Contests

Meet A Toastmaster: Charlie Warshawski

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Multiple contests winner

Charlie Warshawski
Charlie Warshawski

The Reigate Rhetoric


What is your name, home club and contest you won?

Charlie Warshawski, The Reigate Rhetoric. I have got to the Division final in the International Speech Contest and the Humorous speech contest, the District final in the Evaluation contest.

What is your secret? / Why do you think you won?

Not sure if it is a secret! Following the process of practice, speak, receive feedback, improve. Always thinking of things from the perspective of what the audience may want to hear, more than what I may want to say. Thinking about the overall experience of the competition, and wanting to be/sound/say different things from fellow competitors.

Why would you recommend someone to participate in the Toastmasters speech contest?

It is a great way to advance our speaking skills in a relatively safe environment. Knowing we will be competing against other people may cause anxiety, but it may also encourage a stretch. It helps shift us out of the comfort of our own clubs. And mostly, it helps us find the speaking voice we are all looking for.

What is your next challenge?

For some time my challenge has been to improve my humorous speaking skills, so that is my area of focus.

 

Meet A Toastmaster: Charlotte Hitchings

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Evaluation Contest Winner, J10 Area Director 2021/22

Charlotte Hitchings
Charlotte Hitchings

Wye Knot Speakers


What is your name, home club and the contest you won?

My name is Charlotte Hitchings and I am a member of Wye Knot Speakers, a club I sponsored, which chartered in 2020.  I achieved my DTM the same year.  I was also a charter member of Voice of Wales and Cardiff Toastmasters.  I am currently serving as Area Director for the second time and have also served as Division Director (or Governor as it was known then) in the past.

I won the Division J Evaluation Contest last year, becoming a finalist at the District Contest for the third time.

What is your secret? / Why do you think you won?

I believe I have been particularly successful in Evaluation contests because I am a very good listener!  My training as a leadership coach has come in very handy for this.  I have also learned from some very good Toastmasters evaluators, and one of the skills I’ve learned is to tune into my emotional reactions to a speech, consider what about the speech and the way it is delivered is evoking these.

Why would you recommend someone to participate in the Toastmasters speech contest?

Competing in contests hones your speaking skills more than anything else.  You observe and learn from others and experience speaking in fairly stressful situations which means any other context becomes easier!  In my experience, it’s fun too, but that might just be me!

What is your next challenge?

My next challenge is the International Speech Contest. I’ve made it to Area in the past but that was a long time ago.  Once I am no longer Area Director, I’ll be back having a go!

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.

Contest season is upon us

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This year, it is all online. Time to keep calm and compete!

To assist with your preparations, our District Chief Judge, Neil Coleman delivered a fantastic webinar on the rules and regulations and shared tips to help you all. The webinar is available on the District 91 website for you all to review, along with support documentation. There are complimentary Zoom training sessions which Divisions have created to support you to, do seek these out. Good luck to all.

The District Conference in May 2021 will now be a virtual event, in line with Toastmasters International guidance, that all contests at Area, Division and District level, have to be online in this Toastmasters year. As a District, we have the experience of delivering a fantastic virtual conference, so let’s build on this. To head up the conference team, we require a Conference Director. In performing this role myself in 2018, this served as my HPL project and was one of the most stretching, rewarding and fun roles I had undertaken within Toastmasters. This opportunity would definitely fit someone with great organisational skills, that can build a team to support them, combat challenges and be a Zoomin human. If you are interested in becoming our next Conference Director, or simply looking to volunteer to be part of the May 2021 conference team, contact me

Education and Training

The education achievements are flowing in thick and fast with close to 350 awards so far.  Over 140 members have received their Level 1 award, through to 16 members completing their chosen path, 3 members completing the Pathway Mentoring Program and 11 members attaining Distinguished Toastmaster. Congratulations to you all.

The District webinar series is now well underway, with a full programme scheduled for your all on Sunday’s evenings, through to the end of November. There’s a blend of personal development and Toastmasters specific webinar opportunities for you to join. The details are also linked through the District Calendar.

To support the webinar series, the planned relaunch of the Trainers Bureau is now scheduled for the autumn. This will provide those members seeking to step away from purely delivering speeches to develop and enhance their training skills.

A date for your diary!

Save the date for a quiz evening on Friday 4 December from the Program Quality Team

What an event!

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On the first weekend of May, we held our annual conference and what an event! We brought to you the most successful District conference ever to be organised in District 91, with over 800 participants over the weekend. I hope you had a fantastic time and learnt a lot over the 2 days. Missed out on the action, you may still access all sessions.

On 2nd May, you once again put the District trust in my hands as District Director elect. This is a humbling moment and an exciting time to take the helm of District 91. At the time of writing this note, we have already started planning for the 2020/21 programme year and look forward to sharing some details with you soon.

In the meantime, I am looking for Digital professionals to join our Digital team (data scientists, web designers, cloud solution specialists), interested? Let me know …

Last week, I attended one of my Clubs, The Toasted Sandwich, where President Fatma Salahioglu delivered the Pathways Project Reaching Consensus.

The topic for the 20 min project was “To go virtual or to remain physical” with a purpose to better understand and lay the foundation for what post-COVID-19 meetings should look like for the Club. It was fascinating to witness the discussions and how a complete agreement was reached to retain an element of online meetings.

Even more interesting were the reasons brought forward: greater flexibility and greater retention were two I picked up with great interest.

I will encourage all Clubs to engage in such an exercise and start looking at what the post-COVID-19 experience should look like for our members.

Together, we are shaping our District, and refreshing how and what we do within the Toastmasters framework, this is an exciting time!

See you all very soon!

Arnaud