The draft Realignment Plan for 2024-2025 has been posted. You can find it here.
Voting to accept this plan will form part of the District 53 Business Meeting on April 11, 2024.
There will be a Zoom meeting to discuss this plan and meet with members of the District Realignment committee on April 4, 2024. Please come and share your thoughts with District leaders. If there are local conditions the committee needs to know, this is the forum to explain them, so adjustments can be made.
Fellow Toastmasters,
I’m pleased to report the results of the Division C Contest, held on 9 March 2024. Thank you to the contestants, functionaries and audience members who all helped to make the contest a great success. Go Division C!!
Evaluation:
International:
See the photos from the contest below:
First place winners (Linkesh Diwan and Jerry Aiyathurai) will now advance to the District Contests on May 10 (Evaluation) and May 11 (International) at the District Conference in Southbury, Connecticut.
District 53 Conference:
Sign up to attend the conference to listen to great speeches and cheer on your club/division contestants: District Conference 2024! – District 53 Toastmasters (d53tm.org). Also catch all the great workshops, and the keynote speaker Sheryl Roush! Remember, if 3 members from your club register to attend, you’ll get 10% off later.
Club Member Dues: Renew your membership by March 31, 2024. If a minimum of 8 members from your club renew by March 15th, the club will get a $25 gift card to the Toastmasters International store.
Area Director Visits: Please plan for the 2nd round of visits from your Area Directors, reports due by May 31, 2024.
Yours in Toastmasters service,
Selina Tourjee
Division C Director 2023-2024
Fellow Toastmasters,
Division E held its speech contests on Saturday, March 2, in Colonie, NY. I am pleased to report the results to you all here:
First place winners Brandon Eastman and Megan Long will now advance to the District level speech contests on May 10 and 11 at the District 53 Annual Conference in Southbury, CT. Attend the conference to cheer on our Division winners!
Let me remind you that Spring renewals are happening this month. Membership dues for the April 2024 to September 2024 are now being accepted. Please submit all payments on or before April 1. Area Directors will also be reaching out to plan their Spring club visits, please help make arrangements for their visits!
Yours in Service,
Elizabeth Keeling
Division E Director 2023-2024
Hello Division A Toastmasters!
I am very excited to be your Division Director for the 2023-2024 year. I have been a member of Toastmasters since November of 2020. My home club is Talk It Up Toastmasters (#8045) in Windsor, CT. I was also a proud member of Nathan Hale Toastmasters (#1484) in Manchester, CT for two and a half years before work obligations got in the way. Through both I have met wonderful Toastmasters that had a very positive impact on my personal growth.
In the last few years, I have completed 3 Pathways: Persuasive Influence, Presentation Mastery, and Visionary Communication. I am currently working on the Effective Coaching and Leadership Development Paths, as well as working towards becoming a Pathways Mentor and Distinguished Toastmaster. I was honored to receive the Area Director of the Year Award for 2022-2023.
I am excited to be a Division Director to serve more clubs in the District and connect with more Toastmasters. I see great value in the community and personal growth Toastmasters fosters. I want to see clubs growing so more people can experience the benefits it provides. Membership growth is going to be my focus this year both as Division Director and for my DTM project.
Division A will have virtual council meetings once a month with ADs (club officers also welcome!) on the first Tuesday of each month. I will also be organizing virtual workshops quarterly that are open to all members. Topics will have relevance to both growing our clubs and growing ourselves as leaders.
Saturday Success Series:
I am excited to be a resource so please reach out with any challenges or questions you have. I look forward to getting to know you all. You can reach me at divadir@d53tm.org.
Sincerely,
Stephanie Anne Roy
Hello!
I am Mark Wing, the new Division D Director. My area covers western Massachusetts and northern Connecticut. I joined Toastmasters in August 2014 as a charter member of NE Toastmasters. My motivation for serving as Division Director is to help the clubs in my area. I recognize that many of the clubs in my area are struggling with membership. Given our current trajectory, it is possible that my area could be reduced to handful of closed corporate clubs. This is not something I want to see happen. It has helped me grow both my public speaking and leadership skills. It would be a loss to our community if this opportunity was no longer available.
I am looking forward to working with my team of Area Directors to support and grow our clubs. I am always interested in learning how successful clubs operate to see if what they do can be applied elsewhere. For example, I was recently at a work-related meeting in Manchester, New Hampshire. In the corner of the conference room was a banner for Millworks Toastmasters. The top of the banner was covered by ribbons. When I looked up the club, I could see few things that I thought were interesting:
I have been a member of clubs that have struggled with meeting times. My home club is at noon. I am usually able to attend, but sometimes work obligations interfere. Other clubs are in the evening, but this cuts into family time for many. Could before work be the perfect solution for many Toastmasters? I know if I worked in Manchester, I would be at Millworks Toastmasters’ next meeting.
I am looking forward to working with the Toastmasters clubs in my division for this upcoming year. If you have unique ideas of how successful clubs operate, I would love to hear them. You can reach me at divddir@d53tm.org.
Sincerely,
Mark Wing
Division D Director 2023-2024
Hello!
I’m your new Division Director. My Toastmasters journey started in a corporate club (ToastUS, # 02451465, D8) in St. Louis, Missouri in 2014. While there, I earned these awards: Competent Communicator (CC), Competent Leader (CL) and Advanced Leader Bronze (ALB). I’ve been a club President three times and VP Membership three times. I am assuming the office of VP Membership for the Air Line Trail Club, #6976 this year.
I wanted to become a Division Director because I am passionate about Toastmasters and want to help my Division and D53 grow in membership and improve performance metrics. I am a Project Manager in my professional life and have many associated leadership and communications responsibilities. I use an empathetic approach to guide those I serve. My other associated soft skills enable me to communicate and collaborate with others to achieve or exceed defined objectives.
Moreover, my participation in a different district in Missouri and membership in a corporate club, have given me different perspectives and understanding of the challenges clubs face. Having completed my term as a first-time Area Director (31) will also enable me to guide the new Area Directors in this division.
I want our clubs to work on membership retention over the course of the year because only gaining new members without retaining the existing members is a losing battle. Lastly, I want our clubs to earn DCP awards this year, especially those that have never won any.
I look forward to working with you in the coming months! You can reach me at divcdir@d53tm.org.
Sincerely in Toastmasters Service,
Selina Tourjee
Happy New Year District 53 members…actually Happy Toastmaster New Year. My name is Patti Walter and I am your new District Director. First, I would like to thank you for giving me this opportunity.
I would like to take a moment to introduce your new district team. I have been a Toastmaster since May of 2013. I have also been your Program Quality Director, Club Growth Director, Division Director, and Area Director for 2 terms. I reside in Ludlow, Massachusetts, and I am a recent retired Learning and Development Consultant. I enjoy spending time with my children and six grandchildren.
Our Program Quality Director this year is Bettyann Peck, DTM. Bettyann was previously our Club Growth Director and Public Relations Manager.
New to the trio, in the position of Club Growth Director is Mohan Padamati DTM. Mohan was our previous Public Relations Manager, and a prior Division D Director and Area Director before that.
Zachary Fisk will be joining us as the new Public Relations Manager. Zachary also has been a Division Director. Administration and Registration manager Norm Thibodeau. Also on our team is Webmaster Andrew Watt. We are still recruiting for Finance Manager and Executive Secretary. Please feel free to let me know if you are interested in either position.
I am so grateful that these members have stepped up to assist with running District 53 this year!
I want to conclude by sharing a little bit about my goals this year. First, I want to make sure the District grows! I hope to see that we are in a better place on 30 June 2024 then we were on 1 July 2023. I want to continue to get out to the clubs and see what we as a district can do better. I want our members to understand what our district does and the enormous number of opportunities that are out there for our members to grow as communicator and leaders. I have said in the past that it takes a village.
The District Team cannot do it by themselves. We are always looking for new people to step up and assist in and share their idea. Please reach out if you have questions or idea. Finally, I am open to visiting clubs, attending open houses, giving speeches or provide an ear for concerns. Reach out to me at dd@d53tm.org. Let’s become distinguished together this year. Together we can do this.
In your service,
Patti Walter, DTM
District Director 2023-2024