District 71 Newsletter October 2019

INSIDE THIS ISSUE i

District Director Program Quality Update Club Growth Update PR Update Division J News

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How well do we serve our Customers Role of District Finance Manager In celebration of Toastmasters Week History D71 #19 District 71 Incentives

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DISTRICT 71 MAGAZINE October 2019

Very Many Thanks!

John Cox 2019-2020 District Director

With the first quarter of our 2019-2020 year over it’s good to reflect on how District 71 is currently doing.

We have made a strong start to the year. If you take a look at Daniel’s, Gerard’s and Brenda’s reports later in the newsletter you will see that we have achieved so far: • • • • • •

An increase in member payments Five newly chartered clubs - Manchester Communicators, Stevenage Speakers, Deutsche Bank Dublin Toastmasters, BoI BPZ Toastmasters and Headingley Speakers Several prospective clubs likely to charter very soon A good pipeline of prospective clubs Members have achieved around 200 Pathways and 200 Traditional Programme awards 23 newly Distinguished Toastmasters

VERY MANY THANKS to all our various officers and members for giving us a strong start, but we mustn’t rest on our laurels. We need to continue to strive to: • • •

Grow and retain members Encourage all of our members to gain at least one education award this year Enhance club quality and the guest and member experience

Let us make the most of the tools at our disposal – incentives, PR and membership growth campaigns, Moments of Truth, Guest/Open Nights.

Page 1 Editor-In-Chief: District 71 PR Manager Brenda Lannon email: d71prmblannon@gmail.com

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And continue to make the most of your membership - helping to ensure your club is the best it can possibly be.

Onwards and Upwards.

Best Wishes John

PROGRAM QUALITY UPDATE Gerard Mannix, Program Quality Director CONTESTS The Toastmaster year has well settled into action. Currently, it is contest season with many of the clubs and some areas having held contests. Contests will occur in all the Divisions throughout November. I invite you to support your fellow member contestants.

PATHWAYS Pathways adoption is progressing steadily. Toastmasters International issues the adoption and in the first 3 months District 71 had 59% of members signed up which reflected a 2% increase since the start of the year, while 75% of Officers are signed onto Pathways which was a 4% increase. Every effort and support need to be available to encourage Pathways registration.

EDUCATION AWARDS Since 1 July 2019, there were 63 awards in Communication, 134 in Leadership, 23 DTM awards and 91 in Pathways.

CLUB GOALS There is one club with 8 goals achieved, 2 with 7, 4 with 6, 7 with 5, 19 with 4, 29 with 3, 40 with 2, 78 with 1, 27 with 0

SPEECHCRAFT AND YOUTH LEADERSHIP 10 of each of these manuals were distributed at the beginning of the year. The request far surpassed the supply. At the half year period a report on these outreach facilities will be given.

MOMENTS OF TRUTH 7 Clubs have participated in this incentive. This figure is low and clubs are encouraged to avail of this very beneficial and rewarding programme.

Page 2 Editor-In-Chief: District 71 PR Manager Brenda Lannon email: d71prmblannon@gmail.com

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PATHWAYS ADOPTION RATE UPDATE OCTOBER 2019 Tanya Barad, Birmingham New Street Speakers District 71 adopted the new educational programme Pathways in March 2018. Almost 20 months in and our District is doing pretty well! Members are using Pathways and Base Camp, educational awards are being earned all over the District and clubs are embracing the new educational program. Or so it seems.

There are still a lot of clubs and members who are not fully using Pathways. The following webpage shows club by club how many members are enrolled in Pathways and in some cases the numbers really do speak for themselves, with adoption rates as low as 4% of members enrolled in some clubs. Follow the link and see how well your club has adopted Pathways: https://datastudio.google.com/reporting/1clShySIBMm7ldQbhZ3s9itYYapS2xToX/page/4tbe?fbclid=IwAR1 OydknDR_hEoME_PmT9XlWfFz85_bJtTmhGON3QbLLjtXU2dYiD0MW5hA What does an adoption rate mean for a club? This shows how many of your members are enrolled in Pathways. A member is classed as enrolled when they have logged onto www.toastmasters.org and chosen a path. The member will then be able to log onto Base Camp and access the learning materials. All new members since March 2018 should be using Pathways so this should be a large chunk of members for most clubs.

If a member is not enrolled it means either they are doing speeches without accessing Base Camp, so they are not accessing the learning materials or working towards speech objectives, or they are not doing speeches at all and not getting a good Toastmasters experience. Either way, the member has paid for the materials in a Path so should be encouraged to use it! And remember they cannot obtain their educational awards without being enrolled on a path. There is another alternative that the member is working towards a historic educational award for the June 2020 deadline but even in these cases there is no harm in them enrolling for a Path and getting access to further information to learn from.

Club Committee members can see which members are enrolled or not by going to the Club Roster in Club Central. Members with “Pathways Enrolled� under their name have selected a Path. Those without this text have not chosen a path yet.

Here is a call out to all club committees. Follow the link above and find out how your club is doing in Pathways Adoption Rates. Our District has a target of 80% enrolment so if you club is below that, reach out to the members who are not enrolled and guide them to enrol. If you need any support, feel free to contact myself, Tanya Barad, for Pathways support."

Page 3 Editor-In-Chief: District 71 PR Manager Brenda Lannon email: d71prmblannon@gmail.com

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October 2019 Club Growth News Daniel Sandars, District 71 Club Growth Director Thank you for your hard work. We have just come through autumn renewals and District 71 is currently 190-200 member payments ahead of last year. That’s a foundation to build on and a dividend for all the work done for officer training and success planning. To help maintain momentum we are now launching the fall to winter membership building campaign through November and December Fall to Winter Campaign As far as membership goes the saying is “Thirty is the new Twenty” as we all know that vibrant clubs are simply more fun and dynamic as many hands make light work. Here are some incentives to help build membership into the festive season.

Results from the Smedley Award Campaign and Golden Quarter • The Smedley Award brought in 193 new, dual or reinstated members.

• Ten clubs met the Toastmasters International Smedley Award criteria o 8 new, dual or reinstated members: Glasgow Toastmasters o 7: Birmingham New Street Speakers, Liverpool City Toastmasters, Didsbury Speakers, Advanced Orators, and North Herts Speakers o 6: Warrington Speakers o 5: Naas Club, CharisMedic Communicators and Haymarket Toastmasters.

• A further two clubs with coaches met District 71 ‘Smedley Award’ criteria with 3 new members: o Luton Speakers - coach Nigel Oseland o Viking Voices – coach Oonagh MT O'Farrell.

• Congratulations to the Directors of Division N (Tina Norbury) and Areas H20 (John Allsop), N31 (Nik Lakhani), N48 (Julian Cereceda), S60 (William Feek) and E39 (Asma Riaz) for winning the award for the greatest number of new members relative to their base membership on 1st July.

Page 4 Editor-In-Chief: District 71 PR Manager Brenda Lannon email: d71prmblannon@gmail.com

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•

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Two clubs chartered in the Golden Quarter**, o Manchester Communicators o Stevenage Speakers Three clubs chartered during October and one more is midst chartering

*The Smedley Award is a global membership drive over ‘August and September’ from Toastmasters International in honour of our founder Ralph C Smedley. District 71 adds further recognition and incentives **The Golden Quarter runs from July to September and those clubs are with us through almost a full year including two dues and contest cycles.

NEW CLUBS IN DISTRICT 71

Five new clubs chartered in the period from July to October 2019 – Manchester Communicators, Stevenage Speakers, Deutsche Bank Dublin Toastmasters, BoI BPZ Toastmasters and Headingley Speakers.

Congratulations to all involved in chartering these clubs and best wishes to all the members.

Club Extension Chair News On 3 November at 8pm Extension chair M. Zain ul Abidin held a Webinar on building new clubs. This webinar covered the following ground: 1. Planning for starting new clubs (included marketing, finances etc.)

2. Kick Off Meeting Rick Furbish style (more commonly known as demo meeting) 3. Early step for new clubs (what to keep an eye for first few months of a new club) A recording of this webinar is available on the District’s you-tube channel.

In terms of Club Extension October has seen in addition to the chartering of the new clubs: •

The start of chartering at: Aegon Toastmasters in Edinburgh;

Page 5 Editor-In-Chief: District 71 PR Manager Brenda Lannon email: d71prmblannon@gmail.com

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• • •

Well received Demonstration meetings at Microsoft in Dublin and Glaxo Smith Kline in Ware, Hertfordshire; Demonstration meetings planned for November at Almac in Craigavon, Northern Ireland, and Stirling University in Scotland; and New prospective clubs register in October at Wayfair in Galway and Clacton-on-Sea in Essex

Club Quality Chair News Quality Chair Elizabeth Jordan held a very successful webinar for Mentors of new clubs with ten on the first call on 13 September. The call covered introductions, common tips, tricks and pitfalls as well where to find helpful resources. One outcome of the call was the establishment of a WhatsApp discussion group https://chat.whatsapp.com/CrtkloxBripFKmALGZCEoC Elizabeth also ran a webinar for Club Coaches on 3 November.

Club Coaches can be appointed by the District Director or the Club Growth Director to support any club whose membership falls below 13. A good coach is an experienced Toastmaster and at time of appointment cannot be a member of the club to be coached. A maximum of two coaches can be appointed per club. The goal of a club coach is to return their clubs to Distinguished recognition by obtaining five or more Distinguished Club Program goals and a net growth of five members.

Could you be a club coach?

Currently, 33 clubs are eligible for coaches and have none appointed. Please contact Club Growth Director Daniel Sandars if interested dan.dtm@sandars.org.uk You will receive a 100-euro budget towards marketing costs and if you succeed you gain credit for Club Service and if you succeed by 30 June 2020 District Officer Service. These are key requirement of the Advanced Leader Silver (ALS) or alternately a Pathways Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM).

Manchester Communicators – Charter Dinner Celebrations Manchester Communicators chartered in August 2019. The club held its charter dinner on 12 October at which John Cox, District Director and his wife Roma were in attendance to celebrate with Club President Julian Cereceda and other members of Manchester Communicators.

Page 6 Editor-In-Chief: District 71 PR Manager Brenda Lannon email: d71prmblannon@gmail.com

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PUBLIC RELATIONS UPDATE Brenda Lannon, PR Manager There has been great promotional work done by clubs throughout the first quarter of this Toastmaster’s year. Many clubs (in excess of 20 clubs) have already held open evenings and promoted these evenings on their Facebook pages or other social media platforms. 1 question I have is how many guests came to these meetings? Some clubs have posted this information on social media. How many members signed up as a result of these meetings? In order to claim the prize for your club’s promotional work, guest lists and list of names of the new members who joined the club as a result of the open night need to be sent to me at d71prmblannon@gmail.com.

The Moments of Truth promotional campaign has got off to a very slow start. This incentive is being run in conjunction with the incentive from Gerard Mannix, Program Quality Director. The deadline for running a Moments of Truth meeting is 30 November, 2019. The Moments of Truth session is an opportunity to sit down as a club to consider what the club does well – and identify areas on which the club can improve.

There are new forms of PR being used by many clubs throughout the District with some clubs launching new websites, starting new accounts on social media. Please let me know and your club could win prizes.

Page 7 Editor-In-Chief: District 71 PR Manager Brenda Lannon email: d71prmblannon@gmail.com

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October Featured Division: Division J Evelyn Khan-Panni DTM, Division Director Division J is located in Dublin City Centre and is made up of three areas, Area 2, Area 7, and Area 57 and 13 clubs. It’s a new division and smaller than the established divisions. We are encouraging more clubs to be formed.

The first event of the year for Division J was the Club Officers Training (COT), on the 11th. and 25th. August. Both were well attended.

We had our Club Officer Training in August, courtesy of Society Toastmasters. As some club officers could not attend the set date a second training event was held. There is so much good content in the Club Officer Training Programme and it is a shame to miss out on it.

Congratulations and good luck to Bank of Ireland Toastmasters.

On 1 August I was contacted by Pádraig Mac Donnchadha from Bank of Ireland, who was about to set up a corporate club in the bank. He lost no time. The first meeting took place on 4 September and has run fortnightly thereafter.

Committee. Back row: Mairead Dillon (Greystones Club) Pádraig MacDonnchadha (President) Evelyn Khan-Panni (Division J Director) Phillip Khan-Panni (Winner D71 International Speech Contest 2019) Leema Bastinleo, John Hennessy (Dublin Club), Gaurav Chaudhary.

Front; Evan McGrath (SAA) and Dermot O’Sullivan.

Page 8 Editor-In-Chief: District 71 PR Manager Brenda Lannon email: d71prmblannon@gmail.com

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11 October 2019. Applying to Charter.

Aideen Lane, John Hennessy, Evan McGrath, Leema Bastinleo, Pádraig MacDonnchadha and Dermot O’Sullivan.

BoI BPZ Toastmasters Club chartered during October. Many congratulations to all involved.

Special Event We had a special event on 6 September in the Offices of Savvi Credit Union. It was an early evening party.

When we arrived, the place was buzzing with energy and a general air of excitement. It was attended by Ted Corcoran, past International President of Toastmasters International, by Patricia O’Reilly Immediate Past District Director and Colm McGlade, Immediate Past Division J Director. The formalities opened with words of welcome from Peter Kieran & Laura Shilling from Savvi Credit Union and a short address from Colm McGlade. Dermot Carey & Phillip Khan-Panni treated us to their winning speeches, followed by a couple of words from Patricia O'Reilly who then presented Distinguished Toastmasters Awards to Michael May and Colm McGlade.

The credit for this event belongs to Peter Kieran, a man totally dedicated to Toastmasters, and someone with the vision to play up the successes of Dermot and Phillip. It was a really enjoyable occasion. We should do it more often.

Page 9 Editor-In-Chief: District 71 PR Manager Brenda Lannon email: d71prmblannon@gmail.com

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Michael May DTM and Colm McGlade DTM

Patricia O’Reilly DTM, IPDD and Colm McGlade DTM

Patricia O’Reilly DTM, IPDD and Michael May DTM Area 2 Director .

Page 10 Editor-In-Chief: District 71 PR Manager Brenda Lannon email: d71prmblannon@gmail.com

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Area 2 Account by Area Director Maree Farrell. Clubs in this area include Dublin Club, Eblana Toastmasters Society Toastmasters and Accentuators.

Area 2 had a full complement of club officers in attendance at the Club Officer Training in August.

The highlight of Area 2 so far this year was the Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contests, which took place in Buswells Hotel, Dublin, on 17 October 2019. There were contestants from each of the four clubs in the Area, Accentuators Club, Dublin Club, Eblana Toastmasters and Society Toastmasters. A great night was had by all and the standard of speeches was extremely high. Heartiest congratulations to the winners who will represent Area 2 in the Division Contest which will be held in the Hilton Garden Inn Hotel, Dublin, on Sunday 10 November.

Humorous Speech Contest 1.Zain Ul Abidin, Dublin Club 2.Paul Mulhern, Accentuators Club Table Topics Contest 1.Maura Ni Coronaigh, Eblana Toastmasters 2.Phillip Khan – Panni, Society Toastmasters.

Area Director Maree Farrell would like to wish the contestants going forward to the Division Contest the best of Toastmasters luck.

Area 7 Account by Area Director Michael May. There are 4 clubs in Area 7 – VOX POPULI, Cogito, Uncensored Speakers and Toastmasters Takeda.

The outstanding characteristic of Area 7 is the willingness of the members to support their neighbouring clubs, a philosophy encouraged by the Toastmaster organisation.

When most clubs take a break for the summer months, Area 7 continues the momentum. The Uncensored club held regular meetings during this period with over forty people in attendance at times. The highlight was a Wine and Cheese event held in the Iveagh Gardens and organised by VPPR Eleanor.

The highlight for the Cogito club was a very entertaining and engaging Impromptu workshop delivered by VOX POPULI member Fiona.

Area 57

Account by Area Director Vincent Delaney.

Area 57 comprises 4 clubs, IE Templebar Toastmasters, PWC Toastmasters, IFSC Toastmasters, Irish Life Toastmasters Page 11 Editor-In-Chief: District 71 PR Manager Brenda Lannon email: d71prmblannon@gmail.com

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On a recent visit to IFSC Toastmasters, I was pleasantly surprised - thrilled - by the light-hearted & humorous atmosphere that grew, as soon as the Table Topics began.

It was as if the attendees, members & visitors, had made an unconscious secret agreement with one another to set the tone of the meeting to one of wit and amusement.

It probably began when Peter Kieran, Table-Topics Master, asked: "Which are you: a Mars Bar or a Snickers person?".

Various impassioned arguments were made, tongue in cheek.

With the next topic, a member, who just joined the week before, came to the front and told us about her favourite breakfast cereal.

With another topic, a visitor came to the front, and although a confirmed cyclist had to choose between Bus and Tram.

There were smiles and grins and guffaws and bursts of laughter as each topic was answered.

After the break came the formal speeches, of course. The Table-Topics session had set the tone, or rather the buzz for the for the two speakers, doing practice runs, in advance of their Area Contest. Maybe they were two great speeches. But maybe, just maybe, the Table Topics session had sprinkled some fairy laughter dust around the room, to make them even funnier. One speaker described with complete narcissistic ego how brilliant a public speaker he was before joining Toastmasters. The other told tall tales of girlfriend successes. Brilliant.

I arrived home after the meeting, still with a smile on my face.

"And what has you so happy?" she asked.

"Just Toastmasters" I replied.

That's why we get new members joining Toastmasters.

And that's why I continue to be a member.

To our success.

IE Templebar Toastmasters hosted the Area 57 Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contests on Tuesday 24 October, 2019. The winners and runners up of both contests will go forward to represent Area 57 at the Division J Contest on Sunday 10 November.

Page 12 Editor-In-Chief: District 71 PR Manager Brenda Lannon email: d71prmblannon@gmail.com

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How well do we Serve our Customers (Our Fellow Members)?

John Cox 2019-2020 District Director With the huge growth in online shopping I often wonder if we have lost the art of great customer service.

Buying something online requires no human intervention whatsoever apart from perhaps with the delivery driver – unless they too just toss our parcel over the gate to help them meet their delivery targets!

There has always been a strong correlation between great customer service and business success and I also believe the same applies in our clubs. Many successful organisations have taken a pride in being service stars - resulting in loyal customers, high customer retention, repeat business and referrals.

Great service doesn’t come from machines or technology or systems – it comes from people, people who really care.

I have always taken an interest in customer service and have continuously looked for examples of exceptional service – those little stories that make an organisation stand out from the crowd.

I remember going to a workshop delivered by one of the top sales people from the Nordstrom Departmental Store in the USA. Nordstrom’s customer service is legendary. Google ‘Nordstrom tires,’ to find out more. Going above and beyond and going the extra mile is Nordstrom’s service ethos.

The workshop was targeted at HR specialists and trainers. Much to our surprise we were told that Nordstrom does not train their staff in customer service – they just employ nice people – trained by their parents!

What has this got to do with Toastmasters? Our clubs are full of nice people.

We are a service organisation. Worldwide we have over a quarter of a million “customers” – our members.

One of our core values is SERVICE. But do we see and treat our members as customers?

Nordstrom promoted the Inverted Pyramid – placing customers at the top, with every level below serving the people above them.

Page 13 Editor-In-Chief: District 71 PR Manager Brenda Lannon email: d71prmblannon@gmail.com

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How well do we serve our customers? How good are we at retaining them? Worldwide last year we lost 46% of our members. We know that many leave for good and legitimate reasons – they move away, change jobs, meetings clash with other priorities/activities etc.

Maybe we lose many because of our indifference to them.

What might great service look like – 10 Useful Tips?

1. Treat visitors to our clubs like guests in our own homes – make them feel important. One of my clients talked about “romancing” their customers!

2. Avoid having cliques that are difficult for outsiders to break into. Do our members always sit at the same place at meetings?

3. Allocate an experienced member to a guest to help explain things and to act as their sponsor – encouraging them to join.

4. Be responsive – respond to enquiries and visitors within 24 hours, inviting them back.

5. Sell value – what membership can achieve for the individual rather than what a club does.

6. Look upon everything we do as serving our fellow members – mentoring, evaluations, recognition, etc. All are acts of service.

7. Make becoming a member a special occasion – a formal introduction, welcome and presentation.

8. Induct and support new members well, particularly in the first few months. Help them to understand how we do things, how to carry out roles, how to write and prepare for a speech, how to get into and progress in Pathways.

9. Ensure we are clear about a member’s reasons for joining and do all we can to help them meet those needs.

10. Get regular member feedback – how are we doing? Make use of Moments of Truth.

Is your club a Service Star?

Page 14 Editor-In-Chief: District 71 PR Manager Brenda Lannon email: d71prmblannon@gmail.com

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Martin Foran, District Finance Manager Role of District Finance Manager Accruals, approvals and accountability. Three cornerstones of the District Finance Manager’s role and as I come to the end of the first quarter of my second year in the role, I have reason to reflect on it. I learned a lot in my first year and I’m hoping to apply it for the remainder of this year.

The role of District Finance Manager is to manage the District’s budget in accordance with Toastmasters International rules and requirements. This is done in cooperation with other members of the District Leadership Team and Area/Division Directors. It also requires me to liaise regularly with the District Finance Team in Toastmasters Headquarters.

Over the past few weeks we have agreed our budget for the year both with Headquarters and through the approval of the District Executive Committee and District Council. This budget is drawn up based on our membership revenue and tries to allocate expenditure where we believe it will be most efficient in promoting the growth of the District, Clubs and Members.

All expenditure for the coming year should be in line with that budget and one of my roles in to partly approve expenditure for the district either directly with suppliers or through the expense system. In the last 12 months an online system, ConCur, has been introduced to allow electronic submission and approval of allowable expenses backed up by appropriate receipts.

The role is quite busy with quarterly, half yearly and year end reports to be submitted to TI but I have thoroughly enjoyed my first year in the role and am looking forward to the remainder of this year ahead.

Page 15 Editor-In-Chief: District 71 PR Manager Brenda Lannon email: d71prmblannon@gmail.com

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In Celebration of ‘Toastmasters Week’ 21-28 October @ Hertfordshire Speakers Club, UK

Founder of Toastmasters, Dr Ralph Smedley

October is a special month for Toastmasters worldwide. It is a time to celebrate the birthday of the organisation which was founded on 22nd October 1924, by Dr Ralph Smedley. Today the organization is truly global with a membership that exceeds 357,000 in more than 16,600 clubs in 143 countries.

Many of these clubs incorporate the birthday celebration into ‘Toastmasters Week’, a week-long celebration of activities including media appearances, hosting dinners, postings on social media, award ceremonies and more.

At Hertfordshire Speakers, our plan was to recognise Toastmasters 95th birthday with a mention during club night and a post on Facebook. However, a meeting with my Pathways mentee, Nathaly Lobato, in September changed all that.

Nathaly Lobato, D81 Area 4 Director ‘Toastmasters Week’ celebrated around the world and Winner of Toastmaster of the Year Award Page 16 Editor-In-Chief: District 71 PR Manager Brenda Lannon email: d71prmblannon@gmail.com

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When I told her our plans to celebrate Toastmaster’s birthday, she asked me: “Why just celebrate on one day, why not celebrate the whole week?” As she spoke excitedly about the myriad of activities planned by District 81 and her Toastmaster clubs, I knew this was an idea worth adopting. The Hertfordshire Speakers committee readily supported the idea of celebrating ‘Toastmasters Week’ seeing it as an opportunity to celebrate Toastmasters 95th birthday, raise the awareness of Toastmasters globally and hopefully attract new people to our club.

As the Vice President of Public Relations (VPPR), it was a steep learning curve but great fun planning a week of varied activities to feature on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/hertsspeakers/.

Each day featured different posts, including videos by Area 20 Director, John Allsop, by club President, Philip Carey and a rare old video featuring the founder himself, Dr Ralph Smedley.

Area 20 Director, John Allsop

President of Herts Speakers, Philip Carey

A fun Word Search; photos of celebrations from around the world; a look at the similarities between parkrun and Toastmasters meetings and a ‘Shout Out’ to Nathaly were also posted. By far the most liked and shared post over the week was the ‘Shout Out’ to Nathaly on Day#5 in which I thanked her for encouraging me to think big.

The first ‘Toastmasters Week’ celebration has been a great success, and we look forward to it becoming an annual event, not only at Hertfordshire Speakers, but also at clubs across the District. I leave the last words to Nathaly “......You did a very nice job this week as VPPR to connect through social media. Congratulations for exposing the organisation that unites people, countries and cultures” Elizabeth Jordan, VPPR Hertfordshire Speakers Club October, 2019

Page 17 Editor-In-Chief: District 71 PR Manager Brenda Lannon email: d71prmblannon@gmail.com

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D71 History #19 Ted Corcoran, DTM, Past International President In Newsletter #18, I gave details of the Club Excellence Programme (CEP) which was introduced in D71, in November 1992, and asked the question why was it so successful in changing our district from an underperforming one to one of the most successful districts in the world, practically overnight.

I went on to ask why TI adopted it as a basis for the current Distinguished Club Program (DCP) History will help answer these questions.

The DCP that existed in 1992 had been introduced by Toastmasters International several years previously.

It was a very complicated programme. There were separate gradings for clubs with 20+ members, 30+ and 40+. A club with less than 20 members at June 30th didn’t qualify for any award.

Different numbers of points were awarded for achieving educational achievements, new members, even speechcraft, etc. I can’t remember every category, or range of points, but they were many and varied. And these were not in tens but in hundreds. As an example, a club earned 600 points for every new member..

The major drawback to this system was it fell to each club to tally its own points and submit them to TI. This was before the internet became widely available and before TI introduced, in 2003, its current computerised system for recording club inputs. Another drawback was there was no floor to the number of points required to get an award. Awards were given only to the top achievers. I can’t recall whether this was top 10 or top 20 in each of the three club categories. Whether these were top 10 or 20, made little difference to clubs in D71 as we had no chance whatsoever achieving a sufficient number of points to qualify in any category. An example I well remember is that of a military college somewhere in the U.S. achieving some 100,000 points every year! This was because each cadet, in order to graduate, was obliged to join the college toastmasters club and achieve their CTM (CC now). As was well said by someone, somewhere, you can’t hit a goal you cannot see, so our clubs in most cases never participated.

When our Club Excellence Programme (CEP) was agreed at the 1992 November Conference, our clubs could immediately see the clear goals set out in it (for details refer back to Newsletter #18) and particularly that clubs with less than 20 members could now achieve an award. The result was truly amazing. By June 1993, only seven months later, our district had achieved the Presidents Distinguished Award for the first time in its history, ending #6 in the wide world of TI. We were proud to accompany our 1992/93 District Governor, Brian O’Connor, a member of the Crusaders club in Cork, onto the stage for the Hall of Fame celebrations at the annual International Convention in Toronto in August 1993.

In the next newsletter, I will outline the progress made by the district in the following years and why TI eventually took our CEP and modified it to what is the current DCP.

Page 18 Editor-In-Chief: District 71 PR Manager Brenda Lannon email: d71prmblannon@gmail.com

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DISTRICT 71 INCENTIVES PROGRAM QUALITY INCENTIVES GERARD MANNIX, PROGRAM QUALITY DIRECTOR Contact germannix@gmail.com for further details about these incentives INITIATIVE Moments of Truth

CRITERIA •

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Pathways

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INCENTIVE

DLT MEMBER

Club hold a moments of truth meeting Identify key improvement goals Copy of agenda for presentation Deadline: 30 November 2019 Open to first 20 clubs to submit claim

$25 voucher Gerard Mannix, Program Quality to use in Director Toastmasters store

Member completes level 1 Timeline between 1 July and 31 December Club VPE Submit claim to Program Quality Director

Pathway pin Gerard Mannix, Program Quality or light up Director biro pen

Speechcraft and Youth Leadership Programmes

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Outreach program

Modules and kits available to clubs free of charge

Distinguished Club Program

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Record 7 goals by 31 December 2019

$25 voucher Gerard Mannix, Program Quality for Director Toastmasters store

Gerard Mannix, Program Quality Director

Page 19 Editor-In-Chief: District 71 PR Manager Brenda Lannon email: d71prmblannon@gmail.com

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CLUB GROWTH INCENTIVES DANIEL SANDARS, CLUB GROWTH DIRECTOR Contact dan.dtm@sandars.org.uk for further details about these incentives INITIATIVE Membership Growth Campaign: Smedley Campaign 1 August - 30 September 2019

CRITERIA •

1 November – 31 December 2019

Talk Up Toastmasters and Beat the Clock Membership Campaigns

DLT MEMBER

Add 3 to 4 new, dual or reinstated members Add 5 to 7 new, dual or reinstated members Add 7 to 9 new dual or reinstated members Area and Division Directors Incentives apply also

Varies Daniel Sandars, Club Growth according to Director whether club has coach or not.

Add 3 to 4 new, dual or reinstated members • Add 5 to 7 new, dual or reinstated members • Add 7 to 9 new dual or reinstated members • Area and Division Directors Incentives apply also To be announced later in the year

Varies Daniel Sandars, Club Growth according to Director whether club has coach or not.

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Fall to Winter Campaign

INCENTIVE

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Membership Growth Renew 90% or more of your club base membership

Daniel Sandars, Club Growth Director

$15

Daniel Sandars, Club Growth Director

Deadline 15 September 2019 Renew 100% or more of your club base membershp Deadline 15th September 2019

$25

Page 20 Editor-In-Chief: District 71 PR Manager Brenda Lannon email: d71prmblannon@gmail.com

http://d71Toastmasters.org

PUBLIC RELATIONS INCENTIVES BRENDA LANNON, PR MANAGER Contact d71prmblannon@gmail.com for further details about these incentives Initiative

Criteria

Incentive

Open Nights

Promote meeting

Varies but includes Brenda Lannon, PR gift certificate and Manager promotional products

Maintain Guest list Record new members Moments of Truth Meeting

Promote Meeting First 50 clubs

External Events Grant Promote event Record costs associated with event Club Ambassador Program

DLT Member

Promotional products from TI shop to the value of $10

Brenda Lannon, PR Manager

Grant towards cost of event

Brenda Lannon, PR Manager

Member visit another club (not a member of)

Promotional Brenda Lannon, PR products from TI Manager shop to the value Take on a role or deliver a speech of $10 for member Take photo and promote on social media

New forms of PR

New website, new form of social media

Promotional products from TI shop to the value of $20.

Brenda Lannon, PR Manager

Distinguished Club Website

Criteria on Promotional http://d71toastmasters.org/best- products from TI club-website-award/ shop for club to the value of $10 First 25 clubs

Brenda Lannon, PR Manager

Raffle for Author of PR Article

Have article published through Panpathic PR Agency

Prize: Ticket for Brenda Lannon, PR District Manager Conference in May 2020

Page 21 Editor-In-Chief: District 71 PR Manager Brenda Lannon email: d71prmblannon@gmail.com

http://d71Toastmasters.org

QUIZ TIME! 2 quizzes in one newsletter!

Instructions Email completed quiz to d71prmblannon@gmail.com by Monday 28 October 2019.

All correct answers will be entered in a prize draw.

Win Mini Notebook and Pen Set Alex Knibbs, Brandon Speakers Club and Saffron Walden Speakers Club Due to a publishing error in the previous newsletter, the quiz, set by Alex Knibbs, which is a rhetoric themed quiz, is being published again in this edition.

For each clue below, the rhetorical device isn’t defined. Instead, an example of the device is provided, along with an anagram, plus if that’s still a little challenging, one or two letters are also provided.

Example: Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country Anagram: Lottie Beaman (12)

T

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B

Example: That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind Anagram: This tisane (10)

N T

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Example: Look, this is the technique of inserting a useless but attention-grabbing word in front of your sentence in order to grab the audience’s attention.

Anagram: Assist more (10)

S

Example: "I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience."

Anagram: A hiss, a pop (9) Example: Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering Anagram: I said no pals (11)

A

A

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N A

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M O

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Example: I emailed him just the other day.

Anagram: Tina Marie (9) Example: That’s it. That’s all. Finished. Finito. The end.

Anagram: Cryogen (7)

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Page 22 Editor-In-Chief: District 71 PR Manager Brenda Lannon email: d71prmblannon@gmail.com

http://d71Toastmasters.org

U

Example: First, we need to explain what this is. Second, we need to show how it works. And third, we need to explain what it achieves.

Anagram: Rumpus! See it? (11) Example: When you use more words than are in actual fact absolutely, really, strictly, ultimately necessary in order to communicate and make your point effectively, purposefully and efficiently.

Anagram: Psalm One (8)

P

Example: This is fan-freakin’-tastic.

Anagram: Tmesis (6)

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Page 23 Editor-In-Chief: District 71 PR Manager Brenda Lannon email: d71prmblannon@gmail.com

http://d71Toastmasters.org

WORD SEARCH Elizabeth Jordan, Hertfordshire Speakers Club

1. Month in which Toastmasters will celebrate its 95th anniversary 2. Number of regions in Toastmasters 3. Surname of one of the regular presenters of the Toastmasters podcaster 4. Area Director is required to submit club visit reports xxxxx during the TM year 5. Roles appointed to help a newly chartered club 6. A club coach is appointed to a club with xxxxx or fewer members 7. Number of years a club coach is appointed for 8. Next round of membership payment is due at end of xxxxx 2020 9. Surname of District 71 PR Manager 10. Number of paths in the Toastmasters ‘Pathways’Educational Program

Page 24 Editor-In-Chief: District 71 PR Manager Brenda Lannon email: d71prmblannon@gmail.com