First Notice of District Council Meeting 7 November 2015
Dear District Council Member,
The next District Council Meeting will be held on Saturday 7 November at 11.30am at the Marriott Hotel Swindon, Pipers Way, Swindon, SN3 1SH.
Members of the District 91 District Council are Club Presidents, Club Vice Presidents Education, Area Directors, Division Directors and District Leadership Team members.
Motions: Any motions should be sent by Monday 5 October to me at helena@redberrymedialtd.com or 4 Windsor House, Chairmakers Close, Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire, HP27 9BY.
Proxy voting: In order for our District Council to conduct business, there needs to be a quorum of a third of all Club Presidents and Vice Presidents Education (VPEs). Therefore it is really important that each President or VPE either attends or looks for a member in good standing from their club to carry their vote (a proxy). If you are sending a proxy, please fill in the form attached to this message and give it to the person you want to carry your vote. Note that other District Council members cannot send a proxy, just club Presidents and VPEs.
Please note that you need to be logged onto the District 91 website in order to access this form.
As a District Executive Committee member you are invited to attend DEC meeting and dinner being held at 7:45pm on Friday 6 November at the Marriot Hotel Swindon.
Registration: All voters for the District Council Meeting must register with the Parliamentarianat the Conference in advance of the Council Meeting in order to get credit for their vote. Registration will close at 11am on Saturday 7 November.
The Conference: This meeting is one of the key items on the programme for the District’s Great Western Conference in Swindon. To find out more about the conference, including how to register, please click here.
See you in Swindon!
Helena Brewer
District 91 Administration Manager
September Update and review of the TMI Convention and District Leader Training, from Jean Gamester, District 91 Director, 2015-16
It is a fact that serving as a district leader in Toastmasters is a lot of hard work.
There are many consolations though. For example Vanessa King, Dorothea Stuart and I got to attend district leader training and the international convention in Las Vegas this month.
At the convention, there are elections for board members. All of our clubs have a vote and we were carrying the proxies for the 100 or so clubs in our district who assigned those proxies to us. And because we wanted to make the best possible decisions on behalf of our clubs, we found ourselves conducting around twenty five fifteen minute interviews with board candidates.
Through all of those interviews, a couple of key themes came to light for me;
Let’s start with this one. Dorothea had a killer question on international tax. It became clear that none of the candidates (unless they were tax lawyers) would be able to answer the question perfectly – it was way too complicated a question for an ordinary mortal. It also became clear that the best candidates were the ones who listened attentively, said something like they hadn’t been aware of the issue that Dorothea raised and said that if they got onto the board, they would do what they could to raise awareness. And the weaker candidates would attempt to answer the question like a table topic – just say something, anything and give the impression that you know something about this. It came down to the question of integrity – am I going to say anything to get elected, or am I going to be honest about what I don’t know?
The next one was this. My question was about what challenge they would seek to address when they were on the board. Now I have discovered that there is a fairly standard answer to this question, which goes something like this. “I don’t know which committee I am going to be part of when I get elected so I don’t know which issues I will get to address”. I have to admit I have been a bit frustrated with this – if they don’t know what they want to do, why should we vote for them to be on a board that leads 330,000 members in 135 countries around the world?
I chatted with other people at the convention about this to try to get my brain around this, and then International President Mohammed Murad said something that helped me work it out. Actually, the best leaders are the ones who have the respect for their colleagues to come to the table with an open mind and hear what they have to say, who were prepared to collaborate with them to serve our members with excellence. It wasn’t the people who dominated with the best ideas who we needed to be our leaders, but those people who could work with others to draw out the best ideas and hold the organisation to account to make them work.
It was fortunate then, that Vanessa’s question was all about how they would work with the board as a team – it turned out that that was the most important question of all.
So perhaps, when we are next thinking about your next club officer meeting, or area council, or other group, let’s think not on our own agenda and passions, but on how we can work with the others and hear what they have to say, so we can serve our members together.
Toastmasters International Convention, Las Vegas, August 2015
Every year in August, Toastmasters from around the world gather for the International Convention. This year it was held in Las Vegas, Nevada. I’m going to try and give you a flavour of what International Convention is like, which might explain why it’s taken me the best part of two weeks to get over it…
Candidates’ Corner
Convention for the District Leadership Team actually starts three days before everyone else. On the Sunday we interviewed most of the candidates standing for election to the International Board of Directors. This is a long session of discussion and evaluation of the candidates, followed by analysis at dinner afterwards. A significant part of the decision-making process takes place at these interviews, at least for me, so they’re really important in helping us decide who to vote for on behalf of our members.
District Leader Training
District Leader Training – even the dog was included!Region 11 Advisor Morag Mathieson
The following two days were training for District Leadership Teams from all over the world, approximately 300 people. We covered topics ranging from organisational updates, finance and delegation, through to team dynamics, creating a culture of success and sharing challenges with other leaders. The opportunity to meet other leaders, gather ideas and share success is incredibly valuable and time very well spent. We also have the chance to renew friends and meet new people, of course. The training is lead by the Region Advisors, experienced Toastmasters appointed by the Board of Directors to support the districts in supporting our clubs.
Training is very tiring, as it runs from 8-4:30 both days, and there is work to do over dinner as well. There’s not much time to catch your breath before the Convention itself gets underway. Seemingly overnight, long empty halls ring with the voices of over 2,000 Toastmasters…
Opening Ceremony
The Opening Ceremony included the parade of flags. I actually find this quite moving, as it’s a visual display of just how far across the world the Toastmasters organisation has spread. In the words of founder Dr. Ralph Smedley:
“Ours is the only organization I know dedicated to the individual, we work together to bring out the best in each of us and then we apply these skills to help others.”
It’s very exciting to be part of a movement that changes lives, wherever they may be.
The Parade of Flags at the Opening CeremonyDorothea Stuart, DTM, with the UK flag
Of course, no stage in Las Vegas would be complete without an appearance from The King, Elvis Presley…
Elvis and his dancers…
And the teams from Districts 71 and 91 managed to get together for a group photograph.
From left, Vanessa King, Red Skelton (Club Growth Director, D71), Kevin Lee (District Director, D71), Jean Gamester, Dorothea Stuart, Michael Collins (Program Quality Director, D71)
Contests
Contests are an important part of the International Convention. The stages were set and filled with a record 97 district finalists from across the world…
Semi-final stageThe crowd gathers…District 91 Champion Jeremy Robinson, 3rd from left
And here’s highlights from the winning speech by Mohammed Qahtani, the World Champion of Public Speaking 2015.
Superb Keynote Speakers
A highlight for me was listening to the recipient of the Golden Gavel Award, Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus. He took us on his journey from university lecturer in Bangladesh to Banker to the Poor. His vision of the future as one with zero poverty and zero unemployment is not only achievable but mandatory and I am inspired to find out more about his vision. Other speakers included Patricia Fripp, Darren Lacroix, International President Mohammed Murad, author and comedian Judy Carter, entrepreneur and broadcaster Alex Malley and inspirational businesswoman Marilyn Tam.
Muhammad YunusInternational President Mohammed Murad
Did I mention long halls and Toastmasters from all over the world?
The Business Meeting
The Board of Directors
International Convention isn’t all fun, however. The Business Meeting is where the serious business of setting the direction of our organisation for the next year takes place. The fact that we all got up and had a bit of a dance to Lionel Richie, Elvis and others is neither here nor there. We discharged our duties after a four-hour meeting and elected the incoming Board of Directors. we extend many congratulations to our own past District Governor Teresa Dukes, who was elected International Director for Region 11. Don’t miss her two-minute speech!
D91 ready to vote!Results of the voting
Recognition and Awards
The efforts of our members are recognised at the International Convention. I felt very excited to walk out on stage and be presented with awards, but mostly I felt proud to have been able to play my part in helping our members achieve their personal awards. That’s what the awards really mean. Sometimes we can get carried away with numbers and positions on dashboards, but we remember that our numbers represent members and over 3,000 men and women growing and developing themselves.So these awards are for you, guys! Congratulations on being part of a superb district, Number 3 in the world in fact!
Presidents’ Distinguished Districts LuncheonReceiving recognition for Presidents’ Distinguished DistrictOur AwardsNo. 1 in the world for the number of clubs with more than 20 members!
President’s Inauguration Celebration
The four days of Convention were closed in style, with a wonderful dinner and ball. Of course there were speeches, but also lots of dancing and good food. There was even a craic at the end of the evening, in a room somewhere off the main ballroom. The Americans called it a sing-along, but it was a touch of Ireland presided over by Past International President Ted Corcoran.
Washington, 2016
The next International Convention will be held in Washington, D.C. Will you be there?
Max Dickins will be sharing tips, tricks and techniques that will help you to write better speeches and spice them up by injecting humour.
Max is an award winning standup comedian, actor and writer and runs a corporate training business specialising in presentation skills and teaches stand-up comedy.
Further Information
Date: Wednesday, 26th August at 6.45 pm.
Venue: First Floor, Prince of Wales, Drury Lane, Covent Garden, London, WC2 5SB
For more information and to book your place click on this link.
The District Executive Council will meet on Sunday the 6th of September – the key item on the agenda will be review for approval of the District Success Plan and Budget for 2015 16 in advance of presenting them to the District Council on the 7th of November.
It is part of the role of every District Officer to attend this meeting to ensure that the Success Plan and Budget gets the required review, and we look forward to seeing all DLT, Division and Area Directors there.
In addition, there will be a session on Parliamentary Procedure before the formal DEC meeting – sounds boring, but actually its a great way to understand how to contribute to formal meetings controlled by the famous Robert’s Rules (ok, famous in some circles). We will be using Parliamentary Procedure to control the DEC meeting that follows, as well as in the District Council in November.
We will also have a briefing on the Revitalised Education Programme from new chief ambassador Sandra Lawes. There will also be an opportunity to hear from and spend time with leaders of a range of initiatives from new clubs to alignment, trainers bureau to district chief judge.