Category: Div C Director

A message or missive from the Division C Director gets this category, and only this category.

Spring Blooms

Posted on | 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!

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

Division C Results 2023-2024

Posted on | by Webmaster

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:

  1.  Linkesh Diwan
  2. Aimee Soucy

International:

  1. Jerry Aiyathurai
  2. Kevin Finn 
  3. Silva Abadjian 
  4. Satish Sangappa

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

January Update

Posted on | by Andrew Watt, DTM

Greetings Division C Area Directors, Officers, and Club Members,

It’s now halfway through the Toastmasters year.  I am proud of our five Area Directors and the division’s clubs, and the members who have achieved Pathways designations in the first half of the year.  Let me also congratulate the Area Directors, who completed their first round of club visits on November 30, and are getting ready for the second round of visits.

Officer Training sessions are still going on with 2 more sessions left.  Every club needs to get at least 4 officers trained before February 28/29, 2024.  You can also find training in other districts if you miss these dates; just be sure that our Program Quality Director learns of your attendance from the other District’s leadership!

Area Speech Contests – I’m happy to report that all Area Contests in Division C were completed on 1/10/24.  Congratulations to the winners!  

Special thanks and recognition go to Sugan Kumar, Area 33 Director, who organized the contest initially for Area 33 and ended up adding Areas 32, 34 and 35.  I’m proud to say that all the Area Directors attended the contests and played key roles in making the contests successful.   Special thanks to One State Street Toastmasters club members who assisted too. Results for the Area Contests are posted here.

The Division C Contests, in conjunction with the Division B Contests (refer to D53 website for more details), will take place on 9 March 2024 at Manchester Church of Christ; the contest gavel comes down at 9 am! I’m grateful to Katie Vrabel, Area 32 Director, for agreeing to serve as chief judge (a32dir@d53tm.org); and to Paul Randolph, DTM for acting as contest chair. Please contact me at divcdir@d53tm.org, or Division B Director Ebru Unal at divbdir@d53tm.org, for answers to general questions.

 Membership Dues season is almost upon us, with a deadline of March 31, 2024 for payment of the second dues from each club. Corporate clubs should get a head-start if their company’s finance office pays the dues of any members of their club, to ensure a successful on-time payment.

Finally, plan to attend the District 53 Annual Conference on May 10-11, 2024, at the Heritage Conference Center in Southbury, Connecticut. You’ll be able to see the end of the contest sequence, attend the Toastmasters District 53 business meeting, and participate in some great workshops on speaking and leadership.

Meet your goals in 2024!

Yours in Toastmasters service,
Selina Tourjee,
Division C Director 2023-2024

Happy New Year for Division C!

Posted on | by Webmaster

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