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Winning as an individual, a club and a District
Programs and incentives encourage excellence
The Secret Is Out
District 35 Toastmasters Leadership Institute is Saturday, February 3, 2018
The District 35 Toastmasters Leadership Institute is less than three months away! We will hold the District TLI on the first Saturday in February February 3, 2018, an all-day event. The TLI team is busy planning another great event at Monona Terrace for its third year.
2009-2010 Toastmasters International President Gary Schmidt, DTM, will be share Secrets of Successful Leaders: You will learn the three secrets of successful leaders and how these secrets can help you achieve greatness and success in your personal and professional journeys.
Other presentations given at the TLI by fellow District Toastmasters will help you improve your leadership skills and use what you’ve learned in your clubs. These presentations will not be at the Division led TLIs so you will only have one opportunity to hear these fabulous speakers. We will also have a session regarding Pathways to supplement the training that will be going on in December and January with the Pathways Guides.
The TLI team is working on buses to Monona Terrace as this proved to be popular last year.
Please stay tuned to the District 35 website for more information. Registration will be available in mid-December.
Navigator Kits Coming to Your Club!
We’re happy to announce that District 35 has 14 Pathways Guides and 6 Pathways Ambassadors officially appointed to serve our clubs and members. Each of these volunteers has bee
n assigned 8 or more clubs, and in the coming months they will be visiting clubs, offering virtual support, and sharing more information about Pathways.
During the club visit, Pathways Guides will deliver the Navigator kit to the Vice President of Education. A great deal of thought went into the design and visual representation of this kit: The exterior art symbolizes each member’s journey through the program and, once opened, the inside flap denotes an inspiring message about members future journey in the Pathways learning experience.
There are five items in each kit.
- The welcome letter that describes the contents of the kit and instructions for the VPE.
- The Navigator handbook, which arms the VPE with information about Pathways and the club experience.
- 25 Quick Start guides that help members prepare for the Pathways rollout. The Quick Start guide also serves as a souvenir for the members.
- Three Pathways pins are included with each kit and a promotion code to procure an additional 20 pins as a reward for those who sign up for the program.
- Finally, a flash drive contains digital versions of The Navigator, Quick Start guides, membership application, and much more.
To meet our deadline for rollout, club visits should be conducted before January 31, 2018.
Lets welcome our Pathways Team!
| Guides
Angela Graham Craig Carpenter Jeff McRaven Jesse Franklin Judy Bauer Kathy Shine Kelly Huttelmaier Kimberly Thomas Kris Pool Lori Geddes Steve Wittmann Tina Palmgren Tom Carlson Tom Gust |
Ambassadors
Kyna Shnayderman Scott Kazin Sierk Oudemans The Skrauss Theresa Flynn Wendy Benkowski |
| Program Quality Director
Ed Thelen |
Chief Ambassador
Kathy Shine |
The list of clubs and their assigned Guides and Ambassadors will be posted on the District 35 website.
Added 12/4/17: Here’s the link to that download
Kathy Shine, DTM ✉
Chief Ambassador
Club Success Plans: A Roadmap to Success
With our recent awards ceremony at the Fall Conference, we witnessed those clubs that achieved Distinguished Status or better in 2016-2017. For those that have attended a number of conferences, you have noticed many clubs that appear on the list year after year.
You may ask yourself, “How do these clubs achieve year after year?” It can be summarized in one word: Planning. Toastmasters International assists us in providing the framework to document this planning through the Club Success Plan.
We started the Toastmasters year by providing the incentive of offering a $25 Toastmasters gift certificate for submitting their Club Success Plan. 32 clubs submitted their plan by this deadline; this is an important step toward reaching our Distinguished District goal of 52 Distinguished clubs.
Merely writing out the Club Success Plan does not guarantee your club will reach Distinguished. Keep these three things in mind when working your plan:
- Review your Club Success Plan on a regular basis. This should be done at least on a quarterly basis, but ideally on a monthly basis. This should be done with the officers during their board meeting. Specific planning items reviewed with the club where a larger effort is needed to accomplish a particular task. The Club Success Plan should be a living, breathing document, not something you write up and put away for the remainder of the Toastmasters year.
- Make sure you have fun events planned. This can take various shapes and forms. For some clubs this will be events such as open houses, Speechcraft and new themes for meetings. Clubs that achieve every year might challenge their members to reach new goals. For example, one of the items on one club’s plan was to encourage participation in the Club Ambassador Program.
- Keep future goals in mind as well as current ones. With a turnover of members within each club, not all members will be able to directly complete a DCP goal. Work with newer members to determine their goals so they can contribute to awards in future years. This will lead to an established pattern of success.
If your club has not put yet put together a Club Success Plan, it is not too late! You can download the document off the Toastmasters International website and start working on it today!
Awesome support for clubs with 12 members or fewer!
Did you ever ask yourself when thinking about your club, “What more can we do? How do we get more members? How can we as officers manage this club easier and become even more dynamic and vibrant?”
The answer: A Club Coach
Having a Club Coach brings a fresh set of eyes to your club along with new energy, new perspectives and a lockdown will to succeed.
The Club Coach is a counselor, a source of knowledge and a fountain of ideas.
The coach brings ideas from around the District that have worked. Our D35 coaches are a team; they share ideas with each other as well as share different methodologies that actually work to grow and revitalize your club.
Opening your club to a coach not only benefits your club but you will be helping a fellow Toastmaster as well. A Club Coach is one of the options a Toastmaster must fulfill to earn an Advanced Leader Silver.
As members of District 35, let us together contribute to the success of our District this Toastmaster year. We already have 21 awesome coaches serving clubs throughout the District. Lets get every club with 12 members or less a coach so we can all get that “first meeting excitement” back as people enhance and advance through their communication and leadership skills.
A coach cannot be a current member of your club; however, they can join your club after they are assigned.
If your club would like a coach, please be sure the club officer team is in consensus and have one of the officers (usually the President), email Judy Bauer. Judy will immediately find a qualified coach for your club.
On the other side, if you want to be a Club Coach and earn your Advanced Leader Silver – email Judy Bauer .
Together let’s end this Toastmaster year with even more solid, dynamic, and vibrant clubs.
District Elections 2018-2019
Yes, we are not even at the midpoint of the 2017-18 year, but it is time to start thinking ahead to District Officer elections for the year which will begin July 1, 2018. If you are planning to run for a District office, or know of someone whom you believe would make a quality cand
idate, now is the time to identify and submit nominations for our 2018-19 leadership team.
Here are the steps to follow:
Who wants $185?
Would you like to start a Toastmasters club at your workplace or start a community club? The District is providing a tiered incentive to help build new clubs in the district.
The “Seed the Lead” competition is an incentive for all Toastmasters in District 35 to engage in the club building process. The lead submitter does not have to remain engaged beyond the lead generation step — but the more they help, the more they can win.
- Supply a qualified lead to start a club. This will be sowing the seed for growing a new club. Definition of “qualified” is at the discretion of the Club Growth Director – Receive $10
- This qualified lead results in a Demo meeting. Demo meeting must have at least 15 interested attendees – Receive $ 25
- Demo meeting results in a completed Organizational meeting. “Completed” is defined as (1) Club votes on a club name (2) Club votes on meeting times, days and location (3) Club elects a complete slate of officers – Receive $ 50
- Club charters – Receive $ 100.
If you supply me with a qualified lead that grows into a chartered club you will have won a total of $ 185.
Download the Club Lead form from the District 35 website. Complete the contact information, how you came in contact with the organization and a description of why this organization is interested in Toastmasters. Email the form to Rozaline Janci at Rozaline.janci@gmail.com
Payment is in the form of a gift card of the Club Growth Director’s choice at the time the lead is declared “dead” or a club charters.
Rozaline Janci, DTM✉
Club Growth Director
Can you hear us now? New District Technology Committee established
For several years, the District has used collection of sound equipment maintained by a small but dedicated group of members. Over time, and with the advances of technology, it became apparent that our equipment was falling short of our needs at District events.
Last year, the District invested in new sound equipment. If you attended the Fall Conference recently in Madison and the Spring Convention in Marshfield, I think you will agree the sound quality and dependability have dramatically increased.
All this has confirmed the need for a standing committee. Therefore, I have approved the creation of a District Technology Committee, chaired by Jeff Ebel, DTM. The scope of this committee is currently limited to providing sound engineering for District Conferences and Conventions for events held in the main banquet room. Over time, and as members step forward to serve, I would like the committee’s scope expanded to include video technology, video recording, projectors, etc.
The committees current focus includes:
- Establish set-up and operations protocols for main sessions at District events
- Build a team of trained sound technicians to provide direction, guidance, and back-up for District events
- Document procedures to assure sound quality, professionalism, and consistency in set-up and operations
- Maintain District sound equipment
The committee is in the process of creating an operating manual for setup and operation of the sound system for specific events.
If you are interested in supporting the District’s technology needs, please contact Jeff Ebel or Keith Cumiskey for more information.
Keith Cumiskey, DTM✉
District Director
Thinking outside the gift-wrapped box
You’ve gone through the craziness of Black Friday and stores are a nightmare, but you still need to get something awesome for your cousin at college, for your friend who wants to start her own business and your long-time besty who just moved across the state.
What to get people who need to develop business skills, meet people, improve communication and network?
Toastmasters.
Use the toastmasters.org/find-a-club function, and have your gift recipient check out the club — and offer to gift them a semester. We know it’s a great way to learn new communication skills and practice leadership, and networking in the club, area and district offer outstanding chances to meet a wide variety of business contacts, professional partners and mentors — and just maybe new friends.
Consider it. If you need help finding a club reach out to a District Executive Council member or ask me. Our District has clubs in towns throughout the state (and Upper Peninsula!) as well as UW, Marquette University and other major colleges throughout the state. The gift of developing skills, meeting people and learning communication skills will last a lot longer than most gift cards and they’ll be more useful than animatronic stuffed animals.
Please note: Due to membership incentives and ethics guidelines, District executives — Area and Division directors and the Trio — are required to not pay for additional memberships; if unsure, contact members@toastmasters.org
Were you there?
The final District 35 Fall Conference was held last month, and Tim Bojko and Bonniejean Alford (both of Division D clubs) were there to document some of the festivities, education and networking. See if you recognize any of these engaged, entertained Toastmasters!
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