Category: Personal Stories

Meet the Division H Team: Tonia, Bruce, Monica & Alton

Vision: To inspire all Toastmasters of Division H to attain their educational and leadership goals for 2017-2018, through mentoring, recognition and training. Division H will be a distinguished division.

Mission: To ensure every club knows how to create and implement a club success plan. Members will create clearly outlined and goals to earn their communication (CC, ACB, ACS, ACG) and leadership goals (CL, ALB, ALS, DTM). 

Objective 1: We will achieve success by providing the training for VPEs to track member goals using a “VPE notebook” for members who may not have their manuals at club meetings.

Objective 2: We will expand mentoring opportunities both (member to member within clubs) and (member to member from other clubs) within the Division.

Objective 3: We will maintain a base 20 members for each club.

Objective 4: We will add four new clubs to the Division.

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From Challenge to Opportunity: A Rebrand Gives a Club New Life

In every challenge there is something to be learned and if you can make it out to the other side there are rewards to reap. Rockland Toastmasters is an example of that.

Rockland Toastmasters of Rockland County NY was founded in 2010. At that time it was called Nyack Toastmasters, after the small town the club met in. Throughout the years as the club changed and evolved, the constant was the location, a local library, a favorite to those who walked through the doors as it boasted year round views of the Hudson River and it’s charm reflected the villages vibe of art and community. In 2016, after much thought and consideration, it was decided the club would be changing locations.  

Rockland Toastmasters’ officers at training.

As Toastmasters is a non profit organization, members pay a minimal yearly fee to cover costs and take pride in volunteering their time as officers and filling other various roles within their chapter to ensure the success of their club and personal progression in public speaking. Yearly fees are used for a variety of things- materials for marketing, resources for members, contests, and open houses are typical and needed to make clubs feel well resourced. In the case of Nyack Toastmasters, starting in 2015, these fees were going solely to paying rent for the bi-monthly meetings. With only a small bank account balance, soon it became apparent that the fee was no longer maintainable.

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Teamwork Makes Great Toastmasters

DTM Mike Rutkowski

It’s been said that timing in life is everything. When I first joined Hunterdon Speak Easy Toastmasters club in 2009, I was more interested in networking than public speaking. I soon discovered that I was surrounded by some incredibly talented and high performing people. Our club officers at the time included such well-known names as Pam Winter, Cyndi Wilson and Andrew Smith, all of whom were soon to become Distinguished Toastmasters and hold D83 executive leadership positions. This Toastmasters Dream Team eventually served as my collective mentors and soon invited me to become a club officer as well.

I found that I really enjoyed public speaking and competing in speech contests. After a few years, I had completed my CC and all Advanced Communication awards. Janice Buffalow lived nearby and was a frequent visitor to our club. She encouraged me to work the Toastmasters Leadership track, serve as an Area Director and pursue my DTM.

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Volunteering Led to Toastmasters

I grew up in a family that values volunteering. I carried the orange UNICEF box to collect change on Halloween as a girl, watched my parents actively engage in the community through the Jaycees, and joined my grandmother in delivering mail to patients in the hospital as a candy striper.

Nicole speaking at a Room to Read event.

The foundation of service to others was firmly established in my upbringing. I continued to volunteer throughout college, career and kids when time permitted. In 2010 service switched from being a pastime to a priority. I was invited to join the local chapter of a global organization focused on literacy.

Room to Read began in 2000 on the belief that World Change Starts with Educated Children. Room to Read operates in 14 countries and has an extensive volunteer network worldwide. I read the book by the founder, Leaving Microsoft to Change the World, and was immediately hooked.

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From Toastmasters to Officiating a Wedding

In 2015, I joined Toastmasters. At the time, I never intended to officiate a wedding. Even though I was ordained, I had never used my ordination. That changed when a mutual friend of the groom told me that his friend needs someone to officiate the wedding. I jumped at the opportunity, but internally thought “Kevin… what do you think you’re doing? This is a wedding, not explaining the rules to a board game.”

Before the wedding, I met with the bride and groom and they explained to me what they wanted. It was nothing out of the usual as far as wedding ceremonies go. The day of the ceremony, I made sure I had the wedding certificate ready and kept practicing the script the bride and groom wanted me say.

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