DD – District 53 Toastmasters

Hello District Members,

Can you believe that it is February already? I hope that the New Year is treating you all well… but this is a busy time of year for everyone, and Toastmasters is no exception!

Our second round of Officer Training is just about to wrap up: If you haven’t attended you can join us on 19 February 2024. If you are an officer, please make attempt to attend a training. It is proven clubs are more successful when their officers attend training. You do not need to be an officer to join us. These sessions are open to all.

Speaking of training… your District trio — Bettyann Peck, Mohan Padamati, and I — attended District Leaders Training the last weekend in January in Dallas, TX! We spent all day Saturday and Sunday working together, and with others across the world, strategizing to have a successful second half of the year! We brainstormed about membership retention, new members, hybrid meetings and business meetings. We had discussions around accountability and reviewed our plans to help YOU achieve success. We even had a snowball fight! I am including a few pictures of our weekend. See if you can find your leaders in the group picture.

Many District leaders from around the United States, together in one room

On top of coordinating training, your PQD Bettyann Peck is working with David Freedman and Richard Peck to bring you a great Annual Conference in May. “Breaking Barriers”. We are fortunate to have Accredited Speaker Sheryl Roush DTM, as our keynote speaker!

All of our Club and Area Level Contests are now over. My thanks to our Area Directors who did a great job recruiting functionaries and judges; a number of people applied their participation in these events toward completion of Pathways goals, too! In all, twenty-three Areas held live, in-person contests, sometimes in conjunction with other Areas — What a great feat! This has not happened since January 2019, before COVID. You can find Area Contest results posted here.

The next step is our Division Contests. Our Division Directors have found facilities to hold their division contests, and a schedule is available here. I hope that you will be able to attend one or two of them. We have some great speakers in our district; I am sure they would love your support. Also, there are many judge and functionary roles that still need to be filled out. Contact your Division Director through their pages (A – B – C – D – E) for more information.

A special thank you to our Chief Judge, Beth VanKempen who has been diligently review all material and ensuring that our Area and District Directors had the proper scripts and paperwork available. Thanks Beth, we appreciate all the time you put into this position.

Our CGD, Mohan Padamati is also busy creating a great team of people to support him with establishing new clubs, and club coaching.

I also would like to take a minute to thank some of your other district team on a great job that they are doing. Eleni Solar has taken on the challenge of being Audit Committee chair. She is working with her team and our District Finance Manager Glendalys Ramos to make sure our finances are all in tack. Our Technical Team, consisting of Public Relations Manager Zachary Fisk and webmaster Andrew B. Watt DTM, work daily to make sure you as members are informed of what is going on in our district and all around us. Thank you Zach for updating the newsletter and for keeping it and our Facebook site up-to-date. Andrew thank you for you quick turnaround to get things posted on the website and also keeping the pages looking fresh.

My special thanks go out to to Immediate Past District Director John J. Hogan DTM for creating and leading the District Leadership Committee by looking for and interviewing candidates to serve as elected district officers for 2024-2025. for next year. It is not to late for anyone who is thinking of taking a leadership position to apply. Is this your next hardest thing??? Information on this can be found here, or reach out to John if you have any questions.

I have always said it takes a village and we have a very special villager, that keeps the Sr. Team on point. He makes sure all our deadlines are met; he does all the pre-work to get our business meetings running smoothly; and he also assists with every district Zoom meeting we have: Norm Thibodeau DTM , thank you for your countless hours you donate to help us all.

The team is looking forward to ending the season strong. Reach out if we can assist you in any way.

Most Sincerely,
Patti Walter DTM
District Director 2023-2024

Dear Fellow District 53 Toastmasters:

There are three things that I wish to communicate with you. Interestingly, they are interrelated.

Of immediate urgency is a phishing scheme that is currently being perpetrated on some other districts across the globe. I have posted a screenshot of the phishing letter at right. This communication purports to be sent by District Directors to the Toastmasters of their districts, soliciting funds through the purchase of gift cards. To be absolutely clear, if you receive one of these solicitations, do not respond to it. Do not forward it. Delete it. Do not purchase gift cards in response to it. Additionally, know that Districts are not permitted to spend your funds on gift cards other than to the Toastmasters store.

We do have other resources to access, though, and you as members have a say in how they get used! At the District 53 Fall Council Business Meeting, we’ll be examining the budget of District 53 for the 2022-23 program year. ~~The Business Meeting will be conducted on Thursday, September 22, 6:30-9:30pm~~. Due to technical difficulties with the budget software and the District Success Plan, the Fall District Council Business meeting has been rescheduled to October 27, 2022, from 6:30 – 8:30 pm. All Club Presidents and VPEs, and all DEC members (Division and Area Directors, and senior team) are expected to attend as voting representatives. The meeting is open to interested Toastmasters. On the agenda are the following items.

Approval of the May 2022 District Council meeting minutes.
Approval of the final 2021-2022 Financial Audit.
Approval of the 2022-2023 District Budget.
Approval of the 2022-2023 District Success Plan (DSP).
Confirmation of appointed 2022-2023 District Officers.

How do we get money for the District Budget? A portion of your bi-annual dues come back to the District to pay for the programs, services, and incentives that we offer to each member and all clubs in our District. When you pay your dues on time, it helps us maintain the services your club’s officers draw on to fulfill your club mission, and the mission ff the whole organization! The October 1 Membership Renewal Campaign helps make sure Dues arrive at World Headquarters (WHQ) by this date. Club Growth Director Bettyann Peck has put together an exciting incentive package to reward those clubs who attain certain paid membership levels by the Earlybird date of September 15. Check the District Newsletter that was sent out on August 29. If you are a gmail user, and cannot locate the newsletter in the Inbox, check the Promotions folder.

In Toastmasters service,
John J. Hogan, DTM
D53 District Director 2022-2023

Tag: DD

February Update from the DD

District Director’s Letter- (8/31/22)