Pedro Casillas (DD)
On Saturday 5th May at The Coppid Beech Hotel, District 91, will be holding our Spring D91 District Council Meeting where we will be conducting business of the district. (The District Council is made up of Club Presidents, Club Vice Presidents Education, Area Directors, Division Directors and District Leadership Team.)
As part of the preparation for District Council, we will be posting documentation on our website, have posted ‘District Council Meeting Minutes 4 November 2017’ and will ask District Council members to review.
In addition, if District council members have any Motions they would like to raise, they should be emailed to our D91 Admin manager, Paul Rhys Taylor, by Monday 2nd April 2018.
Below is a draft of the District Council Agenda:
- Call to Order / Welcome District Mission, Introductions, Apologies, Moment of Reflection, Procedure
- Adoption of Agenda
- Credentials Committee Report and Appointment of Tellers
- Acceptance of Minutes of previous Council Meeting
- Confirmation of Appointments
- Alignment Committee Report and Assignment of Clubs to Area and Divisions for the following year
- Leadership Committee Report and Elections
- Mid-Year Audit and Finance Manager’s Report
- Division Directors Reports
- District Leadership Team Reports
- Pathways Report
- Toastmasters International Update
- Bids for District Conferences
- New Business – Motions
- Any Other Business
- Announcements and Adjournment
And finally, please take note of Proxy Voting: In order for our District Council to conduct business, there needs to be a quorum of a third of all Club Presidents and Vice Presidents Education (VPEs).
Andy Hammond (PQD)
Contests and Conference
The spring contest season is well underway, culminating in the District finals at our conference on 5th and 6th May in Bracknell. In addition to crowning the District Evaluation Champion we will find out who will represent our District in the International Speech Contest Finals in Chicago in August. Do make sure you use all the resources available on our website so that your contests at Club, Area and Division run smoothly and of course within the rules!
The District Contest Finals are just one part of the experience of the District Conference. There is a great range of workshops, a keynote address from the Chief Executive of Toastmasters International, Dan Rex, and the Council meeting, which includes the election of your District Officers for the coming year. To find out more about the range of opportunities on offer visit the conference ages on our website. Tickets for the conference are still available at the Early Bird rate through this link. The theme of this year’s Spring Conference is ‘Make Your Communications Matter’. After a day or a full weekend at the Spring Conference, you’ll find out how to make your communications matter.
Distinguished Club Program
Although the Toastmasters dashboard will not show any clubs as Distinguished until after 1st April renewal date, in District 91 we already have 37 clubs who have achieved 5 or more DCP goals, and renewed 20 or more members for April.
Of those, 3 clubs have 9 of the goals, meaning they will be President’s Distinguished – well done to London Business School Public Speaking Club, Guildford Speakers Club and Berkeley Square Speakers Toastmasters Club. There are 20 clubs already achieving Select Distinguished status, with the other 14 being Distinguished, with another 3 months still to go to.
Pathways
Read my latest article on District 91’s Pathways progress here and take a look at this handy Pathways paths and projects catalogue.
Florian Bay (CGD)
Here we grow!
March is always a busy month in the Toastmasters calendar, with contest season in full swing and membership renewals in progress. Moreover, this year is extra special with the Pathways rollout in our District. With 10 learning paths, 59 projects and over 300 competencies covered by the new programme. Now has never been a better time to be a Toastmasters member. Check out the video that Andy Hammond and I shot earlier in March to learn more about how Pathways can help you and your clubs.
We’ve recently achieved an amazing milestone in District 91, the 5,000 members bar has been smashed and as of writing (22nd March) we have 5,119 members in our District. However, your task, my task, our task as leaders and members is now to inspire as many of our members to renew their membership now and over the next few days. Pathways provides everybody with a unique opportunity to learn new skills that are tailor made to their own individual requirements. What’s more, current members will receive their first learning path FREE of charge!
Congratulations to the first 20 club to renew 20 members, a £50 pizza voucher is on its way to you:
Malvern Speakers, Oxford Speakers Club, County Communicators, Bloomberg London Toastmasters, Infineum Milton Hill Speakers, City of London Toastmasters Club, Epsom Speakers Club, Riverside Communicators, Cheltenham Speakers, London Victorians, Kings Cross Speakers, Bromley Speakers, RLC Toastmasters, Early Bird Speakers, Casterbridge Speakers, Windsor Speakers Club., Kings Speakers, The Speakers of Croydon Club, Canterbury Communicators Club, Croydon Communicators Club, Ascot Speakers and Reading Speakers Club.
I appreciate that sometimes, individual circumstances can change and that members may have to absent themselves for a while. This is where inactive membership can be a solution, inactive members can only pay Toastmasters dues and not club dues for the short time when they won’t be able to attend meetings. A club can activate this provision at any time by amending their constitution.
Plenty of new clubs have chartered over the past few weeks. Winchmore Hill Speakers, London Toastmasters and Salisbury Speakers. Apex Reading Toastmasters, ZigZag Toastmasters and Accenture Speakers are due to charter soon. I’ve recently met with interesting people working in HSBC looking to create Europe’s first ever sustainability themed club. Last week I also met with another Anglo-French gentleman that’s keen to launch London’s first ever dining Toastmasters club!
Do you want to be involved in helping these new clubs? Do you want to grow as a leader?
We will be organising our first ever District 91 Club sponsors and mentors training session in April in central London. What’s more, hardcopies of the Launching Successful Clubs manual will be available very soon too! From learning new skills, to meeting amazing people to growing as leaders. Now is the time to be a Toastmasters member!