each of the Core Values means to us, and I thought you might be interested to know…

Integrity:
  • Picking up poo when no-one’s looking (yes, really!)
  • Sticking to what you said, even when it’s hard
  • Congruency, commitment, responsibility
  • Always doing what’s right, even when it’s inconvenient or hard
  • Would I/my mum be proud?
Respect:
  • Listening
  • Treat others as you’d like to be treated
  • Not judging
  • Acknowledge others’ points of view
  • Fairness
  • Being able to see their side
  • Realising that we all have our own truth and story
Service:
  • What do you need?
  • Enabling development
  • How can I help?
  • Not expecting anything back
  • Pay it forward
  • Helping others to be successful
  • Says yes, being counted
  • It’s all about them
Excellence:
  • How can I make it a little better?
  • Dedication
  • Inspect what you expect
  • Being the best we can with what we have at that moment
  • Do the right thing rightly
  • Bringing good practices forward
  • As well as you can, as long as the other values are served

What do the Core Values mean to you?

Vanessa King, District Director 2016-17

One More Toastmasters Day

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Well here we are, the final day of the Toastmasters year, and the final day for all of us in our 2015-16 roles.    As the dog walked me this morning, I reflected on the boundless effort and enthusiasm I could see all across the district this year and especially this last month as we got closer to the end.

It is extraordinary to me that we have so many people doing so much for the sake of our members and not one of us is paid.    Not paid in money anyway.  But of course we all know that everything we give we get back in the satisfaction we get from seeing others grow, and from growing ourselves as we stretch ourselves in our roles.  What is it from this year that will give you the greatest satisfaction when you look back on this last Toastmasters year?  Who have you helped? what have you learned?

For me, it has been being part of a team that gave me permission way up front at the beginning of the Toastmasters year to switch my leadership style towards the end to being a Pacesetting Leader.  If you read up on Daniel Goleman, the emotional intelligence guru, he will say that the ideal leadership style is Authoritative – set the outcome and let your people find their own approach to getting there.  But he says that there are times to switch into being a pacesetter, to drive the action and I think coming up to the end of the Toastmasters year is one of them.  I would never have felt comfortable doing it without the permission and encouragement of our team and I have learned loads from driving the pace in a thoughtful way this last month.

So, as your pacesetting leader, let me say – “One More Day!”

  • One More Day to register the members and educational awards you know you have, but were holding back to make next year a little bit easier.  Be brave!  Believe you can do even better next year.
  • One More Day to register your club officer lists on TI
  • One More Day to submit Nominations for Recognition for members, clubs, area directors and division directors
  • One More Day to thank the people who helped you achieve your goals, and those of your members, clubs, areas and divisions while you are still in post.

I know that all over the district there are stories of great achievement and personal success and behind every number on the dashboard, there is a tale to tell.  Here’s where we are right now;

  • 10% of our clubs are Presidents Distinguished this morning
  • 85% of our clubs are Distinguished or higher
  • We have 12% club growth with a 17 new clubs this year
  • We have 10% more members than we did this day last year – an additional 409 people
  • 33 people achieved Triple Crowns – that is 3 or more different educational awards
  • 635 educational awards were achieved by our members.

We are 54 member payments away from being a Presidents Distinguished District with one and maybe two clubs to complete chartering today.  That means that we need between 34 and 10 additional member payments across the district today.  So the pace is set for this final day – please do what you can to help us achieve this goal together.

I will be back in touch with you in Mid July when the dust settles to let you know how we got on and to celebrate all we have achieved this Toastmasters Year.  Thank you for your amazing service so far.  Best of luck for this one more day, and for your roles in 2016 17!

Jean

 

Your soon to be on holiday,

District 91 Director,

Jean Gamester,

Toastmasters UK South

Recognition Nominations

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District Nominations of the Year

 

After a busy 2015/2016 Toastmaster’s year, it’s time to reflect, recognise and acknowledge good deeds carried out during the year by handing out awards.  First of all, we need to receive your nominations.  Please complete the form and email back to Helena Brewer by 30 June.

Now is your opportunity to nominate someone or a club for one of the following awards: –

  • Toastmaster of the Year

  • Area Director of the Year
  • Division Director of the Year
  • Club of the Year

And one very special additional nomination – the person and/or club that has made the best leap forward this year!

I look forward to receiving your nominations.

Helena Brewer