Name: Paula Markert
Position: Immediate Past District Director
Club(s): Open Door and GSK Speakeasy
Other positions: Almost everything, except PR and Treasurer.
Continue reading “Meet the District Officers: Paula Markert”
When your Vice President of Education asks whether you want to participate in the club contest this August, resist the impulse to turn away. Instead, say “yes.” You’ll thank yourself for doing it! I’ll tell you why you should participate in your club’s Table Topics and Tall Tales contests.
Club: What Exit? (5124091)
Charter Date: September 20, 2016
Recent Awards: For 2016-2017, What Exit? achieved a rare thing for a brand new club, we became a Select Distinguished Club in less than a year of being chartered!
Club members in their own words:
“Swathi (Karamcheti) and I founded the club because we realized that as involved as we both were, we didn’t share a club and we thought that was a shame. Very soon, our club, meeting on Saturday afternoons, was drawing people from Bergen County to Monmouth County and we knew were were onto something.”-Susan Chrusciel
Name: Thomas Somers
Position: Webmaster
Club(s): Old Bridge Toastmasters, Jim Friend Toastmasters, and ACES
Other positions: Past District Governor
How long have you been in Toastmasters? 13 Years
What are your plans for the district? Maintain the district’s website to help promote district events and continue to develop the website so that it can be transferred to a future webmaster.
Name: Frank Schuck
Position: Area 61 Director
Club(s): AT&T Middletown, Red Bank Toastmasters, and Talk of Monmouth
Other positions: Education Vice President of Talk of Monmouth and former Sergeant at Arms at AT&T Middletown.
How long have you been in Toastmasters? Four years currently and two years in the late 70s.
What are your plans for Area 61?
As Area 61 Director I plan to encourage greater participation of members and clubs. Speech Contests, multi-club parties, the Blue Claws Baseball outing and conferences will help individuals grow and expand their Toastmaster’s Network. The goal of every Toastmaster should be to complete their CC and CL and then focus on completing the advanced manuals that suit their interests and personal development objectives. Letting members know that joining multiple clubs enhances the Toastmaster experience exponentially.
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.
It’s easy to think of Toastmasters as one giant homogeneous organization. As any Toastmaster will tell you, that is far from the truth. Each club has a unique personality. Club Spotlight seeks to help current and future members find the right club(s) for their Toastmasters goals.
Club: Hunterdon Speak Easy Club
Charter Date: December 7, 2004
Recent Awards: Talk Up Toastmasters Award 2016-2017
For most people, the seasons are Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring. For Toastmasters, the seasons are Officer Training, Contest Season, Officer Training, and Contest Season. For Fall 2017, District 83 is holding two contests: Tall Tales and Table Topics. Club contests are traditionally run in August. Winners move on to Area contests in September and Division contests in October, eventually culminating in the District contest at our Fall Conference on November 18.
But why hold a club contest at all? Here are four great reasons:
Name: Manuel A. Reyes, ACG, ALB
Position: Program Quality Director
Club(s): Impact 21, What Exit?, Brunswick Advanced, and Brunswick Toastmasters
Other positions: At the club level, I have been Club President, VP of Education, VP Public Relations, Secretary, and Sergeant-at-Arms . I have also served as Area 42 Director 2015 – 2016 and Division D Director 2016 – 2017.
How long have you been in Toastmasters? Since April 01, 2014.
What are your plans for the district/area/division?
The theme for this Toastmaster Year is “New Beginnings”. And I like to think of this theme as the start to great things. In the year ahead, I want to see our members grow in their communications and leadership skills. I want to ask everyone to set a goal to complete a personal milestone, like to move up or add one communication or leadership award. For example, leveling up from CC (Competent Communicator) to ACB (Advance Communication Bronze) and so on.
We all have a new opportunity to reassess where we are today and where we want to be a year from now. As long as everyone keeps sight of where they are headed, we should be on the right track.
For a starting point, let me remind you of Lao Tzu quote. “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” And if you are on your path today, then take the next step.
Conference Chair Dave Chapman talks about the Fall Conference, which will take place on November 18, 2017.
