I am thrilled to announce that the District 91 Conference 2-4 May 2025 will take place at the vibrant and contemporary Radisson RED Heathrow! This year, our theme is “The Stage Is Yours” – a celebration of the courage, growth, and achievements that come from stepping into the spotlight and embracing new challenges as I have done by becoming your Conference Director.
Mark your calendars for this unmissable event, where we will come together to learn, connect, and inspire one another. The 2025 Conference promises a dynamic programme, including exceptional keynote speakers, engaging workshops, and unparalleled networking opportunities, and host four amazing District speech contests. Radisson RED Heathrow provides the perfect venue to bring this vision to life, offering a modern and energising space for growth and discovery.
As your Conference Director, I am committed to delivering an extraordinary experience. Together with a dedicated team of volunteers, we are planning an event that will motivate and empower you to take the stage in your own journey, both within Toastmasters and beyond.
We are actively seeking passionate and committed volunteers to help bring this vision to fruition. If you’re ready to be part of something incredible, we’d love for you to join our team. Please see below specific roles that we need to fill:
Graphic Designer
Logistics Director
Technical Director
Registration Manager
MC Co-ordinator
My name is Bolu, and I’m a proud member of Holborn Speakers. Taking on the role of Conference Director has been a bold step, and I am honoured to lead this exciting event. Keep an eye out for ticket announcements and get ready to claim your place at Radisson RED Heathrow—because “The Stage Is Yours”.
Don’t forget you can still register your interest to be the first to receive all the latest updates here
It’s been a busy and productive month filled with club officer training, preparations for the contest season, and much more. As we look ahead, I’d like to focus on key updates to help you prepare for what’s coming next.
Pathways Update
The below message from Toastmasters International highlights an important transition ahead that I want to bring to your attention:
Base Camp Outage (October 9th-25th, 2024): To facilitate the transition to a new system, Base Camp will be inaccessible from October 9 until October 25, 2024, for critical platform testing. If you’re currently working on a project or plan to during this period, please download any necessary materials or wrap up outstanding tasks beforehand. Below are key items that will not transfer to the new system, so make sure to act if these apply to you:
Feedback on Base Camp: If you have feedback you’d like to keep, whether it’s constructive criticism or words of encouragement, take a screenshot or save the text elsewhere.
Documents in My Documents: Download any uploaded files you wish to retain. Once the new Base Camp is live, you can upload them again.
Assess Your Skills Activity: This feature will be redesigned in the new system. If you’d like to retain your responses, take a screenshot or save them separately.
Understanding Your Leadership/Communication Style Projects: The answers to these questionnaires won’t be transferred. Be sure to capture your results if you’d like to keep them.
Story Collection Tool (Engaging Humour Path): Save any information recorded here by copying and pasting it to another document before the transition.
Meeting Roles: Save a record of any meeting roles you’ve logged in Base Camp.
Completion Certificates: Certificates won’t transfer, so download copies of any you’ve earned.
Additionally, to ensure your educational progress is fully up to date, please ask your club officers to approve and submit any pending Level completions via Club Central before October 9. T
The new system promises to be more user-friendly and will feature training videos to help you navigate the changes.
Contests
For those of you who missed the recent webinar on contests with our District Chief Judge, Arnaud Sartre, you can catch up by watching the recording here:
In the meantime, here are some general FAQs that may help clarify any queries you may have:
All contests at Area, Division and District Level will be held in person only.
A Note on Eligibility: A contestant competing in, for example, the Table Topics contest is not eligible to hold a contest official role (e.g. judge) within the same contest type in which they will be competing. They would not be able to compete if they were a judge for the same contest type in a different area. It would be fine if they were competing in Table Topics and a judge for the International Contest. However, if a contestant were the judge for the same contest type that they would be competing in, they would be disqualified from competing as they no longer meet the eligibility requirements listed on page 7 of the Speech Contest rulebook.
For clubs who would like additional general training, please connect with your Area Director to arrange further sessions. In the meantime, here is a link to ClubOfficer Tools—which has further information on roles, tutorials, resources, and more for club officers.
Save the Date – District 91 Conference 2nd-4th May 2025
Mark your calendars! The winner of each Division contest will compete in the District Contest at the District 91 Conference in May 2025. This exciting event will take place in London, with the venue to be confirmed soon. If you’re interested in supporting the conference, perhaps as part of a High-Performance Leadership project, please get in touch. There will be plenty of roles available for those who want to get involved and make the event a success. In the meantime, check out this video of me looking at venues – the fun has started!
Thank you for your ongoing dedication and enthusiasm. Let’s continue working together to make this a remarkable year for District 91.
The Hall of Fame event is worth attending the Toastmasters International convention in its own right and this year was no exception. For many it is the event of the year and for others only the opening ceremony and parade of flags surpasses it. It is one of the many highlights of the convention.
The atmosphere was electric, the energy was off the scale and the volume was turned up to 11 no 15! As Immediate Past District Director (IPDD) I had the pleasure to attend and collect the recognition plaques and certificates as we became a Presidents Distinguished District last year for the first time in eight years.
With around 1,500 members in a huge room all cheering each Districts success, the party atmosphere had already kicked in by the time it was District 91 turn to receive its awards. I stood on the side of the stage waiting for our que to walk on with Steve and Mo from last years trio in close attendance, followed by Debbie and Seema who are in this year’s trio and about 20 other D91 members including three Past District Directors who made the long journey to Anaheim, California to celebrate the Centenary Anniversary of Toastmasters International.
Walking on stage to receive the district recognition awards I became aware that the only other times I had a similar feeling was when I received my certificates and degrees at art college and university. The mix of relief, on successfully completing a demanding yet worthwhile task, the excitement in being recognised for achieving a goal and the feeling of elation you have when hundreds of people want to congratulate you is something I have not felt that often before. Making for an intoxicating mix of emotions.
I am delighted that both Steve and Mo also were able to receive awards for Program Quality and Club Growth respectively for their achievements last year.
After the awards are made everyone takes photos and celebrities long into the night. It is most definitely I night I will remember for a long time. I’ll also remember that whist I, Steve and Mo were honoured with the awards, we could not have achieved what we did without the support and devotion on the other District Leadership Team members, Val, Janet, Nikita, Susan, Aayushi, the Division and Area Directors, club officers and members who contributed by either leading their division, area or club and members completing pathway levels.
I would like to thank you all for your support in the 2023/24 Toastmasters International program year.
Photo credits:
Maud Nale, used with permission, Diane and members of D91 receiving a Presidents Distinguished Plaque from Morag Matterson DTM, International President 2023/24
Richard E Peck DTM Past International President, used with permission Diane receiving a Club Strength Award from Morag Matterson DTM, International President 2023/24
Diane Richardson, Mo with his Certificate of recognition and Club Growth Trophy
The planning and organising for our District 91 annual conference is well underway. It is doubly special because Toastmasters International completes 100 years since its inception and our district celebrates its tenth anniversary. The conference team is working hard to bring to you a fantastic and memorable conference.
The first announcement by the conference team is a panel discussion by Immediate Past District Director Rupa Datta – We are District 91Celebrating the legacy and building the future of District 91. Keep your eyes peeled for more updates on the conference agenda coming soon!
If you are only just catching up on the conference information, the D91 hybrid conference is scheduled on 3-5 May 2024 at the Engineers House in Bristol. The district contest finals and the district council meeting will also be hosted at this venue. The gala dinner will be hosted at the gorgeous and perfectly located Hotel du Vin, Bristol Avon Gorge. This is going to be the best investment for anyone looking for a weekend get-away coupled with an opportunity to network and celebrate.
There are a limited number of early bird tickets available, hurry up and get your tickets here. The conference team are looking for volunteers on several roles. You can get involved in the conference by applying to the Open roles on the website, this is one of the best opportunities to be part of a historical celebrations. Please visit the District91 Conference website for more information.
