Author: Su Brooks

How Successful Clubs Earn President’s Distinguished

Successful clubs often earn the coveted President’s Distinguished Award multiple years in a row. Some of these clubs have several things in  common.

The club has all seven officer positions filled with most or all of the officers attending club officer training twice a year. The club officers meet regularly and train their successors. The officers develop a Club Success Plan and identify candidates likely to earn educational and leadership awards.

The club makes a point of collecting dues for Toastmasters International as well as club dues if applicable well in advance of the deadline so members and officers avoid last-minute scrambling. Some clubs have a policy of requiring their members pay dues for the full year all at once to avoid collecting again for the second dues cycle.

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Begonia Wants to See You at the Fall Conference

Area 21 Director Begonia Reyes, CC, talks about why she goes to conferences, including the great speeches as well as a sense of community. Join us on Saturday, November 18, 2017 at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Somerset, NJ. Reserve your spot at TM83.org.

Su Brooks Discuss What Makes Talk of Monmouth Unique

Su and Rebecca at the District 83 Spring 2017 Conference.

Bill Atkins asked Su Brooks a few questions about why she loves Talk of Monmouth.

Why did you join Talk of Monmouth?

Rebecca Marzec-Young and I were encouraged by Anne Gilson to serve as Sponsors. We had been talking about how great it would be to have an advanced club in Monmouth County.

What is your most memorable thing about being a member of Talk of Monmouth?
Hosting a Speakout during our mobile meeting on the Magic Bus returning from the International Convention in Washington, DC in 2016.

What does our club offer that’s different than most clubs?

Members have access to passionate, experienced leaders since our club has a large proportion of current and past District Leaders; strong commitment to DCP goals, fun special events in addition to the meetings in the courtroom.

What was your biggest surprise at Talk of Monmouth?

I facilitated Club Officer Training a few times and was extremely surprised that so many qualified people immediately volunteered to serve as trainers for the breakout sessions for each officer role or to help with whatever was needed. I thought it would be more difficult to get people to participate. Then, at one session, we had Toastmasters from Districts 83, 38 and 46 attend.

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Bill Hood Invites You to the Fall Conference

Past District Director Bill Hood, DTM, invites you to attend the District 83 Fall Conference on Saturday, November 18 at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Somerset, NJ. He is looking forward to the Tall Tales and Table Topics contests. What are you looking forward to?

 

Mentoring Matters

One of the characteristics of a successful club is that the club retains many of the members who join. A dynamic mentoring program for club members is one of the keys to success.

The Vice President Education (VPE) is responsible for ensuring that club members make progress toward their speaking and leadership goals. A club mentor coordinator can partner with the VPE by serving on the education committee and match up mentors with mentees.

When a new member joins the club, a mentor should be assigned right away. Regular communication between the parties helps get everyone off to a good start and continues the momentum. The mentor will find out the particular goals of the mentee and discuss strategies to achieve them.

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Anne Gilson Talks About the Fall Conference

Past District Governor Anne Gilson, DTM, shares some of the events which will take place at the District 83 Fall Conference, Saturday, November 18 at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Somerset, NJ. Register on the District 83 website.

Toastmasters Fun in the Carpool Lane

Carpooling is smart when people are going to the same place at the same time from the same location, or in some cases coming from different locations. For attending Toastmasters activities, carpooling is not only convenient, but it can also be fun, economical and lead to great ideas.

Years ago, a few of my club members and I decided to attend Club Officer Training together. We live near the southern end of District 83. I volunteered to drive since one member didn’t like to drive at night and another did not like to drive to unfamiliar locations alone. She said, “It is all the way up in Old Bridge.” Personally, I thought that was a bit funny since I do not think of Old Bridge as a distant location from my house, but we carpooled and used the time to brainstorm ideas for our club and enjoyed the time together.

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Toastmasters Leadership Institute Training: District Officer Training (Part 2)

The afternoon session featured District officer training. Janice invited officers to “consider taking on High Performance Leadership (HPL) projects for your role for this year.” She reviewed the structure of the District, how it is comprised of nine Divisions and 36 Areas and that clubs belong to Areas. There are four Areas in each Division and that District 83 is part of Region 9 in Toastmasters International.

She discussed expectations and that we hope to become a Distinguished District with Distinguished Clubs, Areas, and Divisions. Focus on members.

She added that the group will be working on their Division Success Plans this afternoon and that incentives at end of year are awarded at the Hail and Farewell event.

Our Region (9) will be one of the last to begin the Pathways program. We will be notified six months before it will roll out for Ambassadors and Guides. Ambassadors will work with Guides who will work with Clubs. The District still needs Ambassadors and Guides.

Manny began discussing Club officer training, held twice a year. In the summer, officers should ask, “What can I learn from this experience this year?”

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Hail and Fairwell: Saying Goodbye and Hello

The District 83 Hail and Farewell takes place on Saturday, July 22, 2017 from 11am-2pm at Thatcher McGhee’s Irish Pub and Eatery in Fairfield, NJ, and is organized by Margarita Estrada. The event is sold out. Thank you to all who are making this event a success.

Attendees will have an opportunity to “roast” Immediate Past District Director Paula Markert, DTM, enjoy a delicious brunch, listen to great speeches, welcome our new District officers and say thank you to last year’s officers. Division directors will receive the awards and recognition items earned by individuals, clubs, areas and divisions last year so they can pass them along to the recipients.

I attended one of these events when I first served as a District Officer. I found that it was good opportunity to meet other people from around the District. Some of the attendees decided to “roast” the Past District Governor, reminiscing about hilarious events that not everyone may have known about. I learned that some of the participants decided to deliver a speech from their Advanced Communication manual Special Occasion Speeches. Others delivered heartfelt words toward a speech in the Competent Communication manual.

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Toastmasters Leadership Institute kicks off Summer Officer Training (Part 1)

TLI took place on Saturday, June 24, 2017 in Cedar Knolls, NJ. Our District Trio comprised of District Director Janice Buffalow, DTM; Program Quality Director Manny Reyes, ACG, ALB; and Club Growth Director Lynda Starr, DTM, welcomed us. Our leaders provided a series of presentations with general information of interest to Club Officers in the morning prior to the breakout sessions for each of the seven club officer positions.

District Director Janice Buffalow

Janice discussed the importance of Club Success Plans and the Moments of Truth educational module.

Manny informed us that the contests at the District

conference are Tall Tales and Table Topics this fall. He encouraged participation in the contests.

“We need to communicate better and start now. It’s about you being better than you were before,” he remarked. “If you want something you have to work for it.”

Perpetual Progress is the theme for the conference, which will take place November 18 at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Somerset, NJ, the location of the District’s previous two conferences.

Program Quality Director Manny Reyes

Manny introduced Emilia Volyand, DTM, who will serve as District Chief Judge for 2017-2018. Emilia stated, “It starts with serving as an evaluator at the club level. If you pick the right judges, they will pick the right winners.” She will train people to be judges in August. “It is challenging to judge without judges’ training,” she concluded.

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