The year ahead of us will be filled with new beginnings. We are off to a grand start. We are expanding our public relations efforts through the introduction of District 83’s Blog along with increasing our usage of Facebook and Twitter. We will continue to expand our promotion of Toastmasters on trains and buses throughout the year.
Training, contests, and conferences are important training opportunities for each of our members. In the area of Training, we will be offering 4 sessions around 4 Ps: Plan, Prepare, Practice and Perform. Each will touch upon important elements of becoming better communicators and leaders. We are offering training to members who want to be Chief Judges and Judges for contests. For our Club Officers, there will be two training sessions, one now and one in the winter. We offer an incentive to our clubs when 7 officers are trained in both sessions.
Each session is important, the first provides the initial overview of what to expect typically led by members who have had roles in the District. While the second training is more of an opportunity to network with your fellow club officers on what is working and what is not working with the opportunity of gaining knowledge from others and not just from the leader.
Contests are important to our members who love the challenge of stretching themselves and a chance to compete against fellow Toastmasters. This year, we are extending a small incentive to encourage every club to participate in an Area Contest. Conferences are a means of networking, learning and meeting other Toastmasters in the District. We offer incentives to clubs with 3 first timers and 5 in total for attending a conference. Come and have some fun! There will be other special events throughout the year. Stay tuned!
Sometime this year (still no schedule), we will be introduced to Pathways – the new educational program which will be available electronically with a small number in paper. It is a new program designed to help us build the skills needed to communicate and lead. It has 10 paths that will teach more than 300 unique competencies. Here are 5 of the 10 paths: Effective Coaching, Motivational Strategies, Presentation Mastery, Strategic Relationships, and Innovative Planning. Through Pathways, we will develop real-world, transferable skills and we will be challenged to build and/or refine certain competencies and skills. Keep in mind, as we are one of the LAST districts to receive the program, the full transition to Pathways will be 2 years after we receive the program. Please be patient and watch for updates as we will keep everyone up-to-date.
As I’ve said before, members are our foundation and without members, our clubs will not grow nor will our members. To help us create New Clubs coming from leads through Toastmasters International or member leads, we have a Club Extension Chair. For our new and struggling clubs, we have a Club Quality Chair who will help Club Sponsors, Club Mentors, and Club Coaches. We have assigned a New Club Research Chair, who will look to areas within the District where we are short on clubs and confirm if there are opportunities for us to get new clubs. We are looking for someone to help with Club Retention; please contact Lynda B. Starr if you are interested.
In the District, we have many people who are seasoned speakers who are available as speakers to various groups. We have created a Speakers Bureau to help get our speakers out there and to help further promote Toastmasters. Look for more information in the near future.
These are a few of what we are planning for the District; stay tuned.
Most of all, I look forward to working with each of you on making District 83 a success. If you have any comments, questions or suggestions, please contact me.
