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Toastmasters International District 10 Newsletter
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Leaders and Lecterns
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September 2011
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News from your Public Relations Officer (DPRO)
Greetings!
The nights are feeling cooler and the days are getting shorter. Fall is almost here and with it the busy time for our district. The Toastmaster year is fully underway with club, area, and district speech contests just around the corner along with our fall conference just two short months away. We are currently updating the district website and newsletter to the new Toastmasters International branding. This newsletter is a good example of how the rebranding looks. I am always looking for news stories, photos, ideas, and suggestions for the website and newsletter. Feel free to drop me a line. Keith Feador Public Relations Officer (440) 773-4280 k_feador@yahoo.com 
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News from your District Governor (DG)
 August marked the second annual training for District trio's(88 districts) from all over the world at the Toastmaster International Conference in Las Vegas Nevada. Welcome to September, a busy time in Toastmasters. You've probably received an email or letter from your club treasurer that it is dues renewal time. Dues are due in by October 1st. Having dues turned in on time counts toward your club's distinguished club program (DCP.) Important for you, the member though, is if you are competing in the fall contests, you must be a member in good standing (meaning your dues are paid up). Since the Fall contests run through November 19th, the dues renewal period overlaps the contest and October dues must be in on time.... Additionally, Toastmasters International has raised the membership dues this year. Yearly dues to TI are now $72.00 a year. These dues are not set by districts, divisions, areas, or clubs. They come from Toastmasters International. The primary reason given for the dues increase was that money was needed to implement strategies of what TI calls "The Five Year Plan". Without going into a lot of detail, a majority of the dues increase is based on making TI a world class organization. They've increased office hours from 8 to 12 hours each day. Eventual hope is that the offices will be open 24 hours a day. As a worldwide organization, this makes sense as there are people calling in from all over the world. While dues increases are money out of all our pockets, please keep in mind what a great bargain and benefit the Toastmasters program is to you. It costs under $100.00 a year. A one day seminar would be that or more. I, for one, know my time and money is well spent attending Toastmasters meetings. We are also in the midst of the Smedley Award Membership Building Contest. What is the Smedley Award Membership Building Contest, you might ask. Here is a link to all the membership building contests that take place throughout the year: Membership Building Contests You should also be receiving a club visit from your Area Governor. Area Governors are there to help your club achieve success with the Distinguished Club Plan. The Distinguished Club Plan is important because it is a measuring stick for how your members are doing on their development goals. We all joined Toastmasters to become better communicators and/or leaders. This is what the DCP program goals measure. Completing DCP goals basically shows that members are being serviced for the very reasons they are in Toastmasters! Finally, clubs should be, or should have scheduled their fall club contests. The fall contests are the Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contests. The best from the contests will meet on November 19th at the fall conference being held at the Holiday Inn in Westlake, Ohio. Here we will get to see who is the most humorous while practicing their Toastmaster Skills, and who thinks on their feet while practicing their Toastmaster Skills! Mark It on your calendars today! I hope everyone in District 10 is working on their Toastmaster Goals. Toastmasters, where Leaders are Made! At your service, Dave Wiley District Governor wiley@mayfran.com |
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News from your Lieutenant Governor of Education & Training (LGET)
 Hello Fellow District 10 Toastmasters! We are now two months into the new Toastmasters year, and I must say that I am truly impressed with the educational achievements earned. As a district, we are doing well with our Competent and Advance Communication designations, and FOUR members have achieved Distinguished Toastmaster designations! Congratulations to the following new DTM's: Barbara E. Linear-Jofferion - Parker SpeakEasies Club Charles E. Kramer - Soapbox Speakers Advanced Club Mica A. Roe - First Class Speakers Toastmasters Club Nancy Temple - Chardon Toastmasters I truly believe that this year will be the year of the DTM! Many members are very close to achieving this prestigious designation. If you are a member who would like more information about becoming a DTM, or a current DTM who would like to serve as a mentor, please consider our district's DTM Mentoring Program. Marsha Friedman, DTM, is the chair: marsha.friedman@diebold.com. Educational achievement is important for every member. We should all strive for earning at least one communication and one leadership designation per Toastmaster year. With an incredible educational program geared towards helping us become better communicators and stronger leaders, each module is designed to build and expound our communication and leadership foundation. What an awesome opportunity afforded to each of us - at a mere fraction of the cost of other programs! IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER: By now, clubs should be hosting their Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contests. Areas and Divisions are in process of scheduling their contests. Information will be posted weekly on the district website, as well as forwarded to your Area and Division Governors. Please check regularly for information. Also, contest materials are now available electronically in PDF format. You may find and print this information off of the district website. Clubs should be hosting contests from now until September 20th. Areas will begin hosting contests on September 25th, and Divisions will host beginning October 16th. If you have any questions or concerns regarding how to host your contest, please do not hesitate to contact me. Fall Conference is scheduled for Saturday, November 19th at the Holiday Inn, Westlake: 1100 Crocker Road - off Interstate 90. Early Bird registration will open on September 10th. The conference committee is recruiting volunteers to assist on numerous subcommittees. Please contact Walter McCormick: waltermccormick@ymail.com or Greg Danko: gkdanko@yahoo.com for details. As always, please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns. Keep up the fabulous work! Deonna Gene Moore, DTM Lieutenant Governor of Education and Training 216-469-9707 msdeonnagene@sbcglobal.net |
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News from your Lieutenant Governor of Marketing (LGM)
Hello Fellow Toastmasters,
I just wanted to share a few quick thoughts with you. The 2011 Toastmasters Convention was wonderful and interesting. It should be experienced by everyone at least once. Remember, the convention will be held in Cincinnati, Ohio in 2013. You will be happy to know that our own Larry Szczepanski did an excellent job competing in the speech contest! He represented the district well. By now, your clubs should be preparing for your speeech contests. Consider being a contestant, and see how far you can go. Whether your a contestant or helping out in one of the roles needed, have a fun time and get involved in some way!
As your LGM, I am in the process of putting together teams to grow the district and make the existing clubs we have stronger. Some of you may have seen the notice to solicite volunteers for the teams. At the present time, we are looking for members to be part of two teams. One will handle marketing and related activities and the other will deal with club rebuilding and new clubs. Well, that's all for now. I hope you all enjoyed the holiday and have a great and safe month of September! Tony Green CTM Lieutenant Governor Marketing acgitsme@yahoo.com |
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Interesting Data about District 10
This year, District 10's goals set by Toastmasters International are 3884 membership renewals, 97 active clubs, 133 Competent Communicator awards, and 38 Advanced Communicator awards. These four numbers are known as the CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS, and are the measuring stick for districts worldwide. As October dues renewals roll in, this spreadsheet will be more relevent. Every month we'll try to continue a running commentary on District 10 performance.
Items of note : 55% of our clubs are 20 members are more, that is Charter Strength! On the opposite side of the coin, notice 25% of the clubs in our district have 12 or less members. That is 25 clubs. Additional item of note: 14 clubs have not filed their Club officer lists for this year! Club officer lists are IMPORTANT! If you haven't filed your club officer list, your officers are not receiving information sent by area, division, and district leaders. How do I see if my club officer list is turned in? Check out this link. Club Officer List Report 
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Tools for Free Toast Host Club Websites
District 10 has now made available two Power Point presentations to help out with starting a new Free Toast Host website or converting from your club's original FTH website. This presentation is geared towards explaining to club members how features work on the new Free Toast Host websites: Free Toast Host Member Bootcamp This presentation is geared towards the webmaster who will either start a new Free Toast Host website or convert over from an existing one: Free Toast Host Webmaster Additional information on the Free Toast Host websites can also be found on the Toastmasters International website: Free Websites |
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Running a Successful Club Contest
We want to help you have a successful club contest!
First off, Toastmasters International has digitized all the club contest materials for both Humorous and Table Topics Contests. You may have already ordered your club contest materials. This is ok too. These links just became available so it wasn't like you missed them and spent extra money needlessly. They came out pretty late for this round of contests. Here are links on how to get these items.
Digital kit for the Humorous Speech Contest:
Humorous Speech Contest
Digital kit for the Table Topics Speech Contest:
Table Topics Speech Contest
Some of the forms are the same for both contests, and when you download them, it may ask you to do a replace. It is the same document (example: contestant biography.)
There are three E-learning videos that serve as refreshers for setting up a club contest, judging a club contest, and reviewing the judging forms.
Session1: The Contest and Roles:
Contest and Roles Video
Session2: When You're the Judge:
When you are Judge Video
Session3: The Judge's Guide and Ballot:
Judge's Guide and Ballot Video
Here are two scripts that help the contest master and the chief judge in their duties. Provided are links to the items on the district 10 website. District Contest Resources
Click on the contests link at the top of the page. Use the Chief Judge (fall contest) and Toastmaster (fall contest) scripts. Also, under the area contest section is an agenda template that can be modified for use in your club contest. We will be putting up new templates shortly with the correct district leadership information available. If you download this prior to the update, you can go to the DISTRICT TEAM tab on the website and grab all the current information for your brochure. District Team
Scheduling your club contest - You will want to have your club contests concluded before Friday, September 23rd at the latest as Area and Division contests will start the week of September 26th.
We hope this is helpful to you and much success during your club contests!
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Fall Conference
The Fall Conference is scheduled for Saturday, November 19, at the Holiday Inn Westlake. Western Division is the host!
The conference committee chairs are Walter McCormick and Greg Danko. We are recruiting members for volunteer opportunities in the following areas: 
- Education
- Hospitality
- Volunteers
- Registration
- Site Coordinating/Decorations
- Operations
- Marketing/Advertising/Public Relations
If you have any questions, please contact Walter waltermccormick@ymail.com or Greg gkdanko@yahoo.com. Conference registration will open in early September 2011. Breaking news and details for the conference can be found on the District 10 website: Fall Conference
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Club Open Houses
September 18th
Lunchtime Linguists (1358542) are having an open house on Monday the 18th. They meet at noon at the Cuyahoga Community College location on 2415 Woodland Avenue in Cleveland. You should use the surface lot #7. Thanks to Oakland Lewis for reporting this open house.
September 26th
Toast of the North Coast Toastmasters (585870) will hold an open house on Monday, September 26, at 6:30 pm, in the Community Room at the Brooklyn Fire Station at 8400 Memphis Avenue, just a few blocks west of Ridge Road. The event is open to the general public and welcomes current and prospective Toastmasters, as well as those who are just curious about Toastmasters. Please come, and bring a guest along if you like. Light refreshments and an opportunity to meet and talk with current club members will be included, along with an abbreviated sample of a typical Toastmasters meeting.
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Highlights and Happenings
August Roundup Last month's newsletter featured numerous open houses, all of which signed up at least one new member. Congratulations to those clubs! First round of Club officer training has been completed! Thanks to all club officers that attended. Your commitment to your club and to Toastmasters is appreciated! Highlight1 Kristal DiCarlo, Past International Director, Past District Governor, and just all around person extraordinaire, is leaving our district. I know, I moaned and groaned about it too. The great news is that she was promoted and starts a new chapter of her life. The bad news? It's in Georgia and not Ohio. Yes, bad news for District 10, not necessarily Kristal. Fellow Toastmasters met recently to bid farewell to Kristal. Kristal served as a role model and mentor for so many us. Our loss is Georgia's gain! Thanks to Rick Winrod, the roving highlights reporter for this story. 
From Left to Right : Kristal DiCarlo, Fay Gilbert, Rick Winrod, Maureen Zappala, Mary Anne Burrows, Joel Head, Pat English, and Sherry Watts. Highlight2 More than two dozen years ago, the Annual Steak & Beans Picnic of the Medina Toastmasters Club began as the culmination of TI's Beat the Clock membrship competition. Over the years, it's turned into a delicious late summer potluck event bringing members and their families together to eat good food, socialize with each other and play games - the winners getting bragging rights and (sometimes) nifty certificates!
Highlight3 Congratulations to the following Toastmasters for being chosen as presenters at the upcoming Fall Conference being held in November:
Larry Szczepanski, ACS, CL
Fredina Usher-Weems, ACB, CL
Rick Winrod, ACS, ALS
Happenings
September 7th
Todd Takash (President, Talk of the Town Toastmasters) is hosting Hal Becker on the topic of "Setting Goals and Persistence." This event is being held at the Cuyahoga County Library - Maple Heights Branch. Doors open at 6:30pm for networking and the presentation starts promptly at 7:00pm. Please RSVP to Todd by phone or email.
(216)-903-6356
ttakash@att.net
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If any member or club has a success story, open house, or education item to share with District 10 please submit by email to your Public Relations Officer. Photos make any story better and are encouraged to be sent along with the text of the submission. k_feador@yahoo.com
| Submissions must be made by Sept. 30, 2011 for the October newsletter.
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