District 71 Division and Area Governor Meeting 11th May 2007 CL Training Update – Pedro Casillas A summary of output will be disseminated amongst Council members Recommend we re-run the presentation at the next officer training Monitor of progress every 3 months Suggest that VPE’s and/or Pres should present to their clubs on a quarterly basis Clive Willet – We bought 4 packs of both sets of manuals and give to members in order to make it available for all. Encourage during business meeting as well as the TM initialling the entries Meg Heyworth – Lead by example. The English within the manual is extremely poor (ie – motivation: As toastmaster of the evening how have you motivated everyone to do their roles tonight) Because our VPE’s are responsible for ensuring people are happy with their roles this causes us to change the way we do the roles and dictating the way we should do them instead of allowing clubs to form their own culture. There are potentially irrelevant areas (PR campaigns) for all to participate in. ACTION: for Jana Barnhill to take this issue back to HQ for inclusion in discussion with next edition of the New CL manual. Phil Heath – Our difficulty is getting people to carry on with the Old CL because the new one is being pushed so hard. NOTE: you can do the Old CL again and we should encourage this in order to keep the Leadership awards coming in before the new award takes over in 2008. Nick explained that we need to get to the point where this manual is second nature. Awards – Mary Murtagh CCs are coming in reasonably well but we need to ensure that all promised awards are actually being reached and registered on the HQ site Division & Area governors should be working together to ensure the awards are being tracked and registered. Membership – Gary Sander 19 pre-charter clubs of which 5 will charter this year. 14 who are working extremely hard. 7 pre-charter clubs have already chartered this year. Ensure that your PCs are listed on the D71 website which includes postcodes if available. Support our new club prospects and work as a team! Communication – Joe Gibbs There are loads of different types of communication – but no type of electronic communications replaces face to face or phone calls. However, with the size of our organisation we have to rely on the more electronic forms. But it is a two way street. When holding your Division / Area executive meetings it would help keep the District Executive up to date with what is happening within your Division/Area by circulating your minutes to at least one member of the council. This will allow us to help you if required and at the early stages. Over the next 2 months think about the information you COULD be sending up to the District Exec in order that they may help if you are finding problems that require extra support.
Q&A – Jana Barnhill Jana Barnhill, 2nd International Director informed us that Toastmasters International is going thru a major transformation – in August 2006 the International Executive Board set up a meeting with a consultant, and follow-up meetings also occurred in November 2006 and in May 2007. Our organisation as we know it today will be totally different. We realise that we need to change how we are structured and how we operate – we need to become more international. Treat every district as fairly and equally as possibly. Some things in discussion - we will be dividing the entire world into geographical units. We will be shrinking the size of the international board in order to become a more strategic board and looking into the future so that we know where we want to be. 16 international directors in US / Canada and 2 outside – there will be a reduction of those in the US/Canada, more in Europe and at least 3 that will be voted on widely. 2010 the convention will be in Sydney Australia in order to show that we are forward thinking. Following International level or re-structuring, the district structure will be looked at. We want the best person for the role to be elected/appt. We are also looking at formulating a stronger youth leadership programme and working closer with schools. Q: Frank Donaldson – Shouldn’t we spend more money on existing clubs rather than building new clubs? A: Nick Benning - It does depend on the areas you are in but as well we should ensure that the existing clubs are being supported and kept strong Q: Dick Dixon – Role of Mentor being a recognised official TM role A: Jana – this is being looked at and will be included within the restructuring that is going on within the organisation. Q: Craig Newman – what’s the formal process for nominating and electing Area Governors? Can we have it written up and published on website so all are aware of the formal process and we know what to expect A: Area Governors are appointed by the incoming DG and they take soundings from within that Division and Area on who would be the best to run that Area. Also, others may put themselves forward. Division Governors are supposed to be putting forward a succession plan as part of their role. Q: Craig Newman – is there a chance of making the Toastmasters name more culturally acceptable. A: Jana – too much of our membership would be too averse to changing the name from Toastmasters. One option HQ is looking at changing is the word ‘club’ in order to change the image this raises (ie photo club, etc). We’ve hired a corporate accounts manager to gain a list of all companies where we have existing TM clubs and then taking on the role to contact those companies and make the initial contact in order to allow you to get into the door. Q: Peter Farrelly – did you research the Foxwood MGM Conference Centre Convention in Connecticut that is being held in 2009 because this doesn’t exist yet? A: Jana – David Cole will be phoned regarding your query. He has been to the casino hotel to investigate. We will follow up and answer your concerns with the hotel issue. Q: Sandra Lawes – a concern regarding the restructuring outlined in Jana’s opening - I would be very unhappy for someone without the knowledge and experience to come in and tell us how to run things. Bringing us up thru the ranks works and is important to retain the culture and dynamics of the organisation. A: Jana – Our club meeting is our product and it is clear that this is sacred. This will not change.