Andrew Watt, DTM – District 53 Toastmasters

Spring Blooms

Posted on April 25, 2024 | by Andrew Watt, DTM

Hello Division C Toastmasters,

I hope your Toastmasters spring is going well!

I have a few updates and reminders of now, there is no successor for the Division C Director for the 2024-2025 Toastmasters’ year. The incoming District Director will appoint someone, and indeed already has a candidate in mind! Please let me know if you would like to be an Area Director next year so I can pass it on to my successor to-be and the District Director-elect.

Division C will have its own gathering in early June. Save the date for a social and educational event for all our members to celebrate this year. Come and relax, eat, mingle with others and bring your questions about Pathways or anything else. Please let me know you’re coming!

Date: Saturday, June 1, 2024, from 12pm – 3pm
Location: D’marie’s Pizza in Plainville, CT (D’ Marie’s Pizza)
17 Whiting St, Plainville, CT, United States
RSVP: divcdir@d53tm.org

If you haven’t made plans yet, you should plan to attend the District Conference on Saturday May 11. We have a great range of speakers and workshop presenters, including Accredited Speaker Sheryl Roush DTM! I’ll be there and hope to see you — if you see me, come say hi. I also hope your club will be represented to cheer on the Division champions in the contests: the Evaluation contest is Friday night, and the International Contest is on Saturday. Cheer on your fellow Division members!

Your club should also be deep in planning for next year’s officer slate. By the Club constitution, nominations for incoming Club Officers are due by the last meeting in April, and the election takes place by the first meeting in June — with the new officers reported on the Toastmasters.org website by the current secretary or other club officer no later than June 30.

To help prepare next year’s club officer teams, Club Officer Training events are starting to be scheduled. Please let Bettyann Peck and Mohan Padamati know if you’d like to be involved in facilitating those events — and add the first two events, June 20 and June 22, to your own schedules!

As your Division C Director this year, I’ve learned a lot, especially how important it is to collaborate with others in events such as the Area and Division Contests, while trying to complete my own Pathways projects. I hope you continue to grow as speakers and leaders. Lastly, remember that the DCP (Distinguished Club Program) year ends on June 30, so get those education credits in!

Sincerely,
Selina Tourjee
Division C Director 2023-2024

First Summer 2024 Club Officer Trainings announced

Posted on April 20, 2024 | by Andrew Watt, DTM

Program Quality Directors Bettyann Peck (2023-2024), and Mohan Padamati (2024-2025) invite you to Summer Club Officer Training (COT)!

All District 53 COT events are online via Zoom!

Please see more information and register at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/D53COT-Registration

Summer Club Officer Training is targeted for incoming club officers for the 2024-2025 program year, but all club members are welcome to attend.

The June COT dates have been scheduled, as listed below. July and August dates will be announced soon.

2024-2025 District Officers Elected

Posted on April 12, 2024 | by Andrew Watt, DTM

On Thursday 11 April 2024 by unanimous ballot, District 53 elected its slate of officers for the 2024-2025 program year during the spring business meeting of the District Council.

Serving in the District Leadership Trio are:

Bettyann Peck, DTM, District Director 2024-2025
Mohan Padamati, DTM, District Program Quality Director 2024-2025
Jackie Kessler, DTM, District Club Growth Director 2024-2025

Mohan Padamati, Program Quality Director 2024-2025 — **District Director**
***Bettyann Peck***

Bettyann Peck joined Toastmasters in 2016 as a member of Park City Toastmasters in Division B and is a veteran of the U.S. Navy. Her proudest achievements in Toastmasters is seeing members she has mentored grow in their communication and leadership skills beyond anything ever expected to achieve. Her professional career spans over 40 years; as the owner of a renovation company, she enjoys designing and installing her clients’ visions of the perfect kitchen, bath or living space. She lives in Seymour, CT with her husband Richard (also an active Toastmaster) and their dog Indi. Bettyann loves being mom to three amazing children and spends time with 5 grandchildren. In her spare time when she’s not renovating her own vintage home, she serves her town as an elected member on the Board of Finance, an active Lions Club member, World Vision International Board Member and an officer at various Veteran posts.
Mohan Padamati joined Talk It Up Toastmasters in Windsor, Connecticut in 2011. He is also a member of Screaming Eagles Toastmasters club & Talking Tomorrow Together Toastmasters club in Division C. He has completed the Distinguished Toastmaster award twice and he was a Division Director of the year in 2021. He is currently working for Cyient Incorporated as an Associate Vice President (AVP). He collaborates with multiple leaders on daily basis and works with very diversified human capital. He lives with his wife Madhu and their two boys in Glastonbury, CT. His hobbies are Toastmasters, reading the books and watching Bollywood & Tollywood movies.
Jackie Kessler joined Bethlehem Toastmasters in 2016. Her journey has included completing five paths in Pathways; serving in nearly all club officer positions in her home club; being a charter member of New York State Forum Toastmasters; serving District 53 as an Area Director, Division Director, and Club New Source Research Chair; taking first place in two District-level speech contests; and receiving the District 53 Toastmaster of the Year Award for 2021-2022. For more than 20 years, Jackie has worked in marketing and communications, with skills including strategic communications, content development, and editorial. She lives with her husband Brett (also a member of Bethlehem Toastmasters) in Delmar, NY, along with their recent college graduate son, currently matriculating son, and two cats.

Elected alongside them are four of the five Division Directors. Due to a last-minute withdrawal from the campaign, District Director-elect Bettyann Peck will appoint a suitable Toastmaster to the role of Division C Director, who will then be confirmed by majority vote at the fall business meeting of the District Council.

Serving for the Divisions are:

Melanie Lee, Division A Director 2024-2025 — Division A Director
Melanie Lee

Scott R. Davis, Division B Director 2024-2025 — Division A Director
Melanie Lee

For Division A: Melanie Lee
For Division B: Scott R. Davis
For Division C:
For Division D: Stephanie Roy
For Division E: Elizabeth Keeling

Melanie Lee joined Toastmasters in December of 2020 as a member of Greater Stamford Toastmasters in Division A. She is most proud of being able to serve the membership of Area 11 as the Area Director from 2022 to 2024. Melanie is a retired NYC certified English teacher having served for 25 years in Brooklyn and the Bronx. She lives in Stamford with her husband Michael and their canine companion, Blue. In her spare time, she talks up Toastmasters at her current place of employment, The Ferguson Library, church-Union Baptist Church and, as a member of the board of directors of C.O.N.E.C.T. (Congregations Organized for a New Connecticut).
Scott R. Davis joined Toastmasters in 2011 as a member of Greater Bridgeport Toastmasters in Division B, and is also a member of Park City Toastmasters. The first time he passed through District leadership roles, he received Area Governor of the Year in 2015 and the U-Rock Award in 2016. Professionally, he holds the unique role of being the Chief Encouraging Officer of Life (CEOOL). In his free time, he loves write, taking photos, solving puzzles and being surrounded by his faith community.
Stephanie Roy joined Toastmasters in November 2020 as a member of Talk It Up Toastmasters (2020-present) and Nathan Hale Toastmasters (2020-2023). She immediately fell in love with the opportunities for growth and D53 community. In April 2024, will also earne the distinction of Distinguished Toastmaster. Stephanie is a seasoned entrepreneur and a dedicated coach and consultant for entrepreneurs, helping them design businesses that align with their passion for making a positive impact. She owns a martial arts school and has a passion for building empowering, community-focused villages within brick-and-mortar businesses. She balances her professional pursuits with homeschooling her son, nerding out on Zettelkasten, and playing way too much Dungeons and Dragons.
Elizabeth Keeling joined NYISO Toastmasters in Rensselaer, NY in 2017. She is also a dual member of Capital Advanced Toastmasters in Division E. She was awarded District 53 Toastmaster of the year for 2022-2023 at the District 53 Annual Conference. She is currently working as a Project Manager for the New York ISO (NYISO) and brings experience from the healthcare and energy/utility industries. Elizabeth lives with her husband, Grant, and their two cats in Rensselaer, NY. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, playing video games, and reading.

The new District Trio and Division Directors will make their promises and be formally installed at the District 53 Annual Conference on May 11, 2024 in the afternoon; and take office on July 1, 2024 at midnight.

The whole volunteer staff of District 53, and all the Toastmasters membership of the District and beyond, wish them great success in 2024-2025!

Thank you

Posted on April 11, 2024 | by Andrew Watt, DTM

Fellow Toastmasters,

I want to take a moment to thank all the people that brought us to today’s Business Meeting, and the election of our District officers for 2024-2025’s program year: the District Leadership committee members who interviewed a total of ten candidates for Division Director roles and the District trio roles; the members who nominated their fellow Toastmasters to these offices; the functionaries and presenters who helped run Tuesday’s Candidate Showcase; and the candidates themselves, who approached the roles for which they’re running with thoughtfulness and humility.

On Monday, 8 April 2024 — I took time off from preparing for today to rush three hours north to see the total eclipse of the Sun. We spent three hours traveling north, before we found a suitable spot on an access road to a field outside Middlebury, VT. There was an unplanned encampment of about 100 cars along this gravel road, where my wife and I sat with a nice stranger named Mary whose brother asked her to go in his place (he was stuck at home with a fever of 100°), and some kids who were much more interested in playing in the mud and their harried parents, and a Indian family of maybe 30 people who had come in at least six cars in a caravan. There were some teenagers who had road-tripped from Boston. Together, we watched as the Moon took a bite out of the Sun through our eclipse glasses, and then swallowed the whole thing. It took no more than two minutes, and it started ending almost as soon as it began. We hung out another 15 minutes, but mindful of a long drive home getting longer with traffic by the minute, we pulled out onto the highway. Then we drove home, 3 hours of back roads, going the speed limit the whole way and uninterrupted by traffic or delay.

Those two minutes changed me, even so. Six hours of driving on unfamiliar roads, for a sight — stunning in its majesty — of a ring of light in the sky with a darkness at its heart. I think that at least one of the ways I’ll subdivide my life in the future is “before I saw a total eclipse of the sun” and “after I saw a total eclipse of the sun.”

There’s no telling if being a District officer will change you in the same way — but I certainly think of my life as divided in two parts, “before District service” and “after District service.” Yesterday I went to my town’s Annual Caucus, and agreed to be nominated to run in the election for Select Board, the committee of three that runs my tiny town. I wouldn’t have had the courage to do that before I was a District Officer — and now I do. My former fears… have perhaps been… eclipsed by a recognition of both my personal competence, and a desire to be of service.

May today’s Business Meeting, where we elect our slate of District officers for the 2024-2025 program year, be the start of something similarly large, for all of us — and especially our candidates.

Sincerely,
Andrew B. Watt, DTM
Past District Director 2020-2021
Interim Chair, District 53 Leadership Committee 2023-2024

Brass City Toastmasters Open House

Posted on April 11, 2024 | by Andrew Watt, DTM

Brass City Toastmasters (find-a-club) will host an Open House on 22 April 2024 at 6:00 pm, at the Silas Bronson Library on Grand Street, in Waterbury.

Calendar Item

More information will be forthcoming soon.

Communication & Leadership Award 2024

Posted on April 7, 2024 | by Andrew Watt, DTM

For immediate release —

District 53 is pleased to announce the 2024 recipient of its Communication and Leadership Award. The Communication and Leadership Award is presented by the District to a non-Toastmaster in the community who is an outstanding communicator or leader. The recipient will have distinguished himself/herself as a leader or spokesperson for a worthy cause or purpose, especially as it exemplified their communication and leadership skills.

Alisa Klein, Executive Director of Grow Food Northampton (GFN), manages and stewards access to farmland and healthy food to create what they call a “local food system” in Hampshire County, Massachusetts. The organization:

Offers 320 organic community garden plots on six acres to provide gardening space to 400 community members;
Leases prime farmland and provides infrastructure and resources to ten small farms on the 121-acre Grow Food Northampton Community Farm;
Manages year-long weekly farmers markets to connect local farms directly with customers;
Runs a free mobile farmers market that, weekly, delivers fresh local produce and other quality ingredients to hundreds of individuals and families grappling with food insecurity and hunger;
Operates a Giving Garden that grows and donates thousands of pounds of organic produce annually to local food pantries and community meal sites; and
Conducts collaborative research projects with academics and others on sustainable and climate resilience-enhancing agricultural practices.

Alisa Klein,
executive director
Grow Food Northampton

On the Community Farm, GFN leases land to farmers who have traditionally been denied access to farmland, including refugees from war-torn places like Somalia, women farmers, and others. In addition to its farm-based Community Garden, GFN has established community gardens at nine public housing communities to enable low-income families to have access to green spaces and grow their own food. Working together with local business sponsors, Grow Food Northampton doubles the purchasing power of low-income individuals so they can afford more healthy local foods at GFN’s farmers markets. The organization also collaborates with the local school system to deliver hands-on education about nutrition, cooking with locally grown food, and gardening to all K-12 students, while also offering workshops to adults on a variety of local food system-related topics.

Ms. Klein is a long-time activist and community organizer working on issues as diverse, yet interconnected, as the climate emergency and peace and justice in Palestine and Israel. She has been deeply involved in bringing restorative and transformative justice models to addressing harm in communities. Between 2014 and 2020, Alisa served as a Northampton, Massachusetts, city councilor where she established a Select Committee on Pesticide Reduction and wrote and sponsored legislation to prohibit the use of pesticides in municipal spaces. She has a bachelor’s degree from Smith College and a Master’s in International Policy from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.

Alisa Klein will receive the award at the District 53 Annual Conference in Southbury, CT, on May 11, 2024.

District 53 Toastmasters is an administrative unit of Toastmasters International that supports the Toastmasters clubs in Connecticut and Western Massachusetts, and the Albany, Hudson Valley and upper triangle of New York State. Clubs are open to all adults 18 years of age and older through the payment of membership fees; all members of clubs are members of District 53 Toastmasters. You can find a club near you through the Find a Club feature, or learn how to Start a Club in your community or in your corporate or government environment.

2023-2024 Candidate Showcase Agenda

Posted on April 6, 2024 | by Andrew Watt, DTM

Candidate Showcase

9 April 2024 – 7:00 pm

Chair: Andrew B. Watt, DTM
Past District Director
Co-Chair: Jeff Sobel, DTM
Past International Director
Functionaries
- Sergeant at Arms: John J. Hogan, DTM Immediate Past District Director
- Zoom Master: Norm Thibodeau, DTM
  District Administration Manager
- Zoom Master: Zachary Fisk, PM4
  District Public Relations Manager
- Timer #1: Tom Farrelly, DTM
  District Parliamentarian
- Timer #2: Steve Lanning, DTM
  Area 43 Director, Club Coach Chair

Candidates

District Director: Bettyann Peck
Program Quality Director: Mohan Padamati
Club Growth Director: Jackie Kessler
Division A Director: Melanie Lee
Division B Director: Scott R. Davis
Division C Director:
Division D Director: Stephanie Roy
Division E Director: Elizabeth Keeling

Candidate Biographical Forms can be found on the web at https://d53tm.org/district-officer-candidates/

Presenters:

Morag Mathieson, DTM
- International President 2023-2024
Angela Chute, DTM
- District Director of District 45 2023-2024
Laura St. Louis, DTM
- District Director of District 62 2023-2024
Matthew Storms, IP3
- Club President of West-Conn Toastmasters 2023-2024
- President’s Distinguished Club
Mary Angel, PM3
- Club President of Dutchess County Toastmasters
- Select Distinguished Club

Agenda

Time	Event	Speakers
6:30 pm	Room Opens to All Participants
7:00 pm	Call To Order & Welcome	John J. Hogan
7:02 pm	Opening Remarks by Co-Chairs	Andrew B. Watt Jeff Sobel
7:08 pm	Interviews with Candidates
	District Director candidate	Bettyann Peck – Morag Mathieson, interviewer
	Program Quality Director candidates	Rick May – Angela Chute, interviewer Mohan Padamati – Angela Chute interviewer
	Club Growth Director candidate	Jackie Kessler – Laura St. Louis, interviewer
	Division A Director candidate	Melanie Lee – Mary Angel, interviewer
	Division B Director candidate	Scott E. Davis – Matthew Storms, interviewer
	Division C Director candidate	Rick May – Mary Angel, announcer
	Division D Director candidate	Stephanie Roy – Matthew Storms, interviewer
	Division E Director candidate	Elizabeth Keeling – Mary Angel, announcer
	Including equipment tests and transitions, each candidate should take approximately 5-6 minutes including 4 minutes of timed responses.
8:05 pm	Concluding Remarks by the Co-Chairs	Andrew B. Watt Jeff Sobel
8:15 pm	Adjournment
	Candidate Corner to follow for approximately a half hour, ending no later than 9:00 pm

The Candidate Showcase is a formal annual event at which candidates for District office have an opportunity to show themselves and answer curated questions before an audience.

The Candidate Corner which follows is an informal event at which candidates for District office may meet one-on-one or meet in small groups with interested Toastmasters and engage in dialogue.

Both the Candidate Showcase and Candidate Corner are governed by rules laid down in Protocol 9.0 of the Toastmasters Governing Documents.

Report of the District Leadership Committee

Posted on March 9, 2024 | by Andrew Watt, DTM

Dear Patti Walter, DTM, District Director, and to the District —

The District Leadership Committee has completed its work. I would like to thank the committee members — Richard Frantz, Jr, Steve Lanning, Sharon Mercado, Dave Pelland, Beth Van Kempen —for their dedication and serious attention to the work at hand.

Each year, the District Leadership Committee’s members, representing each of District 53’s Divisions, evaluate the qualifications and interview candidates for the elected roles for the coming program year. As committee chair, I am expected to moderate deliberations and debate, and call a vote on each candidate who is presented — but not to influence the committee’s decision.

The District Leadership Committee interviewed the following candidates, and qualified them to run immediately for these roles as Nominated Candidates (links to their photos and biographical forms here):

for District Director
- Bettyann Peck
for Program Quality Director
- Rick May
- Mohan Padamati
For Club Growth Director
- Jackie Kessler
for Division A Director
- Melanie Lee
for Division B Director
- Scott Davis
for Division C Director
- Rick May
for Division D Director
- Stephanie Roy
for Division E Director
- Elizabeth (Liz) Keeling

The committee met all its deadlines and requirements, with the exception of nominating two (2) candidates for the Club Growth Director role; this makes the report valid but incomplete. As a result, interested floor candidates who meet the requirements of the role, may present their paperwork to the District Director for the role of Club Growth Director in 2024-2025, provided that they do so prior to April 4, 2024 at noon.

All nominated candidates listed in the previous section will be listed on the District website at https://d53tm.org/district-officer-candidates/ by March 10, 2024, along with their photographs and Biographical Information forms.

Respectfully submitted,
Andrew B. Watt, DTM, PDD
interim chair DLC 2023-2024

Communication & Leadership Award 2024

Posted on February 26, 2024 | by Andrew Watt, DTM

• Session 1 Workshops • Conference Page • Session 2 Workshops • Keynote • C&L Award •

Alisa Klein, Executive Director of Grow Food Northampton (GFN), manages and stewards access to farmland and healthy food to create what they call a “local food system” in Hampshire County, Massachusetts. The organization:

Offers 320 organic community garden plots on six acres to provide gardening space to 400 community members;
Leases prime farmland and provides infrastructure and resources to ten small farms on the 121-acre Grow Food Northampton Community Farm;
Manages year-long weekly farmers markets to connect local farms directly with customers;
Runs a free mobile farmers market that, weekly, delivers fresh local produce and other quality ingredients to hundreds of individuals and families grappling with food insecurity and hunger;
Operates a Giving Garden that grows and donates thousands of pounds of organic produce annually to local food pantries and community meal sites; and
Conducts collaborative research projects with academics and others on sustainable and climate resilience-enhancing agricultural practices.

Alisa Klein will receive the award at the District 53 Annual Conference in Southbury, CT, on May 11, 2024.

Alisa Klein,
executive director
Grow Food Northampton

Communication & Leadership Award — The Communication and Leadership Award

The Communication and Leadership Award is given to that non-Toastmaster individual or organization that best exemplifies successful communication and leadership in a district. It is the highest award that Toastmasters gives to non-members. Read more about the award

Growing the Club Growth Team

Posted on February 26, 2024 | by Andrew Watt, DTM

Fellow Toastmasters,

I am happy to introduce you to the Club Growth Team I’ve assembled over the past several months. The Club Growth Team helps me to carry out the District Marketing Plan with the support of District Director Patti Walter, DTM and Program Quality Director, Bettyann Peck, DTM.

Elizabeth Keeling, candidate for District 53 elected officer roles — Kate Scarcella, Club Extension Chair

Kate Scarcella is the Club Extension Chair. In her regular work, she is a Project Director in Renewable Energy at GE Vernova. She is currently serving as the Vice President of Education for Talk It Up Toastmasters in Windsor, CT and has a passion for Continuous Improvement. Toastmaster Scarcella has been appointed as the Club Extension Chair to provide guidance over the Club Sponsor Program and Club Chartering Process to ensure that prospective clubs are chartered successfully and that interested D53 Toastmasters are matched with appropriate Sponsor credit opportunities.

The Club Extension Chair oversees our District’s objectives for growing new clubs, and mentoring them to success. In addition to providing sponsors for prospective clubs, the club extension committee arranges club sponsor credit opportunities for members who seek it.
You can reach Kate at ClubExtChair@d53tm.org if you want to help.

Liz Keeling is now serving as the Club Demo Chair. She joined Toastmasters in November 2017. She is a Project Manager at the New York ISO (NYISO). She is currently serving as Division E Director for the 2023-2024 club year. She is a member of NYISO Toastmasters club and a dual member of the Capital Advanced Toastmasters club. She was awarded District 53 Toastmaster of the Year in 2022-2023 at the Spring District 53 conference. She put together a strong team and organized a Demo Meeting for the prospective members of a new club prior to the club charter.

The Club Demo Committee is responsible for one of the most important aspects of the District’s marketing strategy—qualifying, managing and tracking leads. It also plans and executes the Demo Session prior to chartering a club.
You can reach Liz at clubdemochair@d53tm.org if you want to help sponsor or mentor new clubs.

Steve Lanning is serving as the Club Quality Chair. He has been a Toastmaster since 2014, served as Club President six times, Area Director five times, Division Director twice, and District Administrator once. He is currently a member of three clubs, and all made Distinguished status last year. Steve is currently the District Club Coach Chair with six assigned Coaches, all of whom are working to get their assigned Clubs to Distinguished status this year. Steve’s motto is, ‘Always do the next hard thing, whatever that is for you.”

The Club Quality Committee focuses on establishing a club mentor committee to provide this service through the club mentor program. Club mentors are the advisors and tutors for new clubs and have a great effect on the degree to which a new club succeeds. The Club Quality Committee also helps pair interested coaches with clubs having 12 members or less.
You can reach Steve at clubcoachingchair@d53tm.org if you want to be a Club Coach

Jackie Kessler is serving as the New Source Research Chair through June 2024. She lives near Albany, NY and joined Bethlehem Toaastmasters in January 2016. She has served the club as Vice President Public Relations, Vice President Membership, Vice President Education (two consecutive terms, as D53 transitioned from our legacy learning program to Pathways), President, Immediate Past President, and most recently as Secretary. In addition, she was a charter member of New York State Forum Toastmasters (#6606749).

The Club New Source Research committee works closely with the Club Growth Director to develop the District’s marketing plan, which is a series of steps to help the District grow healthy new clubs. In addition to assisting with the marketing plan, the club new source research chair generates new club leads at the District level.
You can reach Jackie at newsourceresearch@d53tm.org if you have an idea of where to market and advertise our organization.

I hope that, by building teams for Club Growth and Club improvement, we can make our club growth programs successful in the rest of the 2023-2024 program year, and build on that success in 2024-2025. We always must remember that, whatever we do as Toastmasters, we never achieve success alone — it is always in partnership with others.

Yours in Toastmasters Service,
Mohan Padamati, DTM
Club Growth Director 2023-2024.