Potential meeting theme?

I listened to Barack Obama's inaugural address at lunch time last week and had an idea for your next Toastmasters meeting ...

What if you could "recreate" the inaugural address with each member presenting a portion of the text? Members could evaluate each other (and the content of the speech) afterwards.

If you do it, be sure to get the word out to the local newspapers and get some publicity for Toastmasters. It would be bit of a challenge, but then again, we are Toastmasters!

Here is a site with the full text ...

http://www.businesspundit.com/obamas-inaugural-address-full-text/

What do you think? Does it sound like it could be fun?

If you do end up using this idea at your club... be sure to submit it at the D53 Meeting Themes wiki (pictures would be great too!).

Dave Wheeler

D53 LGM, 2008-9
Be The Change You Want T0 See!

Quote from http://www.barackobama.com/...

" I'm asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington ... I'm asking you to believe in yours." - Barack Obama

Promote Your Club online ... and earn $ towards Spring Conference!

Subject:
Promote Your Club online ... and earn $ towards Spring Conference!

Greetings District 53 Toastmasters !

The D53 Sr.Team (Karin, Marsha and myself) have been thinking about what types of actions would help clubs boost membership and one key area that we see many clubs missing is their "Online Presence".

Over the past few years we have improved the number of clubs who have web sites (which definitely helps) but few are taking advantage of some of the other PR avenues online such as Craigslist or Backpage.

Here is the BIG NEWS....
To encourage clubs to place their meeting information online, we have created a way for each club in district 53 to get a $5 discount toward registration at the upcoming D53 Spring Conference on April 25th by putting their meeting information on just 3 sites.

We have created a half-page, double-sided flyer with more details, including step-by-step directions that can be downloaded by clicking here or the link below.http://www.notewordy.com/PDFs/SprintProgram09-OnlinePR_half-pg-flyer.pdf

Only one discount per club will be awarded so be sure to get your club listed online soon and send an email with your links to the address in the flyer. Submissions for the discount are on a first-come, first-served basis.

Our goal is to increase the visibility of every local Toastmasters club in our district (while also encouraging them to attend the Spring conference). The timing of this promotion should also help clubs increase membership as they enter the next "Sprint Program" in February & March ( Talk Up Toastmasters).

What about Closed Clubs?
We thought about that too. Since closed clubs can only draw from a particular company it does not make sense for them to put their meeting info. on these 3 internet sites... but we have a related idea for how they could earn a $5 discount to the Spring Conference as well. Details about this addition to the Online Promo will be announced on Jan.26.

We look forward to seeing many new guests at your Toastmasters club in the next couple months !

Let me know if you have any questions.

Dave Wheeler
D53 LGM, 2008-9
Be The Change You Want To See !

How can we encourage more CCs?

On a recent conference call the question was asked,
"How do we encourage members to complete their CC's (Competent Communicator award)?".

Karin von Kaenel, our District Governor, responded with a reference to an article one of our past International Presidents, Dilip A., wrote entitled "Twelve Ways To Encourage Members To Present Manual Speeches".

Please visit his website at http://www.drdilip.com/toastmaster_tips.html and you will see the article there.

Of course, the other option is to run a speech-a-thon which I'm suggesting all AGs try now in January, again in April and in June.

Please let me know if you have any questions, suggestions and, of course, great results!!

Thank you for your help in making sure members are experiencing growth opportunities.

Marsha Kiley

D53 LGET, 2008-9

How can we also boost membership with Speech-a-thons?

• Promote them as special events (which they are) and invite the general public.
• Invite a local politician or celebrity as the keynote speaker (and publicize the event).
• If you can't get someone famous, you could invite one of the senior team to speak. (We are all working on CC's too!)
• Use it as a "Toastmasters rally" for multiple clubs in an area. (The added enthusiasm will pump up all club meetings that follow.)
• Include a manual speech about membership building, mentoring or some other Toastmasters topic so attendees take home some club building information.
• Think of 3 more ways to boost membership through a Speech-a-thon. (I know you can do it!)

Any upcoming special scheduling opportunities?
There are a bunch of clubs that meet on Wednesday nights (either the 1st & 3rd or 2nd & 4th Wed.) and there are months that have FIVE Wednesdays (e.g. April). This means there is an extra meeting opportunity ... or the perfect time for a Speech-a-thon !

How many speechathons can we have on April 29th? It will be the week after the Spring conference and it could be a great time maintain the momentum and excitement from the conference!

Happy Toastmastering in 2009 !

Dave Wheeler
D53 LGM, 2008-9

Be The Change You Want To See!
http://www.district53toastmasters.org/

Div.A Toastmasters in-the-News !

Hats off to Carmine Coco De Young!

Carmine, the VP-PR for WestConn Toastmasters, recently got the article pictured to the right placed in a local paper.


The article was primarily about Dave Wheeler's recent DTM award but it also included a number of quotes as well as a view into many aspects of Toastmasters that should be of interest to prospective new members.



Carmine included a photograph (which improved the chances that the story would be run) and made personal contact with the people at the paper so that she had a good idea what they were looking for in an article!

For a copy of the article from the Wed. Jan16th, New Fairfield Citizen newspaper (in PDF format), click here.

For more information about WestConn Toastmasters, check out their website at http://www.westconntoastmasters.org/.