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.
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?”
Continue reading “Toastmasters Leadership Institute Training: District Officer Training (Part 2)”
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.
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.
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.
Continue reading “Toastmasters Leadership Institute kicks off Summer Officer Training (Part 1)”
