OCL application submitted?

Just a reminder....


Today (June 30th, 2008) is the LAST DAY to postmark (or fax) your application for an Old CL award (OCL). The information below should help ....

What if you are filling out the form and don't remember the date when you went to officer training?
From our incoming District Governor, Karin von Kaenel, ...

When the club officer attends training, the AG will send an email to the LGET, letting the LGET know the club officer was trained (our incoming LGET is Marsha Kiley).
The LGET will then go into the TI website and report that "officer xyz" was trained.
All TI knows is that the officer was trained
- in summer of 2006 (i.e. between June 1 and August 31)
- or in winter of 2006/2007 (i.e. between Dec. 1 and Feb. 28).
TI doesn't know the exact date. Therefore it should be good enough if the OCL application has "summer 2006" or "winter 2006/2007" in that date field.

From a TM site in the UK...
TI's FAX: 1 949-858-1207
ADDRESS: Toastmasters International
Member Services Department - Education Awards
P.O. Box 9052
Mission Viejo, CA 92690-9052 USA
EMAIL: educationawards@toastmasters.org

'OLD CL' REQUIREMENTS
* Achieved Competent Communicator award (or "old" Competent Toastmaster award)
* Served at least six months as a club officer (President, Vice President Education, Vice President Membership, Vice President Public Relations, Secretary, Treasurer or Sergeant at Arms) and participated in the preparation of a Club Success Plan while serving in this office
* While serving in the above office, participated in a District-sponsored Club Officer Training programme
* Conducted any two programmes from: The Successful Club Series and/or The Leadership Excellence Series
NOTE: Success Communication, Success Leadership, Youth Leadership and The Better Speaker Series programs do not qualify. Programs may not be those completed for previous awards.

The old Competent Leader award is not the same as Advanced Leader Bronze because for the latter you also need to have completed the new Competent Leadership manual. However once you have the old CL you can proceed straight on to do Advanced Leader Silver.

If you have any problems or questions submitting today, please send an email to Dave Wheeler at theshot93 [at] gmail.com. If you would like to add general clarification, please use the comment feature of this blog!

Nana Danso places 2nd at Regional contest

All 8 contestants for the International Speech Contest at the Regional Conference on Saturday June 28th, 2008.













Nana is awarded the second place trophy by (l-r) Kristin Nicholson, Chris Ford and Val Albert.









Incoming Area A4 Governor, Andre White, with Nana Danso after the contest (below).

Nana with the other two winners from the International Speech Contest...
(l-r)David Flowers, second runner-up, Katherine Morrison, 1st, and Nana.

Dilbert as a Toastmasters recruiting tool?

It seems that Dilbert is a prime candidate for Toastmasters!

If you would like to send this comic strip to someone you can either send them a link to this blog post or have them check out the June 7th strip at Dilbert.com!

Your friend Dave Wheeler wanted us to send you this from Dilbert.com.

What can you find on Dilbert.com? Color Dilbert strips every day Dilbert Archives Rank the strips and save your faves Animated Dilbert Share Dilbert with all your friends & fellow cubemates Widgets to post to facebook, MySpace, iGoogle, blogs and more See if you are as funny as Scott Adams with new Mashups! IT'S ALL FREE! What are you waiting for? DID WE MENTION IT'S FREE?

Tell me more about the new Dilbert.com This email is generated from Dilbert.com and sent to you by Dave Wheeler This does not subscribe you to any emails from Dilbert.com. Dilbert ©2008 United Feature Syndicate, Inc. 200 Madison Avenue 4th floor, NYC, NY 10016

P.S. Do we have any Toastmasters clubs that meet at 6 o'clock? That would be too much of a coincidence !

Looking for Division webmasters and a new head webmaster

From:
Karin von Kaenel, LGET 07-08
& incoming District Governor, '08-09

Subject:
Looking for Division webmasters and a new head webmaster

Our current webmaster has expressed his interest to pass on the torch and so we're looking for

- a head webmaster

- 6 Division webmasters

The job of the webmaster has been too time consuming for most people. This is an opportunity to split up the responsibilities in a way that benefits all.

If each Division takes care of their own Division pages, we get the following advantages:

- more people get to be webmasters

- the Divisions get faster turn around time on updates and they have more freedom in designing their web pages

- the head webmaster's job is made easier

- the turn around time for changes to the overall website are faster

Are you interested in either one of these jobs?

If yes, please let me know.

If not, please find somebody else in your Division who'd be interested and let me know.

Thanks a bunch for your help!

Have a great week!

Karin von Kaenel

Realignment & Next Year's Division A officers

If case anyone is wondering what Division A will look like next year ('08-'09)...

The picture to the right shows the realignment that was approved during the Business Meeting at the recent Spring Conference.

In addition, Alison Easton was elected to the position of Division A Governor ... Congratulations Alison !

Next year's Area Governors in Division A will include...

A1 - Dan Coots, The Bureaucrats Club

A2 - Janice Brickwood, BI Toastmasters

A3 - Mike LaFountain, Catskill Toastmasters

A4 - Andre White, WestConn TM and BI Toastmasters.

In addition, Dave Wheeler was elected to move from current Div.A Governor to the District Lt.Governor-Marketing ... so he will still be around in case anyone has any questions !

Please look for this group of leaders at upcoming events in Division A (e.g. TLI at Marist College on July 19th).

We look forward to another great A-TEAM !

Topic: DCP Crunch

From guest blogger,
Mike Finn, Div.E Governor, 2007-08..

Discussion:
The month of June brings with it a flood of educational needs to be met in order to achieve DCP points. Historically, club officers have underestimated the time required to satisfy the educational “needs” for their members who can achieve awards, and at the same time, satisfy points for the clubs’ DCP status.

Here are a few techniques/ shortcuts/procedures that you can use to get those extra DCP points, while at the same time providing an opportunity for your members to excel...

Speechathons:
Very popular at the end of the fiscal year! Pick a night, or day; sign-up your members who want/need to give speeches (or Club Success modules – for “Old” CL credit); be prepared to have a worthwhile 1-3 hour meeting where upwards of 10-30 members get credit for speeches. This can be done as a joint effort between clubs – the more, the merrier! All you need is a speaker, an evaluator, and a timer. The speakers can rotate through the other two positions after they’ve spoken (allowing them max time for preparation and soul-searching). Evaluations are done in writing (not orally), and can be informal after the meeting or on break. Great venue for those long AC speeches, too!

“Old” CL:
This award is grandfathered until June 30th only. The award must be submitted hardcopy (snail-mail, or fax) to TI. Every member who has been (or will be by June 30th) a club officer with 6 months under his/her belt, should get this. Requirements: 6 months as club officer (documented, at any time with TI); have received CC, or CTM; gave 2 Club Success modules (name of module and date given). If you have an officer who has not received his/her CL, and has/will have CC, finish the requirements for this award. Every “qualified” person should get this award before it goes away! Here are the forms (page 1... page 2).

DCP Points:
Many clubs struggle to get DCP points (any that they can get). If you have “absolutely” ruled out the possibility of achieving the next DCP category (ie: Distinguished requires 5 points; Select Distinguished requires 7 points; President’s Distinguished requires 9 points), “bag” an educational award until after July 1st – only if the member doesn’t mind. It is a very positive incentive for the incoming club officers knowing that there are several CC’s/CL’s/AC’s waiting to be registered with TI.

Membership:
No matter how many DCP points you’ve accumulated, none count unless your membership numbers allow you to qualify. You must have 20 or more members, OR, be 5 members over base (see your club DCP report for base number). Base membership is that number that you had on the books at the last renewal period prior to the current fiscal year (for our purposes right now, that’s April 1st, 2007).

A few approaches to getting new members ASAP are:

1. Open houses: Always applicable! Prospective members are everywhere! Keep it simple, advertise, canvass, talk-it-up!
   
2. Prospect letters: Send several letters per week to major employers in your area, offering a program that would be beneficial to their employees. No pressure – just a “steak vs, sizzle” approach! Costs less than $1 per week! One “influencer” could reap many members.
   
3. Flyers, business cards, PR pieces in newspapers – keep them current, ongoing, and allow the entire membership to be involved in marketing.
   
4. Applications ready - When you get the new prospect for a visit, do the application immediately – for this month. Explain how critical it is for him/her to be a member before the new term starts (jumpstart the “year”, interface from the beginning with new officers, get the “lay of the land” from old officers, etc.).
   
5. Final month membership-blitz: Have a contest! Award some “goodies” for most members brought in, and applied.

When all is said and done, chances are that you got some benefit from your “DCP Crunch”. Let every member share in the club’s good fortune. Publicize your efforts, get everyone on the bandwagon, and reap the rewards.

Also, DO NOT FORGET TO SEND IN THE “NEW” OFFICER LIST TO TI – before June 30th!

Good Luck!!!!

Mike Finn
Div.E Governor, 2007-8
6/3/08