March 2017 District 71 Newsletter Toastmasters International

District 71 Newsletter

March 2017 Compiled by: Division “D” & District 71 PR Team

Division D is in the South East of Ireland Christy Moore’s song ‘The Voyage’, is quite apt. for the role of Division Director.

Last year when I took on the role, I wasn’t quite sure what the journey would be like.

My crew changed a little over the summer and my final team was made up of 4 wonderful Toastmasters. Throughout the year, we worked together. It is a voyage of discovery. You start it on your own and you finish it as a team. You meet challenges along the way and together you work through them. As the year draws to a close, I have discovered a lot about myself, thank you Division D!

Billy Daly Division Director

To the South is Area 8, Area Director Margaret Hyde. Area 8 is made up of 5 Clubs; Dungarvan Club, Tower Toastmasters, Clonmel Toastmasters, DLS Communicators and Cashel Club.

Margaret Hyde Area 8

To the North is Area 28, Area Director Jane Mooney This area is made up of 5 Clubs; Naas Club, Kildare Toastmasters, Athy Toastmasters Club, Maynooth Toastmasters and Clane Toastmasters.

Jane Mooney Area 28

Centre is Area 40, Area Director is Tommy Dolan. Area 40 is made up of 5 Clubs; Thurles Toastmasters, Kilkenny Club, Portlaoise Club, Carlow and Kiltegan.

Thomas Dolan Area 40

And to the East is Area 50, Area Director is Kieran McGuinness.

This area has 4 Clubs; Enniscorthy Club, Gorey Toastmasters Club, Wexford Toastmasters and Elavon Arklow Toastmasters.

Kieran McGuinness Area 50

Across the Division the majority of club visits have being completed and club contests are under way. These international speech and evaluation contests have started in the build up to our Division final, which will be held in the Woodford Dolmen Hotel in Carlow on the 9th of April.

Invitation to any Toastmasters who may be attending the International Panceltic festival which will be held in Carlow 18th to 22nd April, do join us at Carlow Toastmasters and maybe tell us about your Celtic culture, we will be having a meeting on the 19th, we meet in the Seven Oaks Hotel Carlow, starting 8pm. http://www.panceltic.ie/programme.asp Billy Daly, Division D Director

District 71 Newsletter

March 2017 Compiled by: Division “D” & District 71 PR Team

New DTMS in Division D Yvonne Jordan DTM, Pictured on the right, from Enniscorthy Toastmasters, Area 50, receiving her DTM pin from Club President, Maria Sinnott. In 2012 Yvonne represented District 71 at the Toastmasters International Speech contest in Orlando Florida.

She was president of the club in 2011/2012 and area director in 2014/2015.

Irene Gerety DTM from Clonmel Toastmasters, Area 8, with club President Mike Maunsell.

Irene was Area Governor, she initially joined Clondalkin Toastmasters and moved to Clonmel. She led Clonmel to Presidents Distinguished when she was president 2013/14. She is a founder member of Cashel Toastmaster Club and attends their meetings and supports them since they chartered in 2006.

Alan Smyth DTM Left from Gorey Toastmasters, area 50, with club President Ed Whelan.

Alan has served as VPE 2009/10, club president on two Occasions 2010/11 and 2015/2016. Alan found the second term very rewarding finding the first term ‘learning’ and the second ‘leading’. Among other Roles Alan has served as Area 8 Director 2015/16

Congratulations to Yvonne, Irene and Alan on your recently acquired DTM’s and the hard work and dedication throughout the years.

Workshop/Keynote speakers for Manchester Conference John Hotowka

Make Your Point Using Magic

Professional Speaking Award of Excellence by the Professional Speaking Association and is a member of the Magic Circle.

In this interactive session you’ll learn (by doing) :How within your speeches to make your point stick with magic tricks.

You’ll also receive a book with all the theory and many more magic tricks and their suggested messages.

Craig Millar

How to find your TEDx talk idea

Craig is a Professional Speechwriter and TEDx Speaker Coach based in Cheshire. He helps business leaders and experts turn their best ideas into talks that matter.

Join this workshop style session to learn about TED Style Presentations and to generate potential ideas for your own TED talk.

District 71 Newsletter

March 2017 Compiled by: Division “D” & District 71 PR Team

Clonmel Toastmasters is a vibrant and successful club with 36 members and growing. This year we were the first Club in District 71 to achieve Presidents Distinguished Award.

The ethos of Clonmel Toastmasters club, is to focus on the members experience and enhance it. Some of the way we achieve this are summarised below.

Mike Maunsell

Getting Guests and turning them into members. We view this as a vital part of keeping the club vibrant. We work hard to ensure that guests’ experiences and first impressions encourage them to return. We have a person designated to greet guests at each meeting. Guests are given our guest information sheet, an A4 page which welcomes the guest, explains the format of the meeting, gives the club Facebook page, website address and a contact phone number. The reverse side of the sheet is an application form, with payment details.

Looking after member’s needs. We celebrate all of our member’s achievements, provide a supportive and fun environment with professionally organised meetings. We focus on making sure each member is given every opportunity to achieve their own goals, no matter how long they have been members.

Brid presents Lisa with her Ice-Breaker Certificate

We registered new members immediately to avoid delay with manuals and the Toastmasters magazine. They are also added to the club website at the same time.

Formal but fun meetings, is one of the secrets of success. Meetings follow the appropriate format of a Toastmasters meeting, we do our best to keep them fun. Meetings start on time. We make sure every Ice-Breaker speech gets a standing ovation and a certificate is presented. We make sure we don’t have a heavy Table-Topics session with too many serious issues at every meeting, we encourage a mix of topics, we always end with two light hearted topics. It is a social night for people and they want to go home in good mood having had a good time.

The long-standing members of Clonmel Toastmasters are highly valued for their experience and knowledge. 40% of Clonmel Toastmasters are members for 10 years or more, our longest member, Denis Corcoran will be 30 years in Toastmaster in 2018. The contribution of these members to the club is invaluable.

Public Relations is essential to attracting new members. Our club places a lot of emphasis on Facebook (please ‘LIKE’ us), with weekly photos and posts. We also make use of local newspapers and radio.

Some of our long-serving Members: Anna Marie, Irene, Richard, Margaret and Denis.

We take good care of guests and the needs of all members, recognise achievements keep meetings formal but fun, with light hearted Table-topics. Working as a team allows the magic to happen!!

“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”

Mike Maunsell, Club President, Clonmel Toastmasters

District 71 Newsletter

March 2017 Compiled by: Division “D” & District 71 PR Team

Division D International Travelling Toastie Mary Maher Enniscorthy to New Zealand On a recent trip to New Zealand, I decided to visit a Toastmasters Club. It seemed like a great opportunity to meet people who lived in New Zealand and also fellow toastmasters. I contacted a couple of clubs in NZ before I went to find out when they met and to check that it would be ok to just pop along for a visit. I went along to a meeting of the Christchurch Toastmasters Club and was very warmly welcomed by the members.

There was just one speaker that night as someone had to pull out at the last minute. This sometimes happens and did not take away from the meeting.

There were several noticeable differences between their club and my club, Enniscorthy Toastmasters. Just before the break, new members are brought up and introduced to the club. They are presented with their new manuals and then the club members voted whether to accept them into the club or not.

The table topics master gave advice on how to answer topics with different methods at each meeting. For that particular meeting, the topics were “Should we do X or should we do Y". (e.g.

Should cats be banned from NZ? No because they are good companions but yes because they are very harmful to NZs birdlife. The topics master then

suggested that we should answer the weaker point first then finish with the stronger point. I thought this could be really helpful in making it easier for members to answer topics.

I would definitely recommend to anyone who is travelling to visit a Toastmasters Club as it gives you more of an insight into the place that you are visiting. There is a relatively new Toastmaster initiative called the Travelling Toastie Award. You take a Visit Report form with you and have it filled in at the club you are visiting. If you visit 3 clubs that you are not a member of, you can earn the District 71 Travelling Toastie Award. (Forms must be in by March 15th 2017).

Mary Maher at Christchurch Toastmasters

Mary Maher, Enniscorthy Toastmasters

Mary Maher

District 71 Newsletter

March 2017 Compiled by: Division “D” & District 71 PR Team

Maynooth Toastmasters Club, Celebrates 10 years

Maynooth Club Members

What a year it has being for Maynooth Toastmasters club, in the past ten years, we have achieved many club distinguished goals. It has been a journey of excellence, in communication and leadership, since the club was established in 2006.

The organisation and stewardship of the club, is of a high professional standard.

Everyone works as a team player, yet although we work hard at achieving our goals, we are a happy group of people. Friendly and helpful to each other and especially to new members.

Reaching the 10th Anniversary of Maynooth Toastmasters and celebrating the occasion with founder members, and our nine Past Presidents and our present President Donal Bolger was something special. We were so lucky to have Ted

Corcoran, with a twinkle in his eye make the key note address, he set the scene for a memorable and enjoyable thought provoking event. Our District Public Relations Manager, Karen O’Donnell created a memorable photo collage which held memories since the original charter dinner. Karen and Division D Director Billy Daly also helped us celebrate this milestone for our club.

Maynooth Toastmasters is looking forward to the future with optimism, no doubt we will encounter some challenges (but we shall overcome). The committee of 2016/2017, guided by President Donal Bolger is mindful of the past. With able committee members, we will strive to make the difference with our club.

It is an honour to serve.

Jane Mooney Immediate Past President, Maynooth Toastmasters Club Jane Mooney Area 28 Director

District 71 Newsletter

March 2017 Compiled by: Division “D” & District 71 PR Team

Strictly Speaking - High Performance Leadership Maggie Owens the president of Athy Toastmasters Club, in Division D, came up with the idea to organise a Table Topic event for non – toastmasters people in Athy Town called “Strictly Speaking”.

When members of Athy Toastmasters Club were asked would they help coordinate the event, they were very enthusiastic and delighted to be involved.

We had two aims promote Athy Toastmasters Club and raise funds for local Athy Lions Club

Maggie Owens

12 local, “Celebrities” were the contestants for this Strictly Speaking event. When we approached these individuals, we were delighted that without any hesitation, they said they would love to be involved. Contestants included National Ploughing Association Chief Anna May McHugh and Irish Professional Boxer Eric Donovan.

A lot of work went into looking for sponsorship for each of the speakers and for sponsorship in the form of advertisement in our programme on the night. The programme was professionally produced and printed.

Our PR team spread the word with press releases for local newspapers, radio interviews, on social media and word of mouth. Even one of our members Deirdre Walsh confidently gave a very smooth interview as she told all the listeners on KFM about the evening, what to expect and some of those Speaking.

This generated a great sense of anticipation and excitement coming up to the Strictly Speaking event.

In the splendid Athy Golf Club venue, the agenda included a demonstration of speeches by Ros Longwill and Deirdre Walsh.

Contestants and Organising Committee of The audience witnessed Ros starting her journey giving her Strictly Speaking “Icebreaker” Speech and Deirdre utilising all the feedback she has learnt so far by successfully delivering her 10th Speech.

Billy Daly and Adrian Melia demonstrated the most important foundation of Toastmasters the speech evaluation process giving excellent and encouraging feedback to both speakers.

The contest involved 2 rounds of light table topic. Topics included “An unsung hero”, “How to iron a shirt?”, “What would you do with an egg?” etc.….

All of the contestants gave excellent answers and the audience was totally engaged, connected and more importantly, entertained.

The delighted and well deserved winning contestant was Anna May McHugh who answered “What Kildare has to do to win the Leinster Championships in 2017”. A Laois woman herself, Anna May gave a very clever and witty response!

Feedback from the contestants and audience members was very positive and encouraging. The concept of Strictly Speaking introduced upwards of 100 people to the idea of public speaking in an innovative, fun and informal way.

Maggie Owens, Club President, Athy Toastmasters

March 2017

District 71 Newsletter

Compiled by: Division “D” & District 71 PR Team

Carlow Toastmasters 20th Anniversary On the first of March Carlow Toastmasters celebrated their twentieth anniversary, it was a special milestone in the Clubs history, celebrated with past members, past Presidents, past Division Director Joe Brady, current Area Director, Tommy Dolan, District Director, Michael Collins, District PR Manager, Karen O’Donnell current Carlow President & Division D Director Billy Daly.

Billy Daly

During the meeting the District Director Michael Collins spoke highly of the club and did his best to embarrass club VP E Gearoid Murphy in the best possible taste of course before presenting him with a Triple Crown pin for achieving his CC, CL and ALB all in a single year.

Presenting the Triple Crown Pin

John O'Neill was toastmaster on the night, John is the longest standing member of the club and Ruth Kelly was Topicsmaster.

Toastmaster John O'Neill

Later the current President along with the first club President “Margaret O’Gorman cut the celebration cake, which was made by Julia a daughter of Liam Butler, a past President, the cake was made in the shape of a podium. Special thanks to Julia!

It was great to have past members with us, present members and at the end of the night we welcomed three new members by presenting them with their membership certs.

Cutting of the Cake

Left to right, Richard Pearson, Billy Daly, Rachel Staunton and Emma Dillon.

To the far-right John O'Neill and Ruth Kelly the TopicsMaster.

Well done to everyone involved in the organisation of the night, take a bow.

Induction Ceremony

Billy Daly Club President, Carlow Toastmasters

District 71 Newsletter

March 2017 Compiled by: Division “D� & District 71 PR Team

Division D International Speech and Evaluation contest dates

Area 8 Venue: Edmund Rice Centre Barrick Street Waterford Date: Thursday 30th March at 7.30, briefing 7pm Hosted by DLS Communicators.

Area 28 Venue: The Silken Thomas Hotel Kildare Date: Wednesday 29th of March, at 8.00pm, briefing at 7.30 Hosted by Kildare Toastmasters

Area 40 Venue: The Anner Hotel Thurles Date: Wednesday 29th of March, at 8.00pm, briefing at 7.30 Hosted by Thurles Toastmasters

Area 50 Venue: The Talbot Hotel Wexford Date: Thursday 30th March, at 8.00pm briefing at 7.30 Hosted by Wexford Toastmasters 1st & 2nd place winners from both contests at area level will take part in the Division D Contest.

Division D Venue: The Woodford Dolmen Hotel Carlow Date: Sunday 9th April, briefing at 10.30 International speech contest starts at 11.00 followed by Evaluations Workshop by Peter Redmond Division M Director.

Finishing with the Evaluation contest.

March 2017

District 71 Newsletter

Compiled by: Division “D” & District 71 PR Team

Youth Speaks Triple for Our Lady’s Convent School For the third year running students from Our Lady’s Convent School’s Lower Sixth have won the Rotary District 1070 Senior Youth Speaks competition,

gaining

the

title

District

Champions.

During the competition which was held at the weekend, the team which comprised of Chloe Slee, Rebecca Hull and Zahra Bhojani faced some stiff opposition. As well as being part of the winning team Rebecca and Zahra were also recognised for their roles

as

Best

Chair

and

the

Best

Speaker

respectively. The team will now progress to the regional finals later in the year.

Dr Murphy, Headmaster, said “The girls are to be congratulated on becoming district public speaking champions at the weekend. This is a wonderful achievement and testament to their skill and hard work.

They are a credit to the School and their families.”

1John & Roma at a recent YLP Certificate presentation

The students attend a regular Public Speaking Club run by Head of Sixth Form, Mr Chris Gallagher, supported by John and Roma Cox, members of East Midlands Speakers Club, part of Toastmasters International.

John and Roma have proponents of the Youth Leadership Program for many years now, delivering programs year on year; John, is also our most esteemed and valued District Finance Manager.

Youth Leadership Call for Action Schools are now planning their classes and subjects for next year: now is the time to contact your local school to arrange to do a Youth Leadership Program in your local Club Area.

District 71 Newsletter

March 2017 Compiled by: Division “D” & District 71 PR Team

If you build it, they will come!

Did you know that you could run a Toastmasters Learning Initiative (TLI) of your very own?

Following in the footsteps of Sam Warner (District 71 Administration Manager), when she was Area 39 Director, Tanya Barad (Assistant Area 39 Director and Pathways Ambassador) decided that she would like to run one in support of her pre-charter club, Walsall Speakers.

The Leadership Excellence Series contains 11 presentations and can be delivered as individual projects or as Sam discovered, a whole day of learning.

Not only does it provide Toastmasters with opportunities to present projects that 2 Tanya Barad contribute to their Advanced Communicator Gold (ACG) but it allows nonToastmasters to enjoy a crash course in Leadership and see what we do.

The first TLI of this kind was a run by Sam in Feb 2016 at Heart of England. Speakers venue in Area 39, and enjoyed an attendance of 24 people. It included two rounds of table topics and a slap-up lunch. The event broke even. The feedback was excellent.

3 Toastmasters and guests on the day

The second event was the Better Speaker Series day – also run by Sam, in October 2016, this time in support of three clubs, Shropshire Speakers, Walsall Speakers and Ludlow Speakers. There were 25 attendees, 10 of whom were Toastmasters who delivered the ten projects. Three of the guests were later converted into members for Shropshire Speakers. Again, lunch was provided, and we charged £12 for TMs and £15 for guests. We broke even again and feedback was again positive.

Tony Brassington (Area 39 Director- pictured left) wanted the area to continue to provide extra value for both the members and potential members by continuing with these extra training days. Walsall Speakers is a pre-charter club in Area 39, Division E and they provided the venue for the first Leadership Excellence Series day of 2017. Tanya Barad lead the way by taking on the organisation, leading the day, providing lunch, assembling speakers, and advertising it. The Feedback for that session is shown here

→.

If you have a struggling club that needs members, or you need to find a way to raise club funds to offset room hire costs and can’t manage a Speechcraft course, you might like to put on one of these TLIs. The content is available online, free to download to all TMs and guests. You can contact Sam Warner using her contact link on the “Who’s Who?” Page on our District website www.d71toasmtasters.org for more info about how to organise, advertise and run the day and for soft copies of the agenda.

District 71 Newsletter

March 2017 Compiled by: Division “D” & District 71 PR Team

Awards Night @ Greystones Toastmasters Club What a great Greystones Toastmaster’s meeting took place in the Glenview Hotel on the 9 th March 2017. It was a night of entertainment, achievement and celebration, well supported and enjoyed by all in attendance. The agenda for the night diverged slightly from the normal agenda. The first half of the meeting was a concise toastmaster meeting. Which began with a dry toast to ‘hard work, commitment and achievements, let’s celebrate...’

Award recipients: - Carole Cafferky, Jill McGrath, Tomasz Juszczak, Colin Byford Sarah-Jane Cairns, Kevin Doyle, Paddy Lavelle – with District Director, Michael Collins.

Following refreshments, the second half of the night commenced with District Director, Michael Collins, delivering an entertaining and motivating speech encouraging members to not just come along to toastmasters’ club meetings but to also take what is learnt, confidence, commitment and leadership skills, into the wider community. Michael presenting awards to many of the recipients - 11 awards in total were presented with the projection for the rest of this term including another 3 awards.

The evening then went on to invite Mr Colin Byford to the top of the room whereby he was presented with his Distinguished Toastmaster Award by Area 5 Director, Ms Sarah-Jane Cairns.

Colin Byford, a master in chess, a professional photographer and a member of Mensa. A native of New Zealand who possesses an endearing, quick dry sense of humour will also be celebrating his 60th birthday shortly. Beside fulfilling his roles to become a DTM he has been an active member in the district and has recorded many Toastmaster occasions with his camera. " a very supportive and helpful member and kind man" Colin family (wife Karen his three sons and daughter) along with his 2 brothers, who flew in from New Zealand, helped celebrate his wonderful achievement. This concluded the toastmasters meeting, though celebrations continued in the bar.

5 Division M, DTMs were in attendance to celebrate the successes of Greystone members. - Brendan Haughton, Karen O’Donnell, Lynda Molloy, Eddie Dunphy, John Doyle with Colin Byford.

Fiona Morrissey VPE Greystones Toastmasters

District 71 Newsletter

March 2017 Compiled by: Division “D” & District 71 PR Team

Sandra Losty interviews District Public Relations Manager, Karen O’Donnell As District 71 PR Manager, is PR something you do professionally?

Actually, PR was completely new to me before Toastmasters. I am a trained Coach with a passion for communication, which is what PR is all about. I knew I would love the learning that comes with a new skill. Keeping members in the loop about what is being done on their behalf, is a vital part of that communication. The way we promote Toastmasters externally is a large part of the role so that the Toastmasters Brand is always seen in a positive light. Personally, I have had a steep learning curve and delighted that I got the opportunity to develop these new skills.

Does the PR Role keep you in touch with clubs?

I have really enjoyed working with clubs in this way. It has helped me to understand what is required and shaped my focus in order to meet the needs of the members. I presented on PR at Club Officer Training in Division A, D, E and M along with the regular District Officer Training. Training continued throughout the year with our regular PR Tips Conference Calls, where I got to chat with several of the VPPRs in our District. As part of my budget plans I wanted the leadership in our Divisions to be more involved in how the PR section of our budget was spent. Many club members are in touch with me through the various other incentives we have running. I look forward to meeting up with them at every opportunity.

You interviewed Teresa Dukes last year, what did you take away from that interview?

Interviewing Teresa was a great honour. The one message that resonated with me was that people need to be encouraged to believe in themselves and when that happens, they lead differently. Too often, as we know, doubt creeps in and the Toastmasters environment offers that support in which people can take that step into the unknown.…. You get the encouragement from your fellow Toastmasters to give something a try. I myself have been on the receiving end of support from my colleagues on the DLT and teamwork is vital in all areas of collaboration. I will be presenting one of my workshops ‘Unlocking your potential’ in Division F Conference at the end of April, and this covers this very topic of self-belief and harnessing that inner power that Toastmasters encourages you to find!

Having worked with you on a few different projects this year, I know that Teamwork is an area you focus on, have you worked on may teams with the different divisions?

I have been very fortunate to work with some super people. The external events is one area where we have worked together at raising awareness of Toastmasters in communities. The recent visit of our Region Advisor, Aletta Rochat, is an example of where I got in touch with various Toastmasters in Scotland and we put together a schedule which would capitalise on Aletta’s visit by inviting dignitaries in the area, putting on business lunches with corporate people in the area and also in colleges. This was a great success which could not have been done without the wonderful assistance of members in these areas who gave generously of their time and expertise in these types of events.

You are producing monthly newsletters now, how is that working out?

Members wanted to know more about what was happening throughout the District.

Each Division Director kindly agreed to take on a month in which they would be the major contributor to the newsletter. I am truly grateful for their contributions to these newsletters. This is our 8th Newsletter already in this Toastmasters year, with another 2 in the pipeline!! For many, including me, putting together newsletters is outside of our comfort zone – though isn’t that what Toastmasters Sandra Losty – Assistant is all about – trying something new and learning from the experience. to District PR M And finally Karen, what did this year bring that you were not expecting?

I received Toastmaster of the Year from Kevin Lee for my dedication and commitment to members during 2015/2016 – something that I could only achieve through the help and support from other Toastmasters, who I am lucky to call friends. It’s the friendships along the way that have made this a super experience.

District 71 Newsletter

March 2017 Compiled by: Division “D” & District 71 PR Team

The Killer Question Have you ever been to an interview, did OK & then, at the end, they ask you “Have you any questions?”

You say something lame like “What are the employee’s benefits?” Do you want a winning answer?

On 21st February, I visited one of my old clubs, East Herts Speakers. After a speech on the value of hypocrisy, we had one expressing the alien communication skills of teenagers.

Jane Pearce gave her last speech, & her first after earning her Competent Communicator, before moving away to her dream job in Wiltshire. So it was both a happy & sad occasion. Her speech was “How to nail an interview” She revealed her tips one by one: 1. Dress Smartly – attention to details.

2. Have a good posture 3. Be on Time, or better a bit early.

4. Good Eye contact – without being creepy!

5. Smile 6. Firm Handshake 7. Have a professional social media presence 8. Prepare – so you know about their company 9. Handle questions well – as mini speeches & conclude with main points Jane Pearce

“Toastmasters has taught me & you all of these”, said Jane ‘and I have a final tip for you” she continued. What made it most memorable is that it was her answer to that tricky end of interview question. It was “Why do you work for this company?”

It makes the interviewers think and it is clever because their answers reveal a lot about the organisation & its ethos. Jane got her second interview – at which they recalled her question. She had to do a mini presentation this time. And of course, she got the job. I was pleased that Jane has let me share it with the rest of the district too.

John Kendall Asst Div Dir Division G

Stop Press !!!

Carolann Murphy, President of Wicklow Toastmasters, was interviewed by Craig Harrison, for his article ‘Story Takes a Turn’. Check it out, in this month’s Toastmasters Newsletter (p20 – p23)

District 71 Newsletter

March 2017 Compiled by: Division “D” & District 71 PR Team

Powertalk Spring Spectacular – Julie Kertesz Storytelling Workshops I was absolutely delighted when Julie Kertesz accepted our invitation to come to Dublin for our Powertalk Spring Spectacular on 27 February 2017 and the following day for a seniors presentation compliments of the Bank of Ireland at their Montrose hospitality suite.

It was not just Julie’s skills as a storyteller and workshop presenter that aroused my interest in inviting her to Dublin, but the fantastic resilience, determination in the face of adversity, dedication to joy de vie and sheer guts in standing up before an audience at the age of 84. Her presentations were full of life, her voice that of someone a third of her age, and her interaction with the audience absolutely excellent.

At the Powertalk Club event she showed an expert mastery of workshop presentation and management, and had over 60 people divided into groups analysing the attributes of storytelling.

Our External PR Event on 28 February was in the Montrose branch of the bank of Ireland. A selection of some 70 active retirement customers were entertained for an hour and a half by Julie which was followed by an afternoon tea compliments of the bank of Ireland group. The event was co-sponsored by ISAX - the Ireland Smart Ageing Exchange; we are following it up hopefully with another event in April*Stop Press see below and talks are afoot of forming a new Toastmasters club based on the venue. It is planned to cooperate with ISAX which operates throughout the country, and help to bring the Toastmasters message to the customers they serve.

The events were promoted by PowerTalk club with support from our PR Manager, Karen O’Donnell. Our D71 YLP Chair Mairead Dillon provided the coordination with the Bank of Ireland.

These events were an exceptionally successful demonstration of how working together can help to enhance our Toastmasters experience and bring our Toastmasters message to the community. They provided a reminder of why Ralph Smedley founded the organisation in the first place.

I would like to express my thanks to everyone who helped* in organising and running these successful joint efforts between the clubs and the district.

Olivia Schofield Bank of Ireland Montrose Mon. 2 April 12.00 – 1.30

Brendan Haughton DTM, Powertalk

Bof I, ISAX, D71 PRM, Div M and Powertalk Presentation for seniors

,

District 71 Newsletter

March 2017 Compiled by: Division “D” & District 71 PR Team

The District Conference is being held on 12-14 May at the Worsley Marriot Hotel and Country Club outside of Manchester UK. It is a beautiful setting and a lovely hotel for our conference. The conference team are working hard so that you have an enjoyable but fulfilled weekend. There will be Workshops, Keynotes, District finals and of course the Fancy Dress on Friday night; Theme !

You can re-kindle past relationships and establish new one during the Craic on Friday and Saturday night.

Bring your singing voice, your storytelling voice or just bring yourself and enjoy the talent of those in D71.

To get to the Conference venue there are a variety of options:Car – 1/3 mile off junction 12 of the M6 which connects to the rest of the motorway system in the UK Air – Manchester Airport is the closest about 20 minutes away by taxi and Liverpool John Lennon Airport is about 45 minutes away.

Trains – nearest train station is Eccles which is 20 minutes away

toastmastersmagic.org.uk is the conference website where the full list of speakers and agenda will be located where you will find all the conference information and breaking news as it happens.

Red Skelton, D71 Program Quality Director

District 71 Newsletter

March 2017 Compiled by: Division “D” & District 71 PR Team

Wishing on a Star? Look at the Satellites!

Our Toastmasters’ satellite programmes, and in particular the Speechcraft and Youth Leadership programmes, are developing and becoming more popular throughout the district. These programmes are two very effective tools for helping to bring the Toastmasters’ ideas and ethos to the community at large. They help to bring all that we are learning in our clubs as Toastmasters into the community, they help to publicise and promote Toastmasters, and most of all they give our Toastmasters an opportunity to speak outside the club environment.

Speechcraft is reputed to be the number one membership building tool and can help raise funds for clubs.

Daniel Sandars, our Speechcraft chair, is breathing exciting new life into the programme and is working side-by-side with the Youth Leadership Programme (YLP) chair, Mairead Dillon and her assistant Brendan Haughton to pool knowledge and resources and to jointly develop the programmes. While each program has its own manuals and workbooks, the anchor for both programmes is the Competent Communicator (CC) Manual. Members who have completed their CC or equivalent will have learned the fundamentals of YLP and Speechcraft and can confidently deliver these programmes.

At a recent Skype conference between Speechcraft and YLP, it was agreed to produce a paper on the programmes and their proposed development in time for the May District conference in Manchester. The objective of the paper is to outline development road maps and priorities for the satellite programmes to guide District policy over a five year planning horizon. It will look at, among others, the budget; exemplar programmes from other districts; the capacity for growth; the continuity of organisation and handovers; youth safeguards (we have differing requirements in England, Scotland, Wales, NI and SI); marketing and promotion, the use of websites, social media, and the feedthrough of information for the District 71 Newsletter.

Daniel and Brendan have already started to prepare information for the draft plan.

Daniel is doing a High Performance Leadership (HPL) project on building outreach capacity based on the programmes, while Brendan is also doing a HPL on specific elements of the YLP involving co-operation with the Social Mobility Fund and with Orbit Incubator; Brendan has been in discussions with these organisations to extend the YLP on a phased basis through the UK and NI, starting with proposed pilot programmes probably in Newcastle and in Glasgow; if successful these will give opportunities to Toastmasters to not only help deliver YLP and Speechcraft, but both have an element of Mentoring requirement, which will help provide further opportunities In addition, Daniel’s proposal of running the Speaker to Trainer (Success Communication) workshops has been adopted to help the next generation of Toastmasters who want to outreach into the community, academia, or business. The workshops take ten participants, last half a day, will be brought to life with examples from the satellite programmes, and will have broad appeal to all those interested in becoming trainers. The Programme Quality Director Red Skelton has ordered the workshop kits. Daniel will coordinate in the UK and Brendan and Mairead in Ireland.

Contact Details: Mairead Dillon, CC, ALB (maireadmdillon@eirecom.net) Brendan Haughton, DTM (brendanhaughton@gmail.com) Daniel Sandars, ACS, ALB (speechcraft@sandars.org.uk)

District 71 Newsletter

March 2017 Compiled by: Division “D” & District 71 PR Team

March Crossword – By Gearoid Murphy Assistant to Division D Director

February Crossword winner Paul Tighe Ballina Toastmasters Area 12 Division F

Across 5. Who is the Current Area 40 Director (6,5)?

7. Clonmel achieved __________ Distinguished Award (10 Letters) 8. Carlow Toastmasters celebrated what Anniversary recently?

10. If a Contest result is deadlocked which judges ballot decides the final outcome 11. ___________ Communication Advanced Manual (13 Letters) 15. Which toastmasters Club did Mary Maher visit?

17. Where did Yvonne Jordan represent District 71 in the World Speech Championships Down 1. Surname of the Strictly Speaking Winner?

2. The Division Final on 9th April takes place in the _______ Dolmen Hotel, Carlow (8 Letters) 3. Strictly Speaking was the Brainchild of whom?

4. Irene Gerety was a founder member of ______ Toastmasters 6. District Conference in Manchester will be Called ___ _ ____ _____ (3,1,5,5) 9. First Name of Area 50 Director?

12. Stage 7 Competent Communicator _________ your Topic.

13. A popular online system for Meeting Management is called?

14. Surname of Clonmel President 16. Surname of Current District Director

Send answers by 1st April to: Karenodonnelld71@gmail.com All correct answers will enter a draw winning answer will receive a prize

District 71 Newsletter

March 2017 Compiled by: Division “D” & District 71 PR Team

Where has, the time gone? I sit here preparing my piece for the newsletter and thinking about my educational goals. The same educational goals I set for myself at the beginning of the year and think to myself, I had better get moving!

So, I have a little over three months to accomplish my goals for the year and that doesn’t seem very long anymore. How are you doing on your individual goals? Are you complete, mostly complete or in a bit of trouble?

Educational Sessions @ Division Contests Division Presenter

Workshop

Location

Date

Cork

23rd April ‘17

A

TBD

B

ID Teresa Dukes

Leadership Compass

Castletroy Pk Hotel, Limerick

8 April ‘17

C

Simon Scriver

Constructing an Award Winning Speech

Regency Hotel, Dublin,

9 April ‘17

D

John Burns Peter Redmond

Pathways Evaluation Workshop

Woodford Dolmen Hotel, Carlow

9 April ‘17

E

Sam Warner

Pathways

Old Joint Stock and Pub, Solihull

23 April ‘17

Jill Ming

Tips, Techniques and Tools for remembering your Speech Unlock your Potential

Hodson Bay Hotel. Athlone

29 April ‘17 22 April ‘17

F

Karen O’Donnell

G

Jean Gamester D91 IPDD Laura Bruce

Story Telling Membership Magic

Wyboston Lakes Training Centre, Beds., UK

Peter Redmond

Digital Tools for Toastmasters

Moran Red Cow Hotel, Dublin

23 April ‘17

TBD

22nd April ‘17

M

Gerry French Humorous Speech Writing Olivia Schofield Putting Energy into your speech S

TBD

Red Skelton Program Quality Director

District 71 Newsletter

March 2017 Compiled by: Division “D� & District 71 PR Team

Who is on your District Leadership Team?

What is their role??

Do you have a question for our DLT?

District 71 District Leadership Team

Our DLT members would love to answer your questions, please send in your questions by 2nd April so as the answers will be in our next Newsletter.

Send in your questions, stating who you would like to answer it to Karenodonnelld71@gmail.com before 2nd April.

We cannot guarantee that all of your questions will be answered however, we will get to as many as possible.

District 71 Newsletter

March 2017 Compiled by: Division “D” & District 71 PR Team

Letters or articles for submission: Letter, Max 200 words – longer is an article!

Please address these to me at karenOdonnelld71@gmail.com depending on space, we will endeavour to put a compilation of these in future The next edition, April 2017, is being compiled by Division “S”. Gerry Dunn is looking for articles and contributions for the newsletter.

If you have news, views and Toastmasters reports please send them in as soon as possible, before 10th April 2017.

Please email them to Gerry:gerard.dunn@btinternet.com & copy to

karenodonnellD71@gmail.com

Publishers note: The District 71 Newsletter is published by the District 71 PR Team headed by Karen O’Donnell, PR Manager with assistance from Sandra Losty & Brendan Haughton. The first part of each edition is compiled by one of our Division Directors and their team.

ANY MEMBER CONTACT INFORMATION IN THIS NEWSLETTER IS FOR THE SOLE USE OF TOASTMASTERS’ MEMBERS FOR TOASTMASTERS BUSINESS ONLY. IT IS NOT TO BE USED FOR SOLICITATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF NON-TOASTMASTERS MATERIALS OR INFORMATION.

Our Division Directors are spear-heading the monthly newsletters as follows:-

April May

S E