Accomplishments and Opportunities

Congratulations, Fellow Toastmasters! We are past the half way point of the current Toastmaster year. Thank you for your perseverance to reach your goals and support each other to be the best version of yourself, to empower the best in you! As I think back to July 1, the beginning of the current Toastmaster year, what have we accomplished so far? 400 education awards, 30 triple crowns, and 220 new members. At the district level, we turned in the District Success Plan on time, held District Council meeting voting to approve the budget and trained 100% of the Division and Area Directors by September 30. 

Looking ahead, now is the time to pivot to finish strong. Help the district reach its goals by helping your members and clubs reach their goals. Working together we can do it! How, you ask?

Club officer training is through February 28. If you have not attended, please do so. The club officer training is fun, interactive and you will leave with a new idea to bring back to your club. I guarantee you will not be bored. Linda Dorn, DTM, Program Quality Director and Jamie Richter, DTM, Training Director have done a great job of up-leveling the training from last year. It is worth your time to attend! The Toastmaster Leadership Institute (TLI) on February 12th is a great opportunity to not only complete club officer training with a great choice of topics as well as listening to Verity Price, World Champion of Public Speaking. ALL are welcome to attend — invite your fellow Toastmasters, colleagues, family and friends to this FREE online event. We offered a District-wide new member orientation and will be offering additional new member orientations over the coming months. We are about to dive into contest season! So much excitement, so much preparation by both the contestants and contest chairs at the club, area, division and district levels. Area Directors and Division Directors are setting their contest dates. Get ready, set, go! 

Colleen Marie Kelly, DTM, Club Growth Director has been personally visiting and working with each of the low member clubs to strategize a plan to help them become strong vibrant clubs. She has been partnering with Brian Hinton, DTM, Club Coach Chair to identify and place Club Coaches with clubs that are coach eligible. Their goal is to place a Club Coach with every club that would like one. If you are interested in helping your fellow Toastmasters in this way, I encourage you to reach out to her. She has also been working with Lucas Ovans, Club Research Chair and Pat Croal, DTM, PDG, to identify as many new club opportunities as possible. Last, but certainly not least, Keith Hardy, DTM, PDG, plays a key role on the Club Growth Team as the Club Retention Chair. He is focusing his efforts on member retention and membership building. Together, the team is making every effort to build new clubs and help existing clubs move from surviving to thriving as they support all clubs in achieving excellence. A new club was chartered this year with several more on the horizon.

Your district leaders are committed to serve you, the member; to help you realize your goals. By your reaching your goals, clubs, areas, and divisions will reach their goals. My call out to you: how can we serve you best to help you reach your goals? Please let me or your Area Director know. We are here to serve all of the members of District 6 Toastmasters. I want you to achieve the best version of you.