Category: Toastmasters

One Level Up- Module 1: Planning for Success

Our District 83 theme for this year is “New Beginnings”. This means a new way of acting to move at a much faster pace, a new vision to take our members to new educational heights exploring our resilience, to acquire new abilities no matter what obstacles or hurdles appears on the way, and find consistent  practices to overcome the distractions trying to disrupt our advancement.

For everyone to achieve my challenge to move “one level up” in your educational and/or leadership program, we need to come to the realization that if we don’t plan the year-end outcome, we cannot arrive there.  Or as Zig Ziglar used to say, “You can’t hit a target you cannot see, and you cannot see a target you do not have”.  

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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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Club Spotlight: Old Bridge Toastmasters

 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: Old Bridge Toastmasters 1401391

Charter Date: June 30, 2010 by Thomas Somers, DTM

Recent Awards: President’s Distinguished for 6 consecutive years.

Club members in their own words:

I joined Old Bridge Toastmasters to help me reduce my Social Anxiety and to be a better public speaker and leader. I always refer to the ability to be an effective public speaker as the “Great Equalizer.” It’s a skill that if your going to be in the working world, essential! — Francis B. Gatto, CC

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Twitter for Toastmasters

Twitter is an invaluable tool for Toastmasters today. It lets you interact with other Toastmasters all over the world, sharing ideas that make the organization as a whole stronger. However, for non-digital natives, once you create an account, it’s easy to get lost in a sea of hashtags, @ signs, and 140 character-long thoughts.

Hashtags are used on both Twitter and Facebook and are used the same way for both. They are used to highlight key words. Don’t hashtag minor words. #the is meaningless. What words do you want followers and potential followers to find your content under? In the Toastmasters Twitterverse, the most popular are #toastmasters, #leadership, and #publicspeaking.

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D83 Introduces One Level Up Webinars

Starting next week, District 83 is going to embark on a new endeavor, which is to answer those impending questions. Sometimes you can’t find the answers to those questions easily, but, because of years of Toastmasters experience, some of our District leaders have the answers to or can at least to point in a way to solve certain types of challenges.

D83 One Level Up webinars are not going to take you from zero to sixty in six seconds flat. Our goal is to help you reach 100 percent of your goals, even if it takes a little more time than driving at maximum speed on the NJ Turnpike. Remember is not how fast you come to a solution, but how robust and permanent your solution is to your club.

The webinars will cover different topics and will be tailored to your needs. They will be a roadmap to what is happening in District 83 at any given time as well as the tasks that your club should be working on, if you have elected to follow the Toastmasters International calendar and are working on meeting the necessary points to become Distinguished, Select Distinguished, or President’s Distinguished.

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Meet the District Officers: Lynda Starr

Name: Lynda Starr, DTM     

Position: Club Growth Director

Club(s): Dining to Speak

Other positions: I have held all club roles, except for treasurer. Currently Vice President for Membership for Dining to Speak. I am a former District 83 Public Relations Officer, newsletter co-editor, Division Governor, and Area Governor.

How long have you been in Toastmasters? 10 years

What are your plans for the district/area/division?

As club growth director, my goal is for District 83 to be President’s Distinguished. I believe in aiming for the stars and you may hit the moon. I plan to work closely with the other district officers and all members to grow District 83 and to retain existing members and clubs in order to share the benefits Toastmasters membership offers.

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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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From Club member to District Officer (Part 2)

As many people do, I started Toastmasters slowly. I joined one club. I volunteered to give speeches because I wanted to do at least one every month. Then, I was invited to attend an Advanced Club to move faster on my speeches. Ten months into my first year as a member, I finished my first Competent Communicator, often called a CC.

With my CC, I became a full fledged member of the Advanced club. Since I was now officially a member of two clubs, I started to get busy with more speeches and completing the Competent Leadership manual. Before the end of my first year in the organization, I joined a third club to move even faster and found a way to have my spouse join me in my crusade to conquer the space behind the lectern in front of an audience.

To keep up my momentum, I asked my mentor about what I needed to do to become a Distinguished Toastmaster, or DTM. He mentioned that I needed to get an officer role at the District level and recommended I do that soon. As serendipity would have it, this was just a few days before the 2015 Spring Conference. Armed with, not much, but the courage to ask for an opportunity to show my passion, I approached the new elected District Director and volunteered to help the district.

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Club Spotlight: Midtown Toastmasters

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: Midtown Toastmasters (4722)

Charter Date: September 1, 1981

Location: Basking Ridge, NJ

Recent Awards: President’s Distinguished Club for 10 consecutive years.

History:

The club was created over 35 years ago at Verizon’s headquarters in NYC. The headquarters has since moved, but it kept its Midtown name.

 

Club members in their own words:

The Midtown Toastmasters is a fun-loving, motivated, and supportive group of individuals, who meet twice a month in Basking Ridge to work on communication and leadership skills. Members get to know one another on a deeper level by sharing personal stories, struggles, and victories.

“We welcome anyone to visit our club, and check out what the Toastmasters have to offer. It’s always exciting to have a new member join and see them grow right before our eyes.- Tezeta Roro

For more information, email Jennifer Burns at jennifer.burns@verizonwireless.com or just stop by and check out the next meeting.

 

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