District Leadership 2018-19

What an amazing weekend we had in Ashford at the beginning of May! Our first three-day conference as District 91 got off to a great start on Friday with the formal District Executive Committee (DEC) meeting, wonderful workshops, the District Table Topics Contest and the Candidates’ showcase.

A new event this year was the Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) reception. This was an opportunity for members who have achieved their DTM award this year to be recognised in the company of our existing DTMs. It was a fitting celebration of their notable achievement and something that we hope will establish itself as a regular feature.

The evening was rounded off with a delightful dinner and excellent entertainment from the Ashford Rock Choir and the improv group A Pair of Four with Chris Murphy of Tunbridge Wells Speakers Club. They played a huge part in creating a real buzz among delegates that continued into Saturday and the formal opening of the Conference.

The highlights just kept on coming throughout the weekend. Every time I thought the conference was going really well, it just got even better! Magnificent keynote speakers, a plethora of professional workshops, and the District finals for the Humorous Speech, Evaluation, and of course the International Speech contest. Congratulations to all the contestants.

One of the greatest pleasures of my year as District Director was to recognise some of the outstanding achievements of our members at the Hall of Fame. It is always extremely difficult to choose which of our dedicated and hard-working members deserves these awards when there are so many worthy candidates.

The awards this year went to:

• Area Director of the Year – Sam Warner Area J11
• Division Director of the Year – Janet Alkema Division A
• Toastmaster of the Year – Steve Birch of Malvern Speakers and Worcester Speakers
• District Director’s Award – Mary Robson of North Oxford Speakers, Oxford Orators Club and Oxford Speakers Club

Saturday also saw the District Council meeting, where your leaders for the new Toastmasters year were elected. Your incoming trio are District Director Florian Bay, Program Quality Director Arnaud Sartre and Club Growth Director Helena Boden-Brewer. They will be working with your new Division Directors Mike Burrows, Rupa Datta, Ken Essien, Sandra Mighty, Nikita Parks, Liang T Li and Beauty Zindi. I know you will give them the same great support you have given me and this year’s team.

With just six weeks of the Toastmasters year left, we are in a busy transition period. While still aiming to achieve our personal, Club and District goals, the planning for the new year is well underway. I met with the incoming trio recently as part of our handover, and the new District Leadership Team (DLT) is meting over the first weekend in June to start work on our District Success Plan for 2019-2020. The District Officer Training (DOT) for the new Division and Area Directors takes place the following weekend. You will shortly be receiving details of your local Club Officer Training (COT) and I would encourage you all to attend – it is of value to all members, not just Club Officers.

It has been a year of many successes, and I will reflect further on those in my final update as District Director next month, and as we focus on handing over to our successors, we will continue to change lives – one speech at a time.

It is hard to believe, we only have 2 months left in the Toastmasters program year, and yet still so much we can and will achieve!

Membership

We barely concluded Talk Up Toastmasters (results still pending HQ formal notification) that we need to think about Beat the Clock starting on 1^stMay! 

Wouldn’t this be an opportunity for an Open House?

Share the immense value we gain though membership, bring a friend or colleague to your Club meeting, we have so much to offer our communities and corporate partners! 

And if you haven’t seen a member for some time, reach out, they may just be waiting your call to come back and renew their membership!

Cannes Festival approaching – it’s Award season!

I look forward to seeing many of you at the Ashford conferencewhere I will be presenting many Awards:

• Pioneers Award recognising our new Clubs
• Phoenix Award recognising Clubs that have regained charter strength from low membership
• Athena Award recognising members who went beyond the call of duty and sponsor 5+ members
• And more … 

The Hall of Fame promises to be a fantastic event and I would love to see you all to celebrate our amazing achievements.

I am aware many members have been involved in one of our outreach programs (Speechcraft or Youth Leadership Program) and I intend to formally recognise all these contributions once we conclude the program year on 30^thJune. If you have been involved or planning such outreach, get in touch. 

Club Support

We have a multitude of new Club leads at various stages, and I am actively looking for sponsors/mentors willing to support a new Club break ground and thrive. If you are a trailblazer, get in touch! Mentors need to be able to commit to 6 months supporting a new Club from Charter. 

The reward is immense, and a successful applicant will also receive Club Building credit towards the Advanced Leader Silver on the Traditional Program. 

Fancy a different challenge? Becoming a Club Coach may just be the right opportunity. Clubs at or below 12 members qualify for a Coach. Successful Coaches will transform a Club with low membership back to charter strength and for a limited period also gain both Club Building credit andDistrict Officer credit (until 30 Jun 2020 only). This is a fantastic opportunity to make a difference and gain valuable skills. Interested? Get in touch!

See you in Ashford!

We are slowly heading into the final two months of the Toastmasters year. These often tend to be the best months of the year for clubs as all the work invested earlier in the year is paying off. Crucially this also means that conserving momentum to start the new year on a high is crucial too.

Here’s what you can do now to end the year strongly and build-up the future at the same time:

• Organise a special event like an open-house meeting, speakathaon or even a club social to build-up the community aspects of your club. Get people that will be on the committee next year to help with these!
• Launch a social media campaign, use #MyWhy video testimonials from members to generate interest from potential guests and inspire them with the stories of your newly joined members. 
• Organise an award evening to recognise all the members who have achieved educational awards this year and those who will do so soon.
• Start the organisation, at least on a basic level, of meetings taking place from 1^stJuly. Do not leave a clean slate for the next club leaders to start on from, leave them something they can built on instead! Continuity breeds success!
• Create a file with all social media, email and website passwords for the next club leadership team to use. Similarly, begin the process of updating bank account signatories now as this can take a while.

DIVISION CONFERENCES

This month has seen all the Division Conferences, including the Division finals of the International Speech and Evaluation Contests. Congratulations to all the contestants for the high standard of speeches and evaluations. There has been good representation from the District Leadership Team at each event, and I was delighted to be able to attend the Division K and Division B contests, both held at The University of Law, which was an excellent venue. Both days were packed with fantastic workshops and superbly organised. I know all of the Division events were similarly excellent. Thanks to all the Division Directors and the many others who supported them.

DISTRICT CONFERENCE

Now the contest winners go on to the District Finals in Ashford from 3^rdto 5^thMay! It is going to be a truly amazing weekend – the first District 91 conference to span three days, and to include all four contests – Table Topics; Evaluation; Humorous and the International Speech final. Add to those, ten wonderful workshops, two captivating keynote speeches, and the dramatic District Council meeting and you have an occasion not to be missed! Have a look at the full programme and book your tickets here: 

The Agenda for the District Council Meeting is also available here: 

THE NEW AND THE OLD

I have also had the opportunity this month to attend the first formal meeting of one of our newest clubs, The Workshop Speakers in London. Thanks to Club President, Lili Bai, and all the members for their warm welcome, and a great meeting! By contrast, one of my own clubs, County Communicators, is celebrating its 10^thbirthday and as a proud Founder Member I will be looking back at its conception and reflecting on its remarkable success.

ROBIN CHAWNER DTM

On a sad note, another Founder Member of County Communicators, Solent Speakers and my home club, Arun Speakers, Robin Chawner, passed away on 11 April 2019.  He introduced the 3-2-1 method of evaluation and an exemplary Toastmaster, Robin was involved in helping to start no less than eight clubs that I know of. He was always so generous in his support to every member and will be sorely missed by so many people. I know that Robin was very proud that I am the first member of Arun Speakers to be District Director, and I hope I have lived up to his high standards.

Unbelievably, there are now only 3 months left in the Toastmasters year which is why we should now focus on ending the year strongly.

Here are a few things you could consider to end your year with a bang:

• Organising an open-house meeting.
• Holding special meetings like a speakathon with 6 or 8 prepared speeches or a Table Topics Night.
• Documenting all the best practices and tips from this year to pass on to next year’s team.
• Making the most of District Initiatives, like the Pathways Progress Awards or the Club Ambassadors Programme.
• Collecting testimonials from members to inspire newcomers and recently joined members/
• Awarding all members who achieved an educational award this year!