Toastmasters: Different Package, Same Mission
Schedule of Events
News & Notes
The Coach’s Corner
Advanced Clubs — Fact or Fiction
HELP! Desperately Seeking Assistance
Superior Speakers Charter
Master of Ceremonies 101
Teaching Tomorrow's Leaders Today
Looking for Action? Join the District 26 Social Media Team
D26 Speakers Bureau Moves to the Forefront
District 26 Edification Program
DISTRICT 26 FALL CONFERENCE
Editor’s Musings
"While most of us may have entered Toastmasters to make speeches, that benefit is but the beginning of the good which may come to us and the good which we may do for mankind."
-- Dr. Ralph Smedley
Founder, Toastmasters International
As Toastmasters “the good which may come to us….” still rings true. The rebranding and new tagline, “Where Leaders Are Made” may impact the image but it does not change the substance of what we do. We remain an organization dedicated to fostering “….the good which we may do for mankind” by strengthening the voice that comes with effective oral communication, helping men and women of all ages and backgrounds learn the arts of speaking, listening and thinking. The core beliefs and mission that have built Toastmasters International still motivates us -- our published missions remain unchanged.
The Toastmasters published mission is
“Toastmasters International is the leading movement devoted to making effective oral communication a world wide reality. Through it’s clubs Toastmasters helps men and women learn the arts of speaking, listening, and thinking – vital skills that promote self-actualization, enhance leadership potential, foster human understanding and contribute to the betterment of mankind. It is basic to this mission that Toastmasters International continually expand its worldwide network of members clubs, thereby offering ever-greater numbers of people the opportunity to benefit from its programs.”
The Toastmasters club’s mission remains
“… to provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment in which every individual member has the opportunity to develop oral communication and leadership skills, which in turn foster self-confidence and personal growth.” Toastmasters International’s stated goal is to remain “the leading movement devoted to making effective oral communication a worldwide reality.”
Our organization is built on words. Words can be powerful and words can be misunderstood. If there’s anything we learn in Toastmasters, it’s the power of words. The wrong word, the incorrect innuendo, or misleading use often leads to confusion. What may not be clear is “Where Leaders Are Made” still embodies a part of our core mission above to “enhance leadership potential.” The leadership label has been brought to the forefront in a package with a new appearance and tagline. This does not negate the importance of helping “men and women learn the arts of speaking, listening, and thinking.”
The Toastmaster’s package may have a new look, the symbol on the outside is different but the cookies inside still taste the same. Change happens and we each respond to change differently as it impacts each of us differently. My recommendation: Be patient, understand, and remember who we are. What we stand for has not changed. Toastmasters as the leader in oral communication and leadership has developed over 80 years and is not going away overnight – not even over several nights.
In my opinion there is a major misunderstanding about the word “leader” within “Where Leaders Are Made,” a tagline now emblazed on our newly rebranded banners and Toastmasters publications. This previously quiet part of our program is made apparent. The emergence of leadership as an effect of good oral communication is now out of the bag. We do develop leaders, have been for years and will do so into the future. What is leadership really? More importantly, who is a leader? The military, government, educators, business, sports and entertainment, all define what they consider to be the qualities of leadership. The difference is the expected outcome of what leadership produces. In Toastmasters the result of what leadership qualities emerge comes out of the individual’s personal development, not from a set agenda of a particular profession or avocation.
There are leaders with titles and there are leaders without titles. Robin Sharma, recipient of this year’s Toastmasters International Golden Gavel award, in his keynote address at the International Convention shared highlights from his latest book, The Leader Who Had No Title. A modern fable, the principles can be applied to anyone, in any organization, anywhere, who strives to make a difference. He emphasized that any person at any level can influence a group and that is not necessarily tied to a title. In any organization, including Toastmasters clubs, we find leaders without titles; sometimes referred to as “informal leaders.” They often influence the success of the organization and impact the morale of the group. They do this by “communicating” their message and their philosophy to others around them. The better their communication skills, the more they can influence.
Effective leaders with a title understand the value of leaders without a title and use their skills to the organization’s advantage. That’s where Toastmasters fits in to the “Where Leaders are Made” idea. In Toastmasters we teach and practice communication skills which individuals take home or back to the work/playplace where those communication skills make for more effective parents, co-workers, and leaders with or without title. Within Toastmasters I suggest that these informal leaders are everywhere: coaches, mentors, sponsors, members, friends.
Toastmasters is truly where leaders, with and without title, have always been made and will continue to be made as we benefit from learning and improving our oral communication skills. ▪
BackHUMOROUS SPEECH & EVALUATION CONTESTS
It’s that time of year
to head over to a TM contest
where the speakers are the best
you’ll ever hear!
Check the Google calendar on the D26 website for a comprehensive list of contest dates and locations as well as available test speakers.
District 26 Conference
Coming Up!
NOV 11-12
Crowne Plaza Hotel
Colorado Springs, CO
Belinda Corleyturnipseed, (303-671-2639) fundraising chairperson, is seeking cash donations, marketing materials (pens, notepads, fun stuff) or items of value for auction or raffle. Contact Connie Akins (303-912-4032.) for tax information, including a statement of our tax exempt status. Most companies require several weeks to a few months to organize a tax deductible contribution; therefore, don’t delay, ask today.
See the flyer and registration form online.
Full package is $125
Register before OCT 23 for the
EARLY-BIRD OFFER of $95
AURORA 8, the local government TV channel, filmed and later broadcast, a meeting at Orbiting Toasters #6656 and highlighted Ian J. Humphrey of Simply Speaking #677476. This publicity was made possible by Deborah Frauenfelder, Denver Division, Area 6 Governor. Watch for a review of the Red Carpet Event in the NOV Dialogue.
Thanks to Elinora Reynolds DTM, Absolutely Articulate Toastmasters #1272692 recently greeted Colorado viewers on the Channel 9NEWS wake-up call.
What is your club or area doing to promote Toastmasters? Visit MEDIA CONTACTS on our website and send us a link to your club’s successful promotions. ▪
BackIt’s that time of year to head over to a TM contest where the speakers are the best you’ll ever hear!
Are you ready for some teamwork? Ready to energize your club with new members and creative programming! If so, then you will not want to miss this month’s message from the huddle.
In District 26 we have over 166 active clubs! For some of those clubs the new Toastmasters season is an opportunity to recruit a new team coach and institute some critical game plan strategies. It is sometimes hard for a club to make the step toward recruitment of a new coach.
Each toastmaster in this district who commits to signing on as a club coach is a wealth of information and valuable resources. Some have been on their club team longer than others, but – they all share one common element; the enthusiasm and passion to coach your team to a winning season.
One of the most exciting ways to build and strengthen your club is through an active and energized membership. Recruiting and signing up your team’s club coach is a great step toward building a dynamic club that each member in your club has a hand in creating.
As with any team, the club coach is the team’s sounding board. A good coach recognizes that members of the team have already developed some dynamic strategies to engage their old and new recruits. Your coach will work hard to help you mold your ideas into a successful season.
They know that every field is different, every crowd has different expectations and every arena isn’t covered! You, and your club team know where the leaks are and what strategies can be most effective. Together you and your coach will develop the best game plan for your season.
Now is the time to establish a new and exciting journey for your club toward new growth. The season has just begun; help is only a yard marker away! Contact Linda Rhea or Niki Moore to discover the difference a good coach matched with the right club-team can make. ▪
BackHave you heard about advanced Toastmaster clubs? What’s your first reaction? Do you shudder, or do you envision the possibilities? You may be surprised about the benefits that advanced clubs offer. But you may have also heard negative rumors about advanced clubs. Want an objective view? Consider these myths and realities surrounding an advanced club.
Myth: Advanced club meetings go on for too long. No one has the time to attend 4-hour meetings.
Reality: Advanced club meetings take 1- 2 hours. Clubs that meet only once a month have a longer meeting time to make up for meeting just once a month.
Myth: An advanced club is a threat to the other clubs in the area.
Reality: An advanced club doesn’t steal members or DCP credits from other clubs. Advanced clubs nurture members in a positive and helpful environment.
Myth: Advanced clubs criticize too harshly.
Reality: Advanced club members care! The round-robin evaluations give members positive, constructive feedback. You receive mentoring from multiple Gold Communicators and DTMs. People who join advanced clubs want to improve, and members will help you improve, too.
Myth: Advanced clubs are a budget drain. You pay more money in dues to the International Toastmasters organization.
Reality: There’s a value to joining an advanced club that goes beyond paying dues. Toastmasters is economical compared to college classes or private tutors. What’s the cost of improvement? That’s your call.
Advanced clubs exist to help their members. Consider the benefits; weigh the possibilities. You can reach for the next level in your speaking skills by joining an advanced club. If you’re not sure, see for yourself. There are four advanced clubs in District 26. Advanced club members are ready to welcome you!
Advanced Club Information
Evening Stars
Exempla Healthcare
2420 W. 26th Ave, Lakewood
2nd & 4th Wednesdays at 6:45 PM
Excelsior
Lutheran Church of the Master
14099 W. Jewell Ave, Lakewood
3rd Saturdays at 9:00 AM
Speak Up
Rockrimmon Library
Rockrimmon & Vindicator, CO Springs
3rd Mondays at 6:15 PM
Spirited Speakers
Microsoft Store
Park Meadows Mall
2nd & 4th Tuesdays at 6:00 PM
Marcia Wood is also VPPR of Spirited Speakers (advanced) Toastmasters Club and president of Jackson Keynoters (corporate) club. E-mail her at m11112@d26leaders.org.
BackWe have been inundated with great suggestions and ideas for marketing, PR, the website, etc. but we need people to put them into practice.
We are victims of our own creativity.
Everyone can help by following submission guidelines such as word count, single space between sentences, including your TM distinction, spellchecking, etc.
Contact pro1112@d26leaders.org
BackWhat happens when you empower financial business advisors to be better leaders?
They form a “Superior Toastmasters” program.
Key Equipment Financial recognized the many benefits of improving their staff to be better communicators for their internal operations. They now are seeing the value of improved leadership as they work with their marketing also. “With better interactions at trade conventions, we are poised to generate warmer leads and positive business growth with new customers.”
Dawn (Gonzales) Stewart has been the hurricane force to implement a vibrant Toastmasters program for Key Equipment Financial located in Superior Colorado in the North Denver Metro area. She has worked diligently over the past 1 yr & 11 ½ months since giving her ice breaker speech at a demonstration meeting for her coworkers.
The founding members have even attended local Toastmasters leadership trainings to guide them through the final steps of chartering their club.
I take my Hat off to the newest chartered member of District 26 Toastmasters, “Superior Speakers,” club #1426239. ▪
BackDo you admire those who can simply grab the mike and take control of the room? Well, here is a training session every toastmaster should consider and a must for contest chairs at division and conference-level events.
The fall conference, November 11-12 2011, will be video taped and you’ll want to look sharp. It could be your MC demonstration video!
Become a master of ceremonies (MC) and learn –
Perfect training for –
October 6, 2011
Daniels Fund Bldg.
101 Monroe St., Denver, CO 80206
In Cherry Creek at 1st & Monroe
Thursday night
6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
$20 includes book authored by acclaimed speaker Dana LaMon and a light snack.
Contact Tom Hobbs to registerlgm1112@d26leaders.org
Limited space available so reserve your seat NOW!
BackIn the world of today, there are three main things people need to succeed.
Toastmasters International has a well established Youth Leadership Program to build the communication and leadership skills. Mohanasundaram Devarajulu, with the help of Pranaya Sathe and Naathan Mohan, conducted the program for thirteen 5th and 6th grade students over the three months of the summer of 2011. HP Rise 'N Shine Toastmasters club sponsored the program.
Many parents and former graduates volunteered to make the program run smoothly.
The program included eight sessions filled with many topics and lessons. The lessons included having the students create speeches, evaluate speeches, and also speak on a given subject for a limited amount of time. They used parliamentary procedures to elect the leaders from among themselves. They learned to use speech organization, vocal variety, gestures etc. to create and deliver speeches. They evaluated each other's speeches to help one another to improve the listening and communication skills.
The following quote from a student represents what the students feel after the program, “In the beginning, I did not really enjoy speaking in front of people. But you can’t be a good speaker without practice, so I felt it was a good idea to be in this program. Now, I feel more confident about speaking in front of others and enjoy it very much.” Not only have they learned and mastered these skills, but they also raised their confidence about how well they really know how to speak.
On Saturday August 20th at 10:00 AM, in the Harmony Library on 4616 S. Shields, these students demonstrated the skills they learned by organizing a demo meeting for their friends and family. They presented great speeches, valuable evaluations, and table topics in a meeting that was completely run by them. Gavin Kirton, DTM and Thavatchai Makphaibulchoke of HP Rise 'N Shine Toastmasters attended the meeting to support the students and distribute the certificates. ▪
Take time to read the October issue of Toastmasters magazine which features a broad range of communication forms, skills, and techniques to include writing, PR, mentoring, social media, international interpretations, and silence …
BackWant to learn more about how your club can enhance member connections via social media? Have some social media success stories to share with other clubs in the district? Wondering if an active social media presence can draw more visitors to your club? Join the action! Be part of the newly formed District 26 Social Media Team. Members so far include Gayle Laraway of Wisecrackers focusing on Facebook, White-Eagle Perry of Opportunity Talks and Evening Stars focusing on YouTube, and Joyce Feustel of Timberline, Excelsior, and Evening Stars focusing on LinkedIn. We are still looking for a person to focus on Twitter. Plus we might add a person to focus on MeetUp.
Meanwhile, please “like” the D26 Facebook page and join the D26 group on LinkedIn.
To join this exciting new adventure, email Joyce Feustel, D26 Social Media Chair at socialmedia1112@d26leaders.org
If you Twitter, be aware of what you tweet, for once it’s out there …
BackWhat is the Speakers Bureau?
Our Speakers Bureau is a group of toastmasters who speak to outside organizations such as service clubs (i.e. Lions, Optimists, Rotary), associations and schools. We have a prominent presence on the District 26 website and will direct client organizations to it to select speakers.
We’re excited to provide this great opportunity to our members. To ensure unprecedented success of more than 200 speeches through the Speakers Bureau this year, we will be working on two prongs.
Each division will have a representative to actively reach out to let our members know about the Speakers Bureau, what it does for the members and how to best be served by the bureau. The division representatives will also select TM members they believe ready to represent Toastmasters while giving speeches to other organizations.
Our goal is to contact 600 organizations this year, telling them about the Speakers Bureau and suggesting that when they need a speaker they turn to us. We’ll also follow up with them after they use one of our speakers to get feedback and further encourage them.
The Find a Speaker page on our website will evolve into a major marketing piece as we add photos and testimonials from organizations who have been pleased with our presentations.
If you’re interested in joining the bureau, visit the website or contact one of the representatives below. ▪
Division representatives.
If you’d like to volunteer as a representative for the northern division, please contact Hugh@HughCurley.com
BackHave you ever felt overlooked because someone failed to acknowledge your birthday? Well, thanks to the initiative of some district leaders, that won’t happen to your Toastmasters club.
Each month district leaders visit and acknowledge clubs with a framed certificate and a small gift for significant years of service beyond ten-years.
Making special visits, writing short historical articles and taking photos with clubs has been enlightening for all.
Joan Janis is the District Edification Coordinator. All clubs are in a listing so we know two months in advance and can plan to make visits in a timely way.
Thanks to Ken Beazer for sparking this program.
Club Anniversaries for OCT include some impressive numbers!
Bob Ord Toastmasters #1588
57 years
Littleton Toastmasters #2177
55 years
Rocky Flats #2626
35 years
Opportunity Talks #4071
32 years
Cherry Creek Toastmasters #2977
30 years
Crowne Plaza Hotel
2886 S. Circle Drive
Colorado Springs, CO 80960
719-576-5900 or toll free 888-233-9527
Rooms Rates – CLICK to reserve lodging (Identify yourself as a member of Toastmasters)
Single $89 – Double $89 – Triple – $99 – Quad – $109
AND
Hear the best contestants in District 26 compete in the HUMOROUS SPEECH and EVALUATION CONTESTS
NEW — DVD recordings of the keynote speakers and contests will be available for purchase.
$25 pre-order (may also order at event)
Provided by Creative Images of Thornton, Colorado
Club Discounts / Incentives
Complete conference package (not including room) $125
EARLY–BIRD REGISTRATION is $95 per person until OCT 23, 2011.
BackSomeone said, “Leaders are made, not born.” Certainly that’s where Toastmasters comes into the picture. Leadership training is a natural offshoot of the Toastmasters program. One definition of leadership is the ability to communicate a vision in such a way that it motivates others to take action on it. The key word there is “communicate.”
As we progress in the Toastmasters program, we not only develop communication skills but we also learn to apply them to lead. The recent rebranding has added visibility to the leadership role, but as Norm noted, it hasn’t changed the importance of communication as the basis of Toastmasters.
If you take a look at your Competent Leadership manual, you’ll notice that all of the projects involve some aspect of communication. That’s not surprising because you can’t lead without communicating. In addition, there are projects in many of the speech manuals that relate directly to leadership. Interpersonal Communication is all about skills that are used in leadership, as are Persuasive Speaking and The Discussion Leader. Even the Competent Communication manual has “Persuasively Speaking.”
Leadership is important — make that “crucial” — in today’s business environment. Since you’re already learning the communication aspect of it, why not take advantage of the leadership opportunities available to you in your club and in the district. Take on a club officer role, complete the CL projects, become a district officer. Be a leader.
"Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it."
~Dwight D. Eisenhower
Publisher / Governor
Norman Frickey, DTM
Home: 303-833-0567
Cell: 303-775-1106
Email: dg1112@d26leaders.org
Editor
Gordon S. Savage, DTM
36923 Forest Trail
Elizabeth, CO 80107-8126
Phone: 303-646-0547
Email: gordonsavage@msn.com
Public Relations
Layout & design
Contributing Editor
Carol A. Harris, ACB
Email: pro1112@d26leaders.org