July 2022 View as a Webpage in Your Browser

Hello District 60!

Welcome to the new Toastmasters year 2022/23 from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023.

My name is Andrew Mertens and I am your District Director for the year along with Andrew Horberry as Program Quality Director, David Veights as Club Growth Director, an amazing team of Division and Area Directors and all of our respective supporting team members.

For contact information and a full list of the leadership team, please refer to the Leadership tab on our District website --> https://www.toastmasters60.com/

As a Toastmaster, I am continuously privileged to hear inspirational and moving speeches from our members as they work their way through Pathways, our educational curriculum. I was particularly honoured recently hearing an amazing speech from someone who has had trauma in their life, and is now on a journey of healing and is moving forward with a message for all of us ... be kind, be calm, be understanding. Imagine a world where these three affirmations are the norm. As Toastmasters we can help achieve that vision of the world by being role models in our communications.

The richness and depth of learning that can be achieved through Toastmasters is astounding. Our goal is that these newsletters and the District website highlight some of those opportunities.

Please let me know if the new format works for you, and how we can make it even more valuable. My email is "dd@toastmasters60.com". I look forward to hearing from you!

Andrew

Table of Contents:

1. Your input is important

2. Personal growth and developing skills for career advancement

3. District news

4. Celebration, Congratulations and Thank you!

5. Club Officer Information

1. Your input is important:

a) District 60 Member Survey – Prepared Speeches

When was the last time you gave a prepared speech? On September 26, District 60 is presenting a panel discussion called "Using Prepared Speeches for Career Success", and to make this session as valuable as possible, your responses to the following survey are important.

Click here to take the survey now

The survey will take only 2 to 3 minutes of your time. By responding to the survey, you will enable yourself and your fellow members to derive the maximum benefit from the Toastmasters program. The survey is now open, and will close on August 15.

To learn more, please click here.

b) Of-The-Year-Awards

Do you know a Toastmaster who excelled last year (July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022)? How about an amazing Area Director or exemplary Division Director? A club President who made your club special?

Please consider nominating them for an Of-The-Year-Award (OTYA). Additional details and the nominating form can be found here.

2. Personal growth and developing skills for career advancement:

a) Leadership Opportunities:

District 60 offers many opportunities to expand your leadership skills and practice techniques and approaches that are highly transferable to your work and career. The projects you complete along the way can often be used to complete a Path assignment, and/or help you in achieving your Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) award.

These roles represent a golden opportunity to further develop a whole range of skills including team building, motivation, active listening, delegation, time management, transformational thinking, etc. Below are some of those opportunities and whom to contact for more details. Full details can be found here.

District Director Team (please email Andrew Mertens at dd@toastmasters60.com):

Area Director - a critical role within the District as they are the direct liaison between the District and the clubs.

Program Quality Team (please email Andrew Horberry at pqd@toastmasters60.com):

Conference Chair - looking for someone to coordinate the activities for our May 6/7, 2023 annual conference.
Contest Chair - a key role in supporting contests at all levels. This year in addition to the International speech contest, we are also considering Evaluation and Table Topic contests.
Membership Retention Chair - focuses on initiatives that lead to retention of existing members.

Club Growth Team (please email David Veights at cgd@toastmasters60.com):

Club Extension Chair - assists in finding and chartering new clubs.
Club Quality Chair - ensures new clubs have club mentors, and promotes quality club meetings.
New Club Research Chair - helps identify new club leads through market analysis.
Club Coach - supports clubs with 12 or fewer members with recovery guidance.

3. District News:

a) Club Retention

This year, one of District 60's key focuses will be on maintaining strong, vibrant clubs. Did you know that District 60 ended last year in a strong position? As of last check (the results are unofficial), the year ended with:

47 clubs that had 20+ members
43 clubs that had 12-19 members
20 clubs that had 8-11 members
5 clubs that had 0-7 members

It's no secret that strong, vibrant clubs have strong membership bases. District 60 will hold workshops and offer guidance to clubs in how to maintain strong membership levels that promote quality club meetings. Look for more information in future newsletters and on the D60 website at https://www.toastmasters60.com.

b) Club Lead Update

The prospect of forming new clubs in District 60 is alive and well! Since the start of the new year (July 1), District 60 has received interest from 3 leads interested in forming clubs at well-known Ontario institutions. Once these leads firm up, we will be sharing the exciting news as to who these organisations are. Stay tuned!

Additionally, the Club Growth Team has heard interest about forming bi-lingual clubs in D60, particularly Italian-English and Japanese-English. The team will be following up on these opportunities to gauge the strength of the interest.

4. Celebration, Congratulations and Thank you!:

a) A huge shout out to our very own District International Speech Champion, Mthabisi Mhlanga, who represented District 60 at the quarter-finals of the World Championship of Public Speaking. While Mthabisi did not advance to the semi-finals, he made District 60 very proud. Thank you Mthabisi and congratulations for representing us so well with such a superbly crafted speech!

b) Congratulations to the following clubs, who already have six out of seven officers trained:

ART Advanced Royal Toastmasters
Deer Park Toastmasters
Inspiring Women Toastmasters

Another 17 clubs are off to a great start, with four or more officers trained.

c) A big thank you to Ling Jiang for graciously accepting the role of Club Retention Chair!

5. Club Officer Information:

a) Toastmasters Annual Business Meeting - August 19

Every club has two votes at the Annual Business Meeting - the Club President and the Club Secretary. If you are not planning on attending, please assign your proxy votes to the District Director. Click here to watch a video providing detailed instructions as to how to assign your vote.

b) Club Officer Training (COT) is in full swing, with every club’s officers being briefed on their responsibilities for the year ahead.

There are numerous opportunities in the rest of July and August to get trained - pick your best dates and times from the calendar on the D60 website.

You can attend ANY of the training sessions offered - you don’t have to wait for your Division to run its particular sessions.

The deadline for completing training is August 31, so make sure you’re booked in now.

c) Smedley Award Membership Building Program from August 1 to September 30

Can your club add five new, dual, or reinstated members with a join date between August 1 and September 30? Accomplish this goal and you’ll qualify to receive a Smedley Award ribbon, named in honour of Ralph Smedley, which you can display on your club’s banner. Qualifying clubs can also earn a special discount code for 10% off their next club order.

For more information, please click here.

d) VPs of Public Relations! Have a question? Looking for ideas for your club? Please join the District's Public Relations Manager (PRM), Emanuel Petrescu, for an informal weekly meeting to discuss challenges and new ideas to help you grow your clubs and be successful in your role.

The meetings will be held each Wednesday during two time slots, the morning session from 7 AM to 8 AM and the evening session from 7 PM to 8 PM for 1 hour. This way, you can ensure you’ll always have access to proper support and mentoring. These series will start Wednesday, August 3rd, till the end of the calendar year.

To learn more please fill out this form.