Tag: manny reyes

Club Spotlight: Impact 21

Club: Impact 21

Charter Date: March 29, 2002

2016-2017 Officers: Left to Right: Area 51 Director Oscar Ocasio, ACG, ALB, President Marjorie Nazaire, CC; VP of Education Manny Reyes, ACG, ALB, VP Membership; and Treasurer Cyndi Wilson DTM, VP PR Margarita Estrada, ACS, ALS; and Sgt. at Arms & Secretary Mario Lewis, ACG, CL

 

 

Club Members In Their Own Words:

I was painfully shy and could not even present my final graduate paper to my peers.  English as a second language also pushed me back to a dark corner.  My best friend told me about Toastmasters.  I visited Impact 21 in January 2016 and felt at home.  The club has given me my voice back and I realized that my accent should not be an handicap.  I shared my story with my fellow toastmasters and they gave me a confidence that I did not know existed in me.  Little by little I left my comfort zone, and volunteering for table topics allowed me to start and be part of any conversation. – President Marjorie Nazaire, CC

I joined Toastmasters because I wanted to be a better speaker and presenter. But I never thought I would find joy, friendship, camaraderie and passion for growth and personal development.  I started in Toastmasters by locating the Club that was closest to my house, where I have been a member for some time now. I have learned in turn that more than convenience you have to look for the Club that is the closest to your heart. Where you find that you can grow and help others in their own journey. A Club where you can see the type of leaders and speakers that you feel the closest to your own likes and needs. Where you learn and help others learn. Where every meeting is an adventure and a documentary of things that happened, things that are happening and things one hope will happen. Putting these goals and treasures together is how I ended up coming to Impact 21. – Manny Reyes, VP of Education, ACG, ALB

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Meet the District Officers: Manny Reyes

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.

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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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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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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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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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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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From Club Member to District Officer (Part 1)

Let me start by borrowing Steve Jobs 2005 Stanford University Commencement line where he says, “you cannot connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward”. With that said, if you had asked me three and a half ago, at the beginning of my Toastmasters journey, if I thought I was going to be serving as a District Officer, my answer surely would have been NO.

When I first join the Toastmasters, I had no idea of the organization’s scope and dimension. As a matter of fact, I was more focus on getting a promotion at my job than I was interested in becoming a good communicator and a leader. I couldn’t imagine what the road ahead had in store for me.

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Officer Training in Tinton Falls

Were you unable to make it to Toastmasters Leadership Institute training? Don’t worry! Our second club officer training will take place on July 5, 2017 at the Tinton Falls Municipal Center. If you would like to attend, please register on the District 83 website.
 
Tinton Falls will also have some special guests. Our District Director Janice Buffalow will be training new Presidents. Program Quality Director Manny Reyes will train Vice Presidents of Education. Public Relations Manager Allison Lips will train Vice Presidents of Public Relations.
 
The other trainers are:
 
Annie O’Rourke  for Vice Presidents of Membership
John Connors for Secretaries
John Steinhilber for Treasurers
Frank Schuck for Sergeant at Arms