International President, Richard Peck is scheduled to be our special guest, although most likely virtually. There are plans to include some creative, virtual networking activities during the day as well as some guest speakers and interesting educational sessions. Please mark it in your diary as a ‘must do’ event.
On Sunday May 2nd, the Annual District Council meeting will be held. This is an important event for all members to attend. Club Presidents and Club Vice Presidents Education are voting delegates along with the District Executive Committee members. Your vote will count towards choosing your leadership team for 2021/22. Elections will be held for District Director, Program Quality Director, Club Growth Director and 8 Division Directors. No proxies are allowed for online council meetings so it is important to zoom in to have your say.
Nominations have been called for Division and Area Directors. This is an opportunity to be part of the district executive committee and to grow your leadership skills. There are still Divisions and Areas without nominations, so please consider your leadership potential. It is understood that any members competing in Division or District speech contests cannot nominate for district leadership until after they have completed competing. Nominations should be sent to IPDD@toastmastersd69.org.
To help you decide if these roles interest you, please watch the attached You Tube videos of interviews of some of our past Area and Division Directors.
Nominees must complete:
1. District Leaders Agreement and Release Statement
2. District Leader Nominating Form
3. Candidate Application form
Covid has changed the way we do many things. Although it has presented us with many challenges, it has also provided opportunities to learn more skills. I am proud of the way many of our technically challenged members have persevered and grown in this virtual environment. Thanks to all the tech savvy members who have supported others in learning new skills. District 69 has performed well in membership retention and this can be attributed partly to the positive responses to virtual meetings.
Virtual meetings and training have become normal for most of us. Congratulations to those members who volunteered their time to be presenters at the recent online Club Officer Training. Thank you to those members who attended. Training is an opportunity to share ideas and experience, to learn from others and to take new ideas back to your club. Training helps us all to grow new skills and to build quality clubs. Well done to those clubs that achieved 7 club officers trained at both the first and second COT sessions. A big thank you also to Kevin for stepping in on such short notice and to John for doing all the background work in preparing the content for COT.
The Realignment Committee led by Joe Abbott has met to review our club structure and what changes may be required. Final draft will be prepared after Membership renewals are complete. This draft will be forwarded to Division and Area Directors so members can review and comment prior to presenting to the District Council meeting for approval in May.
Division speech contests are about to start. Congratulations to those members who have succeeded at club and area level. We wish you the best of luck at your division contest. Thanks also to the many members who volunteer as contest officials. Without your support, we could not have successful speech contests. Please support your division contests
Because we have not been able to travel as much this year, we have been able to reallocate some district funds from the travel budget to marketing and Speechcraft. Please read the information sent out by CGD Robert about the marketing grants program and the Speechcraft incentive scheme. If you have plans for either of these, district wants to provide financial support. Watch out for further incentive programs currently being developed.
Is your club meeting easy to find? Are you missing out on visitors and potential members because they cannot find you? District has purchased a significant number of corflutes with the message ‘Toastmasters meet here.’ If your club needs one, just send a message to PRM Andrew prm@toastmastersd69.org or Logistics manager, Dan Reid danreid.tm@gmail,com to organise claiming one.
This year has been challenging, but district 69 is up to the challenge. We have had a steady increase in new members joining D69 clubs. Welcome to all our new members. We hope the incentive schemes will help us to continue to grow.
Recognition is an important aspect of the Toastmasters program. D69 awards members with a Pathways proficiency pin when they complete a level 5. If you completed a level 5 by the end of January and have not received your pin, please let me know. If you completed level 5 in February, you should receive your pin in the next few weeks. But please make sure your club has claimed the award in Club Central. If this is not done, then we do not know that you have completed your path and cannot recognise you.
As a district, we are also keen to recognise those members who encourage others to come along as guests to our Toastmasters International club meetings. We are encouraging clubs to take note of who within your clubs are the stars at spreading the news about Toastmasters through word of mouth and nominate these members for the Member Building Stars program which is running from March 1st to April 14th. Send nominations to CGD@toastmastersd69.org by April 20th and the winners for each division will be announced at the District Online Conference in May.
Did you know that D69 has a members Facebook Group? This is a closed group for members only and is a great way to keep in touch with other members and be informed on what is going on in the district. If you are not a member yet, please ask to join.
Thanks to every member for your contribution to the sustainability of District 69.
Barbara Nielsen DTM
D69 District Director 2020/21
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