The View
District Governor Corner
End of My Term
Jay Melrose
District 32 Governor
Lt. Governor of Education & Training Corner
Leadership - The Other Side of Toastmasters
Not everyone is a born leader and those that seem to be really don’t have all of the skills needed. That’s why Toastmasters offers a leadership tract. There are many opportunities to hone your leadership skills such as a club officer position, district officer position, or a project leader for such things as the district conferences, TLI’s, and division breakfasts. I must confess that I didn’t realize how much leadership information and training Toastmasters International has put together for our use. It wasn’t until I took a $1,500 management course through my state employer last year that I realized I had already learned all of the skills they were teaching through Toastmasters. Not only learned them, I applied them in real life! It may not be paid experience, but it still counts as experience which in my personal experience is even harder in a volunteer organization. Some of the leadership skills I learned were through the advanced communication manuals, especially the Interpersonal Skills and Management manuals. Some skills I learned in our district leadership training as Lt. Governor Marketing and Lt. Governor Education and Training, were team building skills, conflict management, and maintaining a budget. Then there have been the conference committees I have served on where I learned to create a timeline, provide progress reports, and have crucial conversations with committee members. A friend just told me she has found the High Performance Leadership (HPL) manual so valuable she is going to encourage members to use it for smaller projects such as club President, or Open House Committee Chair in preparation for larger projects. Amidst all of these opportunities I learned to be adaptable and find other solutions when things didn’t work out as planned (or my lack of planning)! It hasn’t always been easy, my first time as a club officer I was the swing vote on whether to vote a member out of the club. I learned then that sometimes you have to make tough decisions for the betterment of all, but I definitely felt the weight of my decision. Just like we join Toastmasters to be better speakers, we can also pursue the leadership tract to be better leaders! Did I mention mentoring? You know mentoring is a passion of mine and I wouldn’t have success and growth without mentors along the way. Toastmasters don’t let other Toastmasters fail. You’ll find others are willing to share their experiences and help guide you as well. At the Spring Conference on May 15th, we will be voting for candidates in our top district positions. If you haven’t already submitted your name you can run from the floor during the business meeting. There are 16 Area Governor positions that need to be filled by the incoming District Governor. For those members that usually compete in contests, we have a variety of committee chair and sub-chair positions for the upcoming year. We have many things we want to accomplish in our district and it takes more than just a handful of leaders. As always, many hands make lighter work for all. Please let me know if you are interested in any of these growth opportunities. Come join me in growing our leadership skills!Cindy Hadfield
District 32 Toastmasters Lt. Governor of Education and Training
Lt. Governor of Marketing Corner
Lessons Learned … Growth Achieved
Twenty-six more days and this TI year is finished. For me it is bitter sweet. Now that I know some things, I would like to continue, to try again; yet, at the same time I am eager for Dan to take the marketing helm. I have watched the flurry of emails, the impressive team that he is creating, his closeness with World Headquarters, and I know that he will do a superb job.Even though we are closing in on the finish date, and have not succeeded in membership numbers or new clubs formed, I am so proud of all of you. So proud of the contributions you have made to this organization that I love. While our numbers may be a little low, our new member growth is phenomenal. Our issue is not in attracting new members, but in keeping the ones we already have. I have seen this in my own clubs. People are losing their jobs, downsizing jobs, or moving out of our area to find employment and that is impossible to ignore. I have very good friends who have gone from one good job to working multiple lower paying jobs. Their life is currently eating, working, sleeping and trying to survive. Even while we tote Toastmasters as an excellent place to learn interview skills, impromptu speaking and thinking on your feet, it still is a hard sell when the choice is Toastmasters or bread on the table.
All in all, you have done an excellent job. My hat is off to you, and I look forward to working with you in this coming year. Personally, I am glad for this opportunity to rub shoulders with such an incredible lot.
Bill Mansfield
D32 Lt. Governor of Marketing
District Public Relations Officer Corner
A Pleasure to Serve
The seed was planted for me to serve as DPRO when I innocently attended the Leadership Boot camp in the Spring of 2009 because it was free and I wanted to learn more about the district leadership roles … to serve some day. It should be no surprise to you that Suezy was there and encouraged me to consider the DPRO role and the rest is history. I had been in Toastmasters about 7 months; I barely knew what a District Governor was and who he was.
This past year, Jay, Cindy, Bill, and Gina have been incredible with supporting me and my ideas … thank you! Coming up with ideas to promote the district - Pierce Transit bus signs, KBTC Public TV, NPR radio ads, and billboards - and working with the vendors was fun and exhilarating.
I wish to extend a personal Thank You to those who helped make this year a success.
I could not have done it without you!
- Suezy Proctor – for your amazing support and encouragement and believing in me.
- Jay Melrose – for supporting and believing in me.
- Bill Mansfield – for your incredible support and mentorship.
- Cindy Hadfield – for your support with my PR ideas.
- Gina Marken – for your support and making things work with my PR financial requests.
- Jill Dubois – for doing a fantastic job with the district website and newsletter as Webmaster.
- Bill Huckabee – for stepping up mid-year to tackle the Webmaster role.
- Sheryl Watkins – for being the Social Networking Chair.
- Linda Bown – for your “can do” attitude and smile … you are an inspiration!
- David Lewtas – for your timely newsletter articles and being so attentive to detail.
- All those who answered phones at KBTC during their pledge drives …
THANK YOU!
Serving you in the DPRO role this past year has been an extraordinary journey. I have enjoyed meeting and working with you. You have taught and inspired me beyond my wildest dreams. I love Toastmasters; you are my family. I appreciate the opportunity to be your 2009-10 DPRO. Thank you for allowing me to grow with you and learn from you. It has been a sincere pleasure to serve you.
2010 Spring Conference – 60th Anniversary!
Jackie Reid proudly stepped up to ensure the 2010 Spring Conference May 14 and 15 was a success. There were many celebrations at hand: the 60th Anniversary of District 32, the visit of our International Director Earleen Norris, David Lewtas’ (our District 32 Historian) 100th consecutive conference, and Jay Melrose’s attendance. First, Rosalie Gus hosted a Murder Mystery on Friday night, which was a lot of fun. On Saturday, the day was filled with good food, great speakers, excellent company, and superb Evaluation and Speech Contests.
Our Toastmaster for the conference was Bob Hays, a DTM and VPE of Wry Toast. He did an outstanding job keeping things on time and running smoothly throughout the day. We had a fantastic line-up of educational speakers:
- Darleen Price, DTM, Past International Director, gave a presentation titled, “Whose Club is it Anyway?”. She focused on empowering everyone to get involved to contribute to your club’s success.
- Lori Whaley, ACS, ALB, taught a session titled, “Communication: It’s More Than Words!”. She gave valuable information on how connect with others and build rapport.
- Jim Sultan, DTM, District 2 Governor, gave a presentation titled, “Mentoring – Grow Yourself while Helping Others.” Jim spoke from experience, having earned awards for Marketing and as LGET, on how to effectively mentor and help others grow.
- Earleen Norris, DTM, International Director, taught a session titled, “Refining Your Grips and Grins Skills.”
Our Keynote Speaker was Annelle Learner, who is the HR Director for the Liquor Control Board. She spoke about mentoring and how to make an impact in people’s lives. I think many of us were moved to tears with her heartfelt stories. What a treat to have such talented speakers and guests at our conference. Awards Cindy Hadfield honored those who recently earned their DTM: 1) Tonia Buell 2) Denise McCluskey (2nd DTM) 3) Diana Ehri
Cindy also honored David Lewtas with an award for his service to the District as Historian and the countless other roles in which he has served for the past 45 years as a Toastmasters member.
Bill Mansfield honored Dawn McAvoy with an award for innovative marketing ideas as District Public Relations Officer.
Contests TK Kasnick was the host for the Evaluation and International Speech Contests. She did a great job keeping the flow and entertaining the crowd. We had such impressive talent competing in the two contests. District 32 will be well-represented at the International Speech Contest with Jonathan Abuyan. The winners are as follows: International Speech Contest 1st Place: Jonathan Abuyan 2nd Place: Dennis Bauer 3rd Place: Melanie Hope
Evaluation Contest 1st Place: Sandra Kolb 2nd Place: George Sharp 3rd Place: Melanie Hope
New District Leadership Officer elections were held during the Business Meeting. It is sure to be a great 2010-11 year with our new district leadership. Our leaders are as follows:
- District Governor: Cindy Hadfield
- Lt. Governor of Education and Training: Bill Mansfield
- Lt. Governor of Marketing: Dan Proctor
- Division A Governor: Sherri Kenyon
- Division B Governor: Ken Norwood
- Division C Governor: Geoffrey Glass • Division D Governor: Tina Piety
Thank you to all those to contributed to make the 60th District 32 Conference a success, especially Jackie Reid, the Conference Chair.
Dawn J. McAvoy
District 32 Public Relations Officer
Save the Date!
Historian's Corner
Noted Changes and Changes to Note
This month's report is the listing of the clubs according to Division and Area as of July 1, 2010. At the May 15 District Council Meeting this realignment of clubs was approved. The realignment only involved three clubs moving to other Areas. Also included in this listing are three clubs which have been in the formation stage for some time and which still need to achieve 20 members to become chartered clubs.
There were many fewer changes to the clubs' information this time, compared to the December, 2009 report. However, it is still very important to always verify a club's meeting location, day and time to ensure your visit will be successful.
The listing is just 8 pages, including Informative Notes on page 8. We recommend you print the report for your handy reference, but also to save it as a reference file if needed later.
David Lewtas
District 32 Toastmasters Historian
