D53 Sr. Team goes to training...

Last weekend (12/4-12/6), District 53's Sr. Team (Marsha, Richard and Dave) went to Regional Training where they learned lots and picked up a ton of ideas that will help our district over the coming months.

In addition, there is a tradition at the regional training that each district's Sr.Team will create and perform a skit after the evening dinner. This year, D53 did a parody on the Bravo TV network's show, "Inside the Actors Studio with James Lipton". We had Richard Peck playing the part of James Lipton and Marsha Kiley as the "star" being interviewed. (Dave Wheeler created the clips and ran the audio video.)

While we did not videotape the whole skit, we can pass along the video clips that were used within the skit. The embedded video below features our Intl. Directors, Heath & Annelie...

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Here are the links to all the "film clips" we used...

Holiday Greetings from the Region 7 Intl. Directors (in case the embedded video above did not work for you).

Christmas Story featuring Kristen & Dan

Halloween (we used this as a promo on YouTube.com for our Fall 2009 Conference). This link is to the YouTube video which includes text overlaid on the video with information about the conference. Be sure you have "annotations" turned on when you watch it (so you will get the "full effect").

Its a Wonderful Life (featuring our friends from D31)

The D53 Xmas Dancers featuring Marsha, Dave and Richard.

These were all made using JibJab.com if you want to play around with it yourself.

I am also working on a "YouTube Channel" for District 53 and that is where I will be loading up the "Why Toastmasters?" videos. (They should be there soon.)

Holiday Greetings !
Dave Wheeler
D53 LGET, 2009-10
Move Forward !

Midwinter training starts NOW !

The start of Mid-Winter Officer Training 2008-09 is Dec. 1st and the first training event was held last Saturday afternoon at the Russell Library in Middletown, CT.

This training event was held in conjunction with the monthly D53 Executive Committee meeting and the training included sessions on "Building A Club", "Marketing on the Web", "SpeechCraft", "Getting TM on radio & TV" and much more. A "Case Study Exercise" was also included in the training and Springfield Toastmasters had 3 officers in attendence who volunteered to be the "featured club".

Case Study Approach:
The Case Study Exercise consisted of an interview with the featured club's officers so that all the other officers in attendence could learn about the history, challenges and practices used by the featured club.

After the opening interview, the audience was broken into two groups and given about 20 minutes to brainstorm 1) the challenge(s) / issue(s) / key problem that the featured club is facing and 2) come up with some suggestions.

After the 20 minutes working session, each group presented their "recommendations" in a 3-5 minute speech. This was followed with a final interview with the featured club's officers to get their reaction to the suggestions.

Here is a quote from one of the featured club's officers ...

"From my perspective, the exercise in which we participated was really valuable. It gave us some ideas and now we will implement those ideas. I am hopeful that we can infuse some enthusiasm into the club moving forward. ... Attending [training] provides an opportunity to meet other Toastmasters from around the region, the officers at all levels, and to gain information that otherwise might get missed. I can’t wait to go back to the club and share."

Pictures: (from top to bottom)

• District Governor Karin von Kaenel served as Toastmaster for the EC meeting as well as the MidWinter Training session.
  
• Dave Wheeler, Lt.Gov.-Marketing, explains the Case Study Exercise.
  
• Case Study Presentation #2
  
• Case Study Presentation #1
  
• Featured club officers from Springfield Toastmasters

Did you know...
Midwinter training does not just apply to club officers. The Sr. Leadership team for District 53 spent most of last weekend in New Jersey for training alongside district officers from all the other districts in our region (Region 7).

Ideas the Sr. Team brought back....

• How to better serve our members
• What are Toastmaster protocols and how do they help improve your Toastmasters experience
• Better transitions from year to year
• Training ideas for Division Governors and Area Governors
• Ways to involve more Toastmasters in leadership
• MORE FUN ! (you will have to come to a district event to see what this means!)

When are you going to Midwinter Training? Check out the district 53 website (http://www.district53toastmasters.org/) for more details or contact your Division or Area Governor for training dates in your local area.

Be The Change You Want To See!

Division A Mid-Winter Officer Training & Networking event

The first (of two) Division A
Mid-Winter Officer Training & Networking event has been scheduled!


Date:
Tuesday January 22, 2008

Time:
Setup at 6:30pm (Area & Div. Governors)
Meeting at 7pm (and done before 9pm)


Location:
Stony Hill Fire Department
59 Stony Hill Road,
Bethel, CT 06801

See map below...


View Larger Map