Things to do…
- Pay your membership dues
- Sign up to Attend the Fall Conference
- Learn about Toastmasters Pathways
- Become a Club Ambassador
- Capture a Banner
- Laugh during a Night of Fun
- Discover the secrets of the NSA
- Attend Division Speech Contests
In this issue…
- District 35 Website Facelift!
- Fall Conference Education Sessions Announced!
- Why HPL?
- Christine’s PR Tips
- National Speakers Association’s Open House
- Night of Fun & Comedy
- Banner Replacement Program
- Going Boldly Where No One Has Gone Before
District 35 Website Facelift!
Have you visited our district website lately? If not, check it out: http://tm35.
For questions, comments, concerns, or compliments, feel free to email our webmaster, Barbara Weisenberger, or PRM, Christine Piela.
Christine Piela, CC ALB
District PRM
Fall Conference Education Sessions Announced!
One of my favorite things about Fall Conference are the education sessions. The speakers share a lot of awesome insights on how to improve our communication and leadership skills, as well as other soft skills. Their backgrounds always bring a fresh perspective to any topic and without further delay, I want to introduce some of the education sessions.
Session Title: Evaluation Excellence: How to Listen and Respond
Presenter: Nancy McCulley, ACB, ALSSession Summary
The core of the Toastmasters education program is improved communication and leadership. Members become better speakers and practice leadership skills in our everyday lives. But what about listening? Although this silent skill is often overlooked, it is a critical component of good communication.This session will explore the basics of good listening—not just “hearing”—and will challenge each of us to look for opportunities to incorporate active listening into our Toastmasters experience as well as our personal and professional lives.
This session is for you if you want to:
- Feel more comfortable offering advice or support to family and friends
- Give fair and honest feedback in a considerate and respectful manner
- Prepare for a difficult conversation or situation
- Better understand other points of view
- Bounce back from a stagnant or dysfunctional team interaction
Session Title: Social Media – What’s in it for Toastmasters
Presenters: Jeff McRaven (Western Area Director), Christine Piela (current District PRM) and Barb Weisenberger (past District PRM & current District Webmaster)Session Summary
What is social media? How do I use it to promote my club? This session will reveal the facts and dispel the myths associated with social media, particularly as it applies to its partnership with Toastmasters throughout the District, ending the session with a Q&A period designed to answer every single social media question you’ve ever had!
Session Title: Personal Development Through Toastmasters
Presenters: Brenda Michels, ACS, ALSSession Summary
Toastmasters gives each of us the opportunity to develop. Just like t-ball, you gain the confidence to run to that next base and overcome the obstacles in your path. Let’s swing our bat to gain the experience and opportunities to get to that next level. We will identify how we can relate toastmaster to our personal and professional lives and how we as toastmasters need to hit the ball out of the park. For its one, two, three strikes you’re out at the old ball game…but, not with Toastmasters! Come learn how to play!
Session Title: Member Stories, Member Successes: A Panel Discussion
Presenters: Panel from the Toastmasters District 35 Leadership ClubSession Summary
This session brings the perspective of four different Toastmasters discussing their journey as they work to achieve their CC/CL, AC/AL, DTM. They will also be taking your questions about how they continue to grow from their involvement in the club and the District.
Session Title: Using Humor in Your Speeches
Presenters: John ScottSession Summary
We have all listened to dry, monotone speakers (college professors anyone?). This session will provide tips as to how to appropriately use humor in your speeches so that people will be engaged with your speech. Part of this session will be hands-on so you can apply what you learn right away.
Tim Bojko
Fall Conference PR Chair & President NM Speaks!
Why HPL?
When I was new to Toastmasters – I heard people talk about their “HPL”.
“Are you working on your HPL?”
“How’s your HPL going? How’s your Action Committee…..”
I’d heard of the CC and CL, but I wasn’t sure about the HPL. I did a little research and found out they were talking about their High Performance Leadership (HPL) project.
The HPL project is an exercise in service leadership, and part of the Advanced Leadership Silver (ALS) level. You are the leader who focuses on delivering a service to others, while leading a team who do the work on the project’s delivery. And it gets you one step closer to your DTM!
The HPL revolves around Six Dimensions of Effective Leadership
Vision and Values
As an effective leader – you possess vision to lead your team. Leaders get people where they didn’t know they needed to go – by creating a clear vision. .
Direction
As an effective leader – you support people as they accomplish the tasks needed to turn your vision into reality. Goal setting and delegating are part of setting the direction. Good leaders set goals, establish priorities and delegate responsibility as necessary.
Persuasion
As an effective leader – you understand the power of persuasion. Being able to move people is part of effective leadership development.
Support
As an effective leader – you encourage and support your team, and seek people who are creative. Fostering a sense of creativity in a safe environment delivers better solutions.
Development
As an effective leader – you encourage people to develop by challenging the team to learn new skills. Providing development opportunities to your team gives them the opportunity to learn and grow – as Toastmasters, professionals and people.
Appreciation
As an effective leader – you appreciate and recognize people’s efforts and energy.
The HPL project – available at www.toastmasters.org uses a 3 step learning process – Study, Action and Feedback. You will have a Guidance team and an Action team to support you along your HPL journey.
What kind of projects can you complete for your HPL? Here are just a few ideas:
- Organize a community project
- Start a new Toastmaster club
- Bring together a family reunion
- Create a mentoring process for your club.
Your idea can support Toastmasters, or your community.
Your HPL experience can be rewarding to you personally and contribute positively to the world as well.
Questions about completing an HPL? Do you want to contribute positively to your Toastmasters Club, Area, Division or District? Let’s talk about your HPL!
Cindy Laatsch, DTM
District Director
Christine’s PR Tips
Looking for a free way to make personalized, copyright-free graphics for your website, newsletter, handouts, etc? Try Canva.com! With Canva, you can make any size graphic you’d like, and it even has basic sizes ready to choose from, so making social media graphics is a breeze. Numerous fonts, images, graphic elements, layouts and more are already free to incorporate into your design when you make an account. Some images cost $1 but there are plenty free ones to choose from. You can also upload any images you’d like, making it easily personalized. For an example of something you can create, view the image with this article.
To try Canva, go to canva.com and create an account. Then simply click an image size and start creating! If you have any questions, feel free to email me at christineapiela@gmail.com.
Happy creating!
Christine Piela, CC ALB
District PRM
National Speakers Association’s Open House
Cream City member, Scott Lesnick, is an active member with the National Speakers Association (NSA). Scott travels across the nation and gets paid to speak. Thinking about taking your Toastmasters skills to a new level and getting paid to speak? If so, plan to attend NSA’s Open House – this is a free event, with limited seating.
When: September 27th @ 11:30 AM – 12:30PM.
Where: The Milwaukee Sailing Club-Milwaukee Community Sailing Center 1450 N. Lincoln Memorial Drive.
RSVP: http://www.wisconsinspeakers.
Join professional speakers – including Scott – as they share information about their Speaker Academy. Q&A session follows where you can get feedback from professional speakers.
Here is a sample video of a professional speaker: https://vimeo.com/152738900
Scott Lesnick- NSA- Cream City Toastmasters
scott@scottlesnick.com
Night of Fun & Comedy
A Division F Event
10/7/16 – Doors open at 5:30
Midway Hotel & Suites Brookfield
1005 S. Moorland Rd Brookfield, WI 53005
Come enjoy a night of true belly laugh
- Fish Fry – $19.74 (includes tip)
- Prizes for best jokes, banners
- Prize for best 70’s costume
John Scott, ACS, CL
Division F Director
Banner Replacement Program
Toastmasters International introduced the current logo in 2011. Some of our clubs have proudly retained their clubs banners with the previous logo. However, the time has come to embrace the current branding. We would like every club in the District to have a club banner with the current logo.
If your club meets the requirement by March 17, your new banner will be presented to you at the Spring Convention. If your club meets the requirement by June 1, your new banner will be delivered to you by your area director.
We hope you keep your old banners with the ribbons representing proud accomplishments of your club and members. Feel free to bring them along to the Spring Convention in Marshfield. However, beginning with the Spring Convention (May 2017), every club represented in the Parade of Banners must have a banner with the new logo.
Has your club misplaced its banner (old or new logo)? You are eligible for this same incentive.
Do you already have the new logo banner? Send a photo to Keith Cumiskey by April 24 and you will be entered in a drawing for a $100 gift card. Three cards will be awarded at the Spring Convention.
| Requirement | Due Date |
Reward |
| All seven officers trained in one training season and club registration at District 35 conference or convention |
October 24 |
Banner and stand |
| Distinguished Club |
March 17 |
Banner and stand |
| All seven officers trained in one training season and club registration at District 35 conference or convention |
April 24 |
Banner |
| Distinguished Club |
June 1 |
Banner |
Contact Program Quality Director, Keith Cumiskey with any questions.
Going Boldly Where No One Has Gone Before
With the recent 50th anniversary of the airing of the original episode on Star Trek (and seeing a lot of people update their Facebook profile pictures with the tagline “Go Boldly”), I thought I’d take a moment to talk about our bold plan for the year.
At the beginning of the Toastmasters year, District Director Cindy Laatsch set a goal for us to be a Distinguished District by June 1, 2017. In my mind, that was a bold goal because every other year the goal was simply to be Distinguished at the end of the Toastmasters year on June 30th.
In order to support this particular goal, a few weeks ago I introduced the “Double Smedley” incentive where any club that gets 10 new members in August and September would receive a $50 gift card. At a recent Area speech contest, I heard comments such as “That’s hard!” and “No way!”
When I introduced this incentive did I think it would be a challenge for any club to accomplish this feat? Yes, I thought it would be a difficult task to accomplish. At the same time, I also knew it was not an impossible feat and by putting the challenge out there I know I got a few people to think bigger than they had before. I was willing to accept failure in order for us to think boldly and try something new (and I got to be the hot topic of conversation for a couple weeks).
I bring this up because, in laying out the plan for the year, we will be having more of these bold challenges to work on increasing member payments in the District. We missed being a Distinguished District by approximately 60 member payments last year. I hope by being bold that does not happen again this year and we meet our District goal of being Distinguished by June 1st.
So let us go boldly where no Toastmasters have gone before and make this our best year ever!
Ed Thelen, DTM
Club Growth Director