Eugene Sicat 
Call for District Leaders Call for Area Director We are still looking for Area Directors to lead some areas in Divisions C, E & F. As Area Director, you serve a vital role in Toastmasters. Of all District leaders, you are the closest to clubs and members and are a direct link between them and the Division and District. It’s a rewarding role with many responsibilities. During your term you will do the following: Visit every club in your area …
New Beginning Kudos to all our leaders who have taken a new role or are continuing similar positions in our district. We cannot thank you enough for doing this. Some of us could still be wondering, “How can we live up to the expectation?”, or even “Where do we start?” or “How can we keep to this?”.I can share this excerpt below from one of my favourite movies “Forrest Gump” as this has helped me in many of the journeys …
Reflecting On The Conference Our conference this past weekend was a success. All the attendees had fun and learned a lot. Starting with our keynote speaker on Friday night – Past International Director (PID) Sharon Hill, on her “Just Say Yes.” It was fascinating, entertaining, and very familiar. I can relate to her journey, especially how I always welcome the challenge of moving forward. It reminds me of the quote from Mark Twain that I always apply, “The secret of getting …
Your Town Hall It is challenging to navigate through contentious topics, and we tend to shy away from them to avoid any headaches or woes; however, as leaders, we owe it to our members to face it and bring it out in the open. Discussions can quickly become arguments, with people choosing sides. However, asking questions will create a bridge of understanding and respect. Sometimes, another person will recognize your sincerity and want to understand their perspectives and sentiments. This …
Upcoming Motion Regarding Contests Focus efforts on strengthening existing clubs and building new clubs supporting club leaders For some years now, we have been continuing to hold our Fall Contest even though TI advised, on July 1, 2018, the cancellation of the Fall Conference. The Board approved the directors’ decision in August 2017 with the primary objective of focusing on opportunities that better support club leaders through consistent, high-quality training. This encompasses the contests that we are required to hold, which is the International Speech Contest during the Spring Conference. Please see this snippet below from TI’s August 20-22, 2017 meeting …
Status of Club Officer Training Highlights: 46.28% of officers trained See detailed status here. 7 out of 7 incentive We have 6 clubs that have achieved 7 officers trained during the 1st and the 2nd round of training. Congratulations to the exceptional, extraordinary, and excellent work from the following clubs: We are truly proud of you. You set an outstanding example for our district. Worth to mention other clubs that were close to achieving it where they have achieved 7 of 7 during …
Time Management Tips That Work There are so many valuable and excellent articles in TI. Here is another one that I read recently on “Tips for Time Management“. It talked about several techniques, from: Creating a Time Audit, Having a Power Hour, Batching similar tasks together, Rating tasks based on importance or difficulty and organizing your day accordingly; Creating routines, Setting time limits to get things done, and Challenging to put a time limit on tasks. I particularly like 3 of …
Leadership Is About Behavior, Not Titles I read this article – Leadership Is About Behavior, Not Titles – last year and have been thinking about it and applying it since then. I wanted to know if I ever fall into the category of being a leader for the title. I never really understood the difference during my early years in leadership at work, but I think I fell more into that category during those years (not easy for me to admit). …
Upcoming events and initiatives We made the first half of our Toastmasters period with all our members’ participation and perseverance. We are grateful for doing what you do to make our district outstanding. Upcoming events and initiatives: Leadership Training: We have the Leadership training scheduled in our district, and you can check our Events Calendar (link) for the details and registration. The training dates are: Jan 20, Feb 4, and Feb 22 Alternatively, suppose none of those schedules fits, you can …
Club Fitness Award Recipients At the time we are writing this article, we have identified some of the clubs in our district that have achieved the Club Fitness Award. With the help of our Area Directors, we confirmed that they have completed: Renewing and updating their Club Success Plan Verifying Club Roster Conducting a Moments of Truth Club Roster Administrative tasks aren’t sexy, and there really isn’t anything to show for the effort! But these are the invisible jobs that make a Club run smoothly. …
The Platinum Rule An article on the Platinum Rule caught my attention recently as it relates to how we serve our members. We are accustomed to the traditional Golden Rule where “we treat other people the way we like to be treated.” This article pointed out that such a golden rule may not be the best way. To serve others in a more efficient, effective, and everlasting way is by applying this – “Treat other people how they want to …
Beat the Clock Membership Building Drive We always aim to run meetings on time, finish speeches on time and reach membership goals on time. In essence, we always try to “Beat the Clock”, hence the name given to this period’s incentives. It is indeed an excellent motivator for finishing the year on time and with impressive numbers. The incentive requires adding five new, dual, or reinstated members with a join date between May 1 and June 30. Applications and payments must be …
Plan for the Upcoming Year “Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.” -Alan Lakein Reflecting on that quote, we realize that we always get ahead when we plan early. We will likely achieve our goals when we prepare beforehand. We will probably get further ahead when we get started earlier. Here is what our year will look like: We have another exciting year coming. We are keen to have …
We know it’s possible and we have the clubs to prove it! Congratulations to the clubs who attained the Talk Up Toastmasters award, having signed at least five members in February and March: Igniters Club (Div E) The Eyeopener Club (Div D) We could not be prouder of your accomplishment. Once again we commend you for your continuous effort, and unwavering strive to strengthen your club. Noteworthy to mention other clubs who have gained close to five members in the same period. …
JOIN OUR TEAM BY BEING A CLUB COACH JOIN OUR TEAM BY BEING A CLUB COACH JOIN OUR TEAM BY BEING A CLUB COACH Join our team by being a Club Coach We are always looking for experienced Toastmasters who can coach a club to rebuild membership and restore quality to the club environment. A few months ago, we launched the HPL callout headed by our past International director, Jacquie Schnider, and current Area Director, Mark Ward. We received some …
Membership Building and Retention We have shared several articles on membership building and retention. We think we can talk more about it. With all the tips that you have seen and read, there is one thing in common. It is the focus on WIIFM – What’s in it for them (or me in the guests’ viewpoint)? Let us take a few of those tips starting with these below: Welcome guests warmly Schedule educational speeches Welcome guests warmly We know we …
Building Membership We have been campaigning for the “Talk Up Toastmasters” award recently. It covers the increase in membership during February and March primarily through spreading the word and bringing guests to your club meeting. We already have one club in our district that has gained five members in February – “Igniters Club.” Here are the tips from Igniters Club. We have two more clubs that are getting there, with three new members in February: “Twin Towers Toastmasters Club” and “Calgary Talking …
Membership Building Fellow Toastmasters, we have come a long way. We have had a challenging year, especially with the pandemic and the membership of our clubs is just one of those things that were affected by it. In any case, we have another six months to go in our Toastmasters calendar year. It has been proven that word of mouth is one of the best ways to grow our clubs, which is the basis of the “Talk Up Toastmasters” membership-building …
Marketing and growing membership of your club. We can all learn from successful clubs in our district and other districts. We heard many talks on these areas, and we could need some more tweaking or adjustments on how we do things. So here are some of those valuable tips we have seen achieved success: Doing more referrals. 80% of the guests who join Toastmasters meetings are through referrals. This is how we use the good old-fashioned word of mouth for …
SMEDLEY AWARD WINNERS Congratulations to the two clubs in our district: Dynamically Speaking Club CanOrators Toastmasters Club We could not be more thrilled and proud of their accomplishments including this Smedley Award where we have seen they successfully gained 5 new members just in the months of August and September. What is their secret? Better to hear it from them, as Ron MacTavish of Dynamically Speaking has shared: “… our philosophy about attracting new members. We run stellar meetings, which are renowned for their high energy. …
SMEDLEY CLUB AWARD Message from Eugene Sicat, District 42 Club Growth Director Big salutes and congratulations to the two clubs in our district, Wascana Club and Dynamically Speaking, who have already added five new members as of September 15, and we are still 15 days before the deadline for the prestigious Smedley Club Award. As of September 15, we have 3 other clubs who are very close to reaching 5 new members. By September 30, we sure hope more clubs …