Pedro Casillas – District Director (DD)
Looking Back
Recently the DLT (District Leadership Team) and Division Directors, met to review the first half of the Toastmasters year. The theme for the day was around planning, specifically around the quote: “failing to plan, is planning to fail”.
As we come to the end of the year, how have plans gone for you and your club? Here are some questions to ponder upon regarding you and your club:
- In October, all members were invited to renew Toastmasters membership. Some members, sadly decided not to review. Do you know the what your current membership is against the pre-October renewals Base number?
- In January, we will be running COT (Club Officer Training) for all Committee members across the District – do you know how many Committee members from your club attend COT?
- From 1 July to 30 November, Area Directors conducted visits to all clubs in our District. Following the visit, the Area Director published the club visit report, with a copy being sent to your club – has your club Committee shared the report with you?
- The DCP (Distinguished Club program) is designed to guide a club to success for all members. Do you know how many DCP points your club has achieved to date?
There are many other questions, but this will give you a good start to checking and if you have not come across these reports, an opportunity to find out more about how you and your club is doing
Answers can be found using the following links:
Andy Hammond – Program Quality Director (PQD)
Preparing for Pathways
We have now appointed the Pathways Guides to support our clubs and members with the roll out of Pathways across the District. A full list is available on the website. Pathways Guides will contact each club soon to schedule time to visit your club to introduce Pathways. For continued support, your Pathways Guide and Ambassador are available following the visit to answer any questions and help club members achieve success in Pathways.
We have also provided details of all the projects that will be available in Pathways, so see which ones interest you here. We are continually adding more information to our website regarding Pathways, so do keep looking and if you have any questions do not hesitate to ask.
Education & Training
We recently had a meeting with Division Directors in snowy Bracknell to discuss the next round of Club Officer Training and planning for Toastmasters Leadership Institutes (TLI) – full-day training events for members which aim to provide a broader range of opportunities for leadership development and communication skills. The first TLI is being hosted by Division L on 13th January. Contact Seema Menon for more details.
Conferences
Details for the District Conference on 4th to 6th May at the Coppid Beech hotel in Bracknell are being finalised and tickets will be on sale shortly. We will have some very special guests and a great range of workshops so look out for further announcements.
Florian Bay – Club Growth Director (CGD)
It’s hard to believe that we’re almost half-way through to the end of the Toastmasters year. So far you and your clubs have accomplished a lot and I’m thrilled to say that together we’ve built a strong momentum of growth in our District.
Many of you have taken part in our webinar series. It currently has no equivalent worldwide and goes a long way in supporting you in your efforts to complement Club Officer Training and similar events. Our next webinar “Member retention on Steroids” is at 8pm on 7th January.
We’ve recently concluded a partnership with Helloprint for you to purchase high quality marketing materials for your clubs using templates the District Leadership Team created for you. Over a dozen clubs have organised “open-house” meetings in January and February 2018 to raise their profile and recruit more members. You too can organise one and receive help from the District in doing so, just contact me for more information.
A lot of brand name corporations are looking to open new Toastmasters clubs in 2018, for example Accenture, PwC and Arcadis are amongst them. If you too are looking to bring Toastmasters to your workplace and become known as a leader amongst your colleagues then let me know and we’ll make it happen. Community clubs projects are being supported from Hastings to Uxbridge to Jersey too. You too can do the same and help hundreds of people in your community finding their voices! Interested? Just get in touch!