District 53 is pleased to announce the formation of the District Leadership Committee (DLC), seeking candidates for the offices of District Director, Program Quality Director, Club Growth Director, and the five Division Directors.
Jeff Sobel, DTM PID will lead the DLC as its chair.
Representing the divisions are:
Division A: Janice Dimock, DTM
Division B: Jennifer Cimilluca, DTM
Division C: Bette McIntire, DTM, PDD
Division D: Akihiro Ishii, DTM, PDD
Division E: Jim Parsons, DTM
Interested members, and members wishing to nominate another member to candidacy, should send inquiries to nominations@d53tm.org, which will be forwarded to Jeff Sobel and distributed to the committee. Please review the necessary steps at the District Leadership Committee page.
Looking to help your club members reach their goals?
Are you are feeling alone?
Are you looking for help and support?
Look no further!
The Club Excellence Series is coming your way to give you the resources and encouragement you need to help your club succeed!
The first meeting on Dec 3, 2024 at 8PM Eastern on Zoom is for those willing to be the leaders, encouragers and presenters to lead the club officers toward excellence! If you can commit to just three 1- hour meetings over the next six months, please join us to map out the list of volunteers and presenters as we guide club officers and members through the Moments of Truth program, a social media workshop, and important stories of success and recommendations club officers to achieve Success!
This series will provide club officers and members the tools they need to succeed, including important insights from the Moments of Truth series, as well as an exciting presentation from Michael Whitehouse about How to Manage Social Media, and much more!
The journey for a new club officer can feel lonely, but we don’t want it to be. We’re building a supportive community of experienced Toastmasters who are committed to motivating you towards success and sharing the wisdom of their experiences. Having a group to provide accountability, encouragement, and support through the more challenging phases is invaluable. Plus, the networking opportunities are substantial—you’ll be among peers who are also working toward success, and who can offer advice and insights from their own experiences.
Stay tuned for updates, and direct questions to Jim Ault at AD-E54@d53tm.org if you’d like to get involved or have questions!
Join us for any or all of these dates!
Tuesday 3 December 2024, 8:00 pm: Organizing Committee Meets
Tuesday 10 December 2024, 8:00 pm: Moments of Truth, Pillar 1 = First Impressions
Tuesday 14 January 2025, 8:00 pm: Moments of Truth, Pillar 2 = Membership Orientation
Tuesday 11 February 2025, 8:00 pm: Special Guest Michael Whitehouse – How to Manage Social Media
Tuesday 11 March 2025, 8:00 pm: Moments of Truth, Pillar 3 = Fellowship, Variety and Communication
Tuesday, 8 April 2025, 8:00 pm: Moments of Truth, Pillar 4 = Program Planning and Meeting Orientation
Tuesday 6 May 2025, 8:00 pm: Moments of Truth, Pillar 5 = Membership Strength
Tuesday, 10 June 2025, 8:00 pm: Moments of Truth, Pillar 6 = Achievement Recognition
Jim Ault joined the GE Niskayuna Toastmasters Club in Mar 2011, and achieved Competent Communicator in Nov 2012.
Jim Ault, Area E53 Director 2024-25
He joined the KAPL Toastmasters Club in Nov 2013, and has served in many club officer roles including SAA, Secretary, VP-PR and President in 2023-2024. He recently organized Speechcraft Training Classes with 8 students and 10 mentors at KAPL in April 2024.
James is now serving as Area Director for E54 for 2024-2025. As part of a High Performance Leadership project he is seeking to encourage and equip club officers and members to achieve excellence in their clubs and their personal Toastmasters journey.
Michael Whitehouse is a seasoned communicator, entrepreneur, and networking expert with a passion for empowering others to amplify their message. Known primarily as a networking expert as The Guy Who Knows a Guy, Michael has also been leveraging the power of social media and email for mass communication since 1998. First using LiveJournal, then getting on this new thing called The Facebook when it became available to the public, he has been building connections and fostering engagement long before the era of hashtags and viral trends.
Michael brings over two decades of experience in creating impactful communication strategies. As an experienced Toastmaster and a trusted guide for entrepreneurs, he brings practical, actionable insights to this session.
District 53 is seeking 12 members to serve as club coaches. If you’re looking to tackle a High-Performance Leadership (HPL) project as a Level 5 requirement/elective, a Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) project as a capstone for your Pathways goals, or other leadership elective projects for Levels 3–5, sign up today!
What is a club coach? What do they do?
Individuals in this crucial role are experienced Toastmasters members who assist clubs in rebuilding club membership and restoring club quality. If you’re working in the Pathways paths of Dynamic Leadership, Motivational Strategies, Persuasive Influence, or Visionary Communication, you could be a great fit as a club coach!
Your job is…
Build rapport with club officers and members
Instill enthusiasm, camaraderie, and structure within the club
Assess the club environment and recommend best practices for success
Work with club officers to develop a Club Success Plan
Motivate the club to strive for Distinguished Club Program (DCP) recognition
Who can be a club coach?
If you are a paid member in good standing, have been a member for one year or longer, have served as a club officer for one annual term (or two semiannual terms), and have completed at least Levels 1 and 2 in any path, you can be a club coach!
Why be a club coach?
Serving as a club coach is a great way to gain experience, grow your knowledge, and feel a sense of fulfilment. Benefits include:
Personal Growth: Refine your speaking and leadership skills
Leadership Development: Build such skills as facilitation, active listening, critical thinking, and motivation
Networking Opportunities: Connect with club members from a wide variety of backgrounds
Community Impact: Make a positive impact on the community by helping members develop their public speaking, communication, and leadership skills
Be a Star! Share Your Experiences With Fellow Toastmasters
For the District 53 Annual Conference, among our methods of marketing, we will be using videos to promote the. event. We are looking for District 53 members to contribute by being some of our videographers and get their own thoughts and reaction reactions about past District 53 conferences they have attended, and the reactions of other members. Just. short snippets – about 10-15 seconds each member!
Anyone can be the next Steven Spielberg or Martin Scorsese and start working towards that Emmy!
Follow these three easy steps:
Once you determine someone has attended a District 53 conference, please let them know that their video will most likely be part of a conference promotional video and posted to the District 53 website and District 53 social media and confirm that it is acceptable.
Take a short video of that person talking about District 53 conferences. You may ask any question(s), including the examples below. For context, please include the question in the video. There is no limit to. the number of videos you can upload.
Please make the filename the person on camera. If there is more than one person in the video, name it where it was taken (club name, contest, etc.).
Please email the name and club to District 53 Annual Conference 2025 Video Promotion Chair, David Freedman, DTM (dsfreedman@gmail.com).
Do you need sample questions? Try these:
“What did you like about the District 53 Conference(s) you’ve attended?”
“Why would you recommend fellow members attend future District 53 Conferences?”
“What was your favorite part(s) of the conferences you attended?”
“What gets you to attend District 53 Conferences?”
“What are your top 3 events during the day at any District 53 conference you attended?”
You can send one video with multiple people in it – there is no size limit on uploads.
Videos might become part of several montages that will be used throughout the year to promote the conference! Watch them to find the secret clue! Look for it in the District 53 Newsletter! If you have any questions and/or ideas on how we can use video to promote the conference please reach out to David Freedman (dsfreedman@gmail.com).
We appreciate your contributions to making our annual District 53 Conference a huge success!
Rule 3 in the Speech Contest Rulebook for 2024-2025, on page 9, gives Districts permission to make slight adjustments to which contestants advance at the Area and Division levels, based on how many clubs are in each Area, or based on how many Areas are in each Division. This has been true for many years.
District 53’s District Executive Committee (DEC) makes this determination annually at its August meeting. These rules interpretations should be applied consistently across all Divisions and Areas throughout the 2024-2025 contest season.
Here are this year’s interpretations.
Area Contests (Rule 3.B, page 9)
If an Area has four or fewer clubs, each club in that Area can send two (2) contestants for each contest to the Area Contest.
As of this writing, this rule applies to:
In Division A
Area 11
Area 12
Area 13
Area 15
In Division B
Area 21
Area 22
Area 23
Area 24
In Division C
Area 31
Area 34
In Division D
Area 41
Area 42
Area 43
In Division E
Area 55
If a new club charters in an Area with only four clubs in it prior to the Area Contest, the clubs in that Area are still allowed to send two contestants to the Area Contest.
Division Contests (Rule 3.B.2, p. 9)
If a Division has four or fewer Areas, each Area in that Division can send two (2) contestants for each contest to the Division Contest.
As of this writing this rule applies to
Division C
Division D
In any case, only one (1) contestant in each contest will advance from each Division Contest to the District Contest.
Clubs should award their own certificates or trophies
The District will provide certificates to the Area, Division and District level contestants, and trophies to the Area, Division and District level winners.
Chief Judge/Contest Chair:
The District Chief Judge (DCJ) for 2024-2025 is Nathan Jaycox.
Please take appropriate steps to communicate to all the stakeholders i.e. Club Members, Club Officers, Area Directors, Division Directors, Senior Leaders and Committee Chairs & members.
Please let us know if you need additional information or we missed anything.
Regards,
Mohan Padamati, DTM Program Quality Director 2024-2025 Toastmasters District 53 | Region 5 |
The Pathways BaseCamp system will be down beginning Wednesday 9 October 2024, and is expected to return to operations on 26 October 2024.
Members have been asking for a number of updates to the Basecamp system, and we’re all excited to see what rolls out at the end of October!
You can visit Basecamp today and download the printable/PDF forms of your current projects and goals, and keep working in your Path all through this month. Ask your VPE for assistance with this task if you need to.
District 53 will also update this message with a link to new information as it becomes available to us.
In the meantime, please access the following resources to help you continue to work toward your goals:
Ice Breaker – Get started with the first Pathways project.
Evaluations – Download evaluation resources for most Pathways projects.
Moments of Truth – Need something to do during a meeting? This guide will help the overall health of your club while providing a speaking opportunity and learning experience.
Save the Date: 3 August 2024, 9 – 10 am District Town Hall Proxy Meeting!
Each year, your District Director, along with club presidents and club secretaries who attend the Annual Business Meeting during International Convention, vote your clubs’ wishes on each item on the business meeting Agenda. This includes voting for next year’s International Directors, and the Second Vice President of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors.
On August 3 this year from 9:00 to 10:00 am, District 53 officers will host a roundtable proxy discussion, to hear about the candidates, discuss member opinions, and get feedback about the agenda items and candidates, so that they best know how to exercise your proxy at Convention and the Business Meeting.
Webmaster and Past District Director (2020-21) Andrew B. Watt DTM created these presentations to help address some challenges that clubs were facing, to be used as part of club officer training in June-August 2024.
Due to Andrew’s own technical limitations, these are the only formats in which these presentations are available. Please contact the webmaster if you’d like to see these presented by their originator to your club or District-sanctioned club officer training.
Every year, July 1 brings an end to the old Toastmasters program year, and the start of a new one. Club officers change over — district officers change over — the website needs a revamp. Information once settled needs to be hidden away while it’s reviewed and edited to reflect current priorities.
Please give us until roughly July 12-18 to be fully up to speed.
In the meantime, District senior team email forwarders are working, and you can reach out to the 2024-2025 team immediately.
Sincerely, your volunteer website team at Toastmaster District 53
