Distinguished Club Program

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.

How to do a Club Success Plan..

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With Post-It Notes!

Goals Goals Goals.. yes I know the Euros are on but those aren’t the sort of goals I’m talking about…

I’m talking about your educational awards, your progress in the Toastmasters Program.

Now, not everyone wants to set goals and I’m completely fine with that. One of the many wonderful things about the Toastmasters program is the fact that it is entirely self-paced. It’s up to you when you what to do something and there are lots of people who are quite happy attending meetings and just having a good time not concerning themselves with goals and progress and recognition (oh my!)

CSP Poster 2This idea is for members and club committees who do want to set themselves goals and do so in a fun way.

I spotted this idea on the The Official Toastmasters International Members Group on Facebook.  Many thanks to incoming VP Education Kathy Shine, DTM of Cream City Communicators, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.

Her club completed Moments of Truth two weeks ago. They have already implemented several suggestions from our members and have begun to develop plans for further action that will be included in their 2016-2017 Club Success Plan.

One suggestion was to find a way to display member goals and progress in a non-threatening and non-embarrassing way for all members, and to encourage others who are taking a slower pace as they focus on building self confidence.

Their solution: they invited their members to sign their name and indicate their goal on a super-sticky post-it note, then placed them all on a large poster board marked simply as “2016-2017 GOALS.” They plan to have a second poster labelled “2016-2017 GOALS COMPLETED” and members can move their post-its from one board to the other in a simple recognition ceremony during a club meeting. What a great photo opportunity!

CSP PosterThey have several fun, colorful shapes:

  • crown shaped post-it notes for members who want to work toward their Triple Crown award
  • red apple post-its are for members who want to serve as mentors – they will be paired up with a green apple / mentee
  • dialogue post-its for people who want to attend their first conference or convention
  • other post-its for goals specific to their club, for example Club Ambassador, being part of their traveling “Cream Team” (a Capture the Banner program, which sounds a lot like Thomas the Travelling Gavel in Area 55)
  • stars for Competent Leader and Communicator awards
  • clouds for Advanced Leader and Communicator awards

It’s a Club Success Plan on a poster board! Why not try it in your club? If you do, send photos to dltdistrict91@gmail.com.

The Toastmasters Promise

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web_res_vk_086Why did you join Toastmasters? Why have you stayed?

We all have very different answers to those questions. Maybe a boss told you you really had to improve your presentations or you wouldn’t be able to advance your career. Maybe you had to make a best man’s speech and you didn’t want to let your friend down. Perhaps, like me, you wanted to meet new people with different experiences.

I suspect that, no matter the range of answers to the first question, the answer to the second is pretty much the same for all of us.

Toastmasters has changed our lives.

We discovered capabilities in ourselves we didn’t know we possessed. We felt good about supporting a fellow member. We laughed, cried and developed long-lasting friendships with fellow members, and sometimes more, as I did.

It’s a pretty great place to be, isn’t it!

Wouldn’t you love to share that feeling with others?

When you joined Toastmasters, you made an agreement with your club – The Toastmasters Promise. You might not remember, but it’s there, on the back of the membership form you signed, and in the front cover of your Competent Leader and Competent Communicator manuals. There are ten promises and I’d like to focus on just two of them:

  • To help the club maintain the positive, friendly environment necessary for all members to learn and grow
  • To bring guests to club meetings so they can see the benefits Toastmasters membership offers

If you look around your club though, is there anyone you haven’t seen for a while? Perhaps a friend, maybe an acquaintance. Do you ever wonder how they are doing? Why not give them a call, just to say hi and let them know you’re thinking of them and ask them to come back to the club for a visit.

I encourage you to invite a friend to your next club meeting. Share with them how Toastmasters has affected you. They’ll probably recognise the changes you’ve made but be unaware of the reasons why. Invite them to your club so they can experience the Toastmasters program.

Grow and be strong!

Best wishes,
Vanessa King, incoming District Director 2016-17

 

Monthly Mentions – DCP Progress

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District 91 DCP Progress

72% of our clubs within District 91 have achieved Distinguished, with 12 of those being Presidents Distinguished.

Congratulations to the following clubs:

Division B

  • London Victorians
  • Berkeley Square Speakers Toastmasters Club
  • City Limits Speakers
  • Grosvenor Square Club

Division H

  • Wokingham Speakers
  • County Communicators

Division J

  • Thamesdown Speakers Club
  • Malvern Speakers

Division K

  • Bromley Speakers
  • 1st London Toastmasters

Division L

  • Holborn Speakers
  • WIBF Speakers-City Club