Pedro Casillas, District Director
With the new year underway, our focus across District 91 has been to ensure that everyone on the new team, has attended training so that we can all play our part in the continuing growth and success of each of our members.
At the end of last month, our Program Quality Director, Andy Hammond, organised an excellent District Officer Training (DOT) with Division and Area Directors where we covered the District Recognition Program and laid out our plans for the year ahead.
Following on from training, Division and Area Directors have started Club Officer Training (COT), which will continue throughout July and into August. Our goal for this first part of the year is for each club to send all 7 club officers to club officer training, and as an incentive we will be presenting those clubs who send all 7 a brilliant set of club officer pins.
To your continued success.
Andy Hammond, Program Quality Director
It has been a busy start to the new Toastmasters year with my first key task of organising the District Officer Training which took place in Slough on 25th June. A full turn out of Division Directors and many Area Directors and Assistants ensured an enthusiastic and constructively challenging audience. There was also a follow-up half day at Gatwick on 9th July for those who couldn’t make the main event. Topics ranged across our Toastmasters values, success planning, building new clubs, Club Officer Training, and the ever-popular subject of finance. Division teams also had opportunities to begin their planning for the year ahead.
Another early priority is to finalise details for the November Conference. Plans are well advanced to host the event at the Hilton at Gatwick. More details will be available very soon. We are also looking at potential bids for the May conference, with several options under consideration.
In what has proven to be a challenging year for Toastmasters International, District 91 is delighted to have achieved Distinguished status. That is the result of the magnificent efforts of our members, our clubs and our Areas and Division teams. A superb 109 of our clubs achieved Distinguished or higher awards, which is over 75% and is the 6th best in the world. Of our 32 Areas, 78% are Distinguished or higher, and all 7 Divisions achieved either Select Distinguished or President’s Distinguished. Those results reflect the dedication of our members to achieving excellence.
Florian Bay, Club Growth Director
Grow yourself and your club this Toastmasters year! Over dinner with my friend Taz Miah the other night, he told me how he would have never have met and befriended people from diverse backgrounds if it had not been for Toastmasters. His story is also my story, as I too have met people I would never have met had it not been for Toastmasters.
Growing your club will be firmly on the agenda this year. Why? Because when your clubs grow, new ideas and perspectives come in and new friends are made. Through these new ideas and new friends you grow, your members grow and our community’s profile grows so it is noticed by others and potential members.
Plenty of opportunities exist for you to be part of this rising tide of growth that will lift all of us to new levels of excellence this year:
- You can bring your friends, colleagues, neighbours and partners to your club. Let them see what we’re all about!
- You can become a club coach and help a struggling club revive its fortunes one step a time and gain many valuable skills in the process. Interested? We’ll train you to be the best club coach you can be. Just get in touch!
- You can choose the extraordinary and start a new club. Imagine yourself a few years hence as a member of a thriving club in your community, workplace or organisation, who come and thank you for changing their lives. Sounds great? We’ll help you every single step along the way. Just get in touch!
- You can share your marketing, stakeholder management or corporate expertise with us to raise the Toastmasters profile in the United Kingdom. Credit and recommendations will be given in return for your efforts. Sounds amazing? Please get in touch!
Let’s grow to reach excellence together!