September 29, 2024 • 25 mins
What if you could develop your leadership skills by embracing a role that pushes you out of your comfort zone? As an Area Director for Area 26, in District 69 of Toastmasters International, I’ve taken on this challenge headfirst, and I’m excited to share my reflections from my first three months.
This episode is a deep dive into my early, unofficial (and official) visits to all five clubs in my area, which provided invaluable insights into each club's unique dynamics and growth potential. We’ll discuss the importance of first impressions, accessibility, and membership orientation in creating a welcoming environment for guests and new members.
Ever wondered what it takes to organise a successful Toastmasters speech contest? Me too! I share my experiences of seeing behind the scenes of club contests and the upcoming Area 26 conference, and walk through my experiences and the collaborative efforts that make these events possible. Learn about the various roles within contests and how they contribute to the larger picture of fostering member growth and participation.
Whether you’re a seasoned Toastmaster or considering stepping into a leadership role, this episode offers a detailed look at the responsibilities, challenges, and rewards that come with guiding and supporting Toastmasters clubs.
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Thanks for listening! We'd love to hear your thoughts or feedback about the show. Feel free to message Mel at talkativetoastmaster@gmail.com or connect with us on your favourite social media platforms:
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To learn more about Toastmasters International, visit: www.toastmasters.org
To find a Toastmasters club near you, visit: www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to episode 44.
This week, I'm going to talkabout my experience as an area
director, three months into therole.
In episode 32, I gave anoverview of what this role
entails, but today I'd like toget into the nitty gritty of
what I've been up to for thelast three months, look at some
(00:23):
themes I've observed, and thenlook at what the next few months
is going to look like for me.
Before we begin, though, I'dlike to say that if you're not
yet a Toastmaster, or arerelatively new to Toastmasters,
the first 30 episodes of thispodcast are going to give you a
deep dive into what you canexpect from visiting a club, the
(00:45):
benefits of joiningToastmasters, what actually
happens at meetings and whateach of the speaking roles you
may see on the club's agendainvolve.
In those episodes, you'll alsolearn about how club meetings
can help you to developconfidence in prepared and
impromptu speeches, and whatopportunities are available to
(01:07):
help you to develop initial.
In those episodes, you'll alsolearn about how club meetings
can help you to developconfidence in both prepared and
impromptu speeches, and whatopportunities are available to
help you to develop additionalskills through taking on club
leadership roles or going downthe contest path.
(01:29):
My many guests have illustratedthese points with inspirational
stories of their own, anddefinitely worth checking them
out Now.
If you're currently a clubexecutive or are considering
putting yourself forward to bean area director next year or at
any point in your Toastmastersjourney, this episode will give
(01:51):
you, hopefully, a bit of aglimpse into the role.
And so, just to recap, thepurpose of an area director is
to ensure that each clubfulfills its responsibilities to
its members, and I'll talk alittle bit more about that
throughout this episode.
As was explained to us in thedistrict leader training I
(02:14):
attended in June, an areadirector is a direct link
between the clubs and thedivision and district levels, so
it's really an interfacebetween the local clubs and the
higher levels of theToastmasters organisation.
So let's dive in and look atwhat my first three months has
(02:35):
looked like, and I've got to sayit's been busy.
And, like anything, you canthrow yourself into any role
with as much or a littleenthusiasm as you like, and I
chose to go down the enthusiasmpath, and even though we need to
do two official visits, we onlyneed to do two official visits
(02:58):
to each club in the entire year.
I wanted to get out early tothe five clubs in my area and do
an official club visit sorry,an unofficial club visit to meet
everyone and just introducemyself and get a feel for the
clubs.
So I did that very quickly, gotthat pretty much done in July
(03:22):
and that gave me a bit of anoverview of the vibe of each
club, looking at where generallyeach club was at, potentially
identifying some challenges oropportunities for growth that
each of those clubs have.
But it really was a way just toget to know the clubs and to
(03:43):
start to meet some of the otherToastmasters in these clubs.
It's also given me a reallygreat perspective of seeing the
range of speaking experience inour area and the way people are
evaluating each other and justseeing what's on each club's
(04:05):
agenda.
So that has been very rewarding.
I've really enjoyed getting outto the clubs and in various
interviews with other people whohave been area directors, they
do say that the club visits aretheir favourite part of this
role and I can see why the clubvisits are their favourite part
of this role and I can see whyit's definitely, you know, one
(04:27):
of the fun parts of this role.
Now there's the unofficialvisits and then there's the
official visits, and when, as anarea director, you attend a
club as or in an officialvisiting capacity, you're
looking at the end to complete areport that's sent back to both
(04:50):
the club executive andToastmasters International, and
this is really to give thedistrict leadership and
Toastmasters International agauge on how that club is doing
in terms of meeting itsobligations to its members.
And we're given a reporttemplate and it's based on
(05:12):
another document called theMoments of Truth, and Moments of
Truth this is not a new conceptto Toastmasters I've seen it in
organisations as well but themoments of truth are when
impressions are formed, when anew person attending a club
(05:33):
meeting for the first time hasan interaction with the club, be
it through, say, social mediaor through the website or
whatever it happens to be theirexperience of that is a moment
of truth.
Will there be a response?
Will there be a prompt andhelpful response?
Will there be an invitation tocome to the meeting, et cetera.
(05:56):
So the Toastmasters officialkind of visit report highlights
a whole bunch of, I guess,criteria that we're looking for
and that we can provide feedbackto clubs about if they either
are doing these things well orthey're not doing these things
well and they could improve, andI think from what I've seen,
(06:20):
certainly in all the clubs in myarea, you know, the experiences
can vary between who is in therole and just the different
levels of experience of of eachmember, and so it's important
and I'll get on to the trainingaspect in a minute but it's
definitely important for eachmember in the club to understand
(06:44):
, you know, how some of theseprocesses work and what each of
the club executive roles do.
So in the official club visitreports we look at things like,
you know, the first impressions,and that is what does a guest
experience when they come intothe meeting room, you know, are
(07:06):
they made to feel welcome?
Are they given a name tag?
Is the meeting room set up andlooking professional?
We also look at, you know, isthe meeting room easy to find
and can guests actually accessthe room?
Because our clubs meet in in,you know, all over the state and
(07:27):
all over the country in variousvenues.
Some meet at hotels or pubs,some meet at libraries, some
meet in restaurants.
So having potential guestsbeing able to find your club is
really important.
Then we look at things likemembership orientation and, you
know, talk with the executiveabout whether new people that
(07:51):
are coming into the club so newmembers are formally onboarded,
whether they're given a mentor,how the Pathways program is
explained to them, you know, andhow the new members are
continuously made to feelwelcome and a part of the club.
Onboarding new members is areally important part of the
(08:13):
process, especially if they'vetaken that first step to
visiting a club.
You then want them to keepcoming along so they can get the
value out of Toastmasters.
Keep coming along so they canget the value out of
Toastmasters.
One of the other elements inthese reports is looking at the
club's fellowship, variety andcommunication and this is again,
(08:33):
you know, looking at does theclub socialise before or after
the meeting or does it haveother social events?
Or does it have other socialevents, you know, does the club
promote attending other clubs orarea, division or district
(08:53):
events, like some of thecontests that are coming up, and
we'll talk about that a littlebit more.
You know, are the meetingsinteresting and varied and is
everyone getting a chance tospeak at some point in the
agenda and allocated some typeof role and that sort of
overlaps with another element,which is program planning and
(09:16):
meeting organization and reallythe meetings that we have at
Toastmasters are the product.
This is what new members arebuying into.
This is how they can expect tohave the Toastmasters promise
delivered to them.
So an interesting meeting justkeeps members engaged and
(09:37):
wanting to come back for more.
And when there's a good mix ofreally experienced speakers and
new speakers, and when there's agood mix of really experienced
speakers and new speakers, newmembers can certainly see the
scope of what's possible forthem and they can see that
(09:58):
they're going to get support andbe supported in their growth
along the way.
So, yeah, as an area director,we look at all of these things.
We also look at membershipstrength.
So you know how, how big is theclub?
But again, what is that mix ofnew and experienced members?
Because it's been reallyinteresting looking at the clubs
that have, say, a lot of newmembers in comparison to more
(10:21):
experienced members, and thoseclubs have different challenges.
The challenges there seem to bearound getting everyone on
board, understanding what thedifferent roles are, how to
fulfil those roles, and whereasclubs who have, you know, a
higher percentage of experiencedmembers to newer members can
(10:45):
get very stuck in their ways andcan, you know, be more
resistant at times to changingsome of their processes, perhaps
changing things up, and it'sagain, it's just an interesting
challenge.
Each club has their ownstrengths and you know,
opportunities for improvement.
And, yeah, it's really goingthere as a visitor, as a, as an
(11:09):
outsider, but a supportiveoutsider, and looking for
potential ways that you knoweach club can improve.
And then one of the othercriteria that we need to look at
is achievement recognition.
So this is whether the clubactively, you know, celebrates
the achievements of its members,its progress through the
(11:33):
Pathways Program, their progressthrough the Pathways program,
their progress through thePathways program, the club's
progress through theDistinguished Club program, and
just really looking at membersbeing acknowledged, because we
all know that, you know, thepower of recognition of things
we've done makes people warm andfuzzy, it makes them feel you
(11:56):
know good about themselves.
But it's also that positivereinforcement which is very much
the Toastmasters way.
So we look at through thesereports whether the clubs are
doing all of those things.
And then there's a whole bunchof other questions that we speak
with the executive team about,you know, about their club
(12:17):
success plan, whether they haveparticular goals, whether
they're looking to run, say,speech craft programs, which are
short, sharp, six-week programsaimed at really running a short
speech program, but it normallyencourages new people to join,
whether they're looking atjoining at starting or running
(12:40):
an open house event again to getmore people in or to, you know,
really run as run as anexhibition of what they do, or
whether they're looking atrunning any other events.
And so the report is submitted.
So once I've done my officialvisit, I'll have a chat with the
(13:02):
executive team, give them myfeedback and then submit the
report, which, you know, as Isaid, goes through to the
district leadership andToastmasters International.
So that's part of what I'mrequired to do as my role.
And then it's really a matterof helping the clubs on each of
(13:22):
their specific challenges oridentifying the main focus that
you know this club needs supportin this space, whereas this
club needs support in anotherarea, and so a lot of what I do
after the visits is to shareuseful resources, and you know,
(13:44):
one of the resources I sharedand discussed the episode before
last was around the club upProject resources website, which
is fantastic, and more and moreI'm directing, you know, my
club presidents there or theVPEs or the VPMs, to that
website, just because it hassuch practical information.
(14:07):
So club visits have been a bigpart of the last three months.
I've done, as I said,unofficial visits to all my
clubs and at least you knowanother visit and starting to
work my way through the officialvisits.
I really wanted to get out tothe clubs and often ask me to
(14:34):
either give a speech about theupcoming area conference or some
sort of motivational oreducational speech, which means
I'm doing a number of speakingengagements beyond my normal two
clubs and just getting in frontof different audiences, which
again that's what I signed up toToastmasters for, and I'm
(14:56):
getting plenty of experience inspeaking in other rooms and
filling in last minute for otherroles on their agenda.
So whether that's being thegeneral evaluator or the table
topics master or an evaluator orgiving an educational or an
evaluator or giving aneducational so it's from my own
(15:17):
personal development it's fun,you know, it's great.
I'm getting lots of differentexperience.
So club visits is a big element.
We've also had one area councilmeeting and this was to get all
the clubs together, either thepresidents or a representative
from each club, just to get on aZoom call and have a chat about
(15:38):
the upcoming area conference,because all the club contests
feed up into the area conferencethat I'll be running in
November.
So that's a big piece of workfor the next month or so.
As you know, the clubs runtheir contests and then I gear
(16:00):
up to run the area version ofthat and from the area council
meeting a subcommittee is formedand we then get into the very
detailed planning elements ofthe area contest and I'll talk a
bit more about contests in amoment.
(16:21):
And also there's been areasorry division and district
council meetings, which I've satin on as well, and that's just
really hearing about thebusiness of the district, and
there's been a few elements thatwe've had to vote in, like
(16:41):
budgets and marketing andcommunications plans, and all of
this is circulated in advanceand then we as district leaders
get to vote on all of that.
So it just provides a reallyinteresting view of the behind
the scenes running of district69.
Now some of the key themes I'veobserved in the last three
(17:04):
months is that.
And so some of the key themesI've observed in the last three
months is that the first quarterof the Toastmasters year is
very heavily focused on trainingand there's been two rounds of
district leader training forarea and division directors.
So I've sat in on both of those.
(17:24):
One was an entire weekend andthe most recent one was sort of
a half a day online, and thiswas really to ensure that we
were okay with the variousthings we have to do.
We talked about any challengeswith clubs in our areas and
(17:45):
really, again, the focus beingon the upcoming contest season.
Then we, yeah, so training.
So there's a district leadertraining, but then also the club
officer training and, you know,on the 30th or 1st of July each
year, the new executive foreach club takes over and we then
(18:06):
need to get all of thoseexecutive teams trained up
through club officer trainingjust to ensure that they know
what's going on with their roles, what's expected of them.
And so, yeah, I presented theVP of Public Relations club
officer training segments atboth Eastern and Morton
divisions here in Brisbane andthis gave me extra opportunities
(18:30):
to practice some of my trainingskills and taking questions and
answers and just again hearingthe challenges or opportunities
for different clubs.
So training is a big focus onthis first quarter.
The other big focus is clubcontests.
So each of the clubs in thearea is gearing up.
(18:53):
Either they've done theircontests or they are in the
process of running them and30,000 Toastmasters globally
start the contest journey eachyear and there is a phenomenal
amount of work that goes intoorganising these contests.
I think because there are somany rules and so much
(19:37):
officialness, official stuffthat needs to happen for each
contest even the club contestsfor, say, the humorous and the
international, and the tabletopics and the evaluation
contests every contest needs tohave judges and a tiebreaker
judge and ballot counters andtimers and sergeant at arms and
all of these roles.
And, yeah, the VPEs do afantastic job organizing these,
these contests.
And yeah, ultimately theobjective for each club is to
pop out four winners, ideally,you know so, a winner for each
(19:59):
of the four contests.
This doesn't always happen.
Some clubs will only run acertain number of contests, but,
yeah, the objective is for eachclub to pop out a winner in
each of the four contests andthen all of those winners roll
up to the area contests and thenfrom there go to the division
(20:20):
and district and beyond.
So, yeah, part of that, part ofmy support in this capacity has
been to either act as a judgefor other clubs contests or help
them to provide, say, a testspeaker for their evaluation
contest or provide advice on howcontests run, and, yeah, it's
(20:45):
given me a lot of insight intocontests.
I've only really competed incontests in the last three and a
half years, so I haven't donemuch at all in the way of behind
the scenes activity.
So it's been quite interesting.
I was a contest chair at myMount Gravatt clubs contests on
(21:08):
last week and, yeah, justgetting all the paperwork ready
for that evening was aneye-opener.
So this is happening in everyclub all around the world about
this time Then, yeah, so I wouldsay training and club contests
have been the biggest focus, andreally getting out to the clubs
(21:29):
to visit members.
I mean, at the heart of all ofthis is still people giving
speeches and developing theskills to improve their
confidence and leadership skills.
It all comes back to that.
There's a lot of activity andnot distraction.
I love contests, for sure, butthere is a lot of activity
(21:51):
around contests and then there'sstill people getting on with
speeches.
So I think both are massivelyvaluable.
I've competed, you know, forthe last three years and I can't
compete this year, so, yeah,it's just interesting to watch
the amount of activity that goeson to support the people who
(22:11):
are competing Then, in terms ofthe next three months.
So what's coming up?
The first thing is the areaconference in November.
So our Area 26 conference is inNovember and, from my
perspective, I organize thevenue, I organize all the
(22:31):
logistics, I make sure all theclubs are able to provide a
contest chair for each of thecontests that will run that day.
There's catering involved andso it's a bit of event planning,
which I've done a lot of in myday job so over the years.
So the event itself isn't adrama.
(22:53):
It's literally here's the venue, get a room, make sure the AV
works, but it is slightlydifferent in terms of having to
have the right number of judgesand where they can come from and
making sure everyone's gottheir eligibility forms
submitted and their speakerprofiles and that we have the
(23:14):
capacity to run for contests.
So that, for me, is going to bemy focus in the next month as
we ramp up to that conference inNovember.
Also, I need to be completingmy next couple of official club
visits and finalising thosereports.
So again, the area directorsare you know, it's a KPI, I
(23:38):
suppose a key performanceindicator for each area director
to submit their club reportsfor each club and that's all
monitored on a dashboard so youcan see exactly who is doing the
work and who is not.
And yeah, when it's on displaylike that it's it's a case of
right.
Let's get it done.
(23:58):
And then I'm also gearing up tosupport other areas.
So there's four areas in theeastern division and I will be
supporting my fellow areadirectors in one way or another,
whether it's helping out attheir contests or just being
(24:19):
there in in whatever capacity Ican support them, as they will
with me.
And this is again part of theToastmasters way.
At an area director level weall have very similar challenges
and are very much looking tosupport each other.
And then we all gear up tosupport the division contest in
(24:42):
March and then we all gear up tosupport the division contest in
March.
So there's a bit of a breakbetween when the frenetic
activity of the area contestshappens and then the next level
contest, which is in March.
So yeah, it's a busy time.
Definitely.
We were told in district leadertraining that the first three
(25:02):
months was really the baptism offire and to the trainers that
said that absolutely that wascorrect.
But definitely very, it'sdefinitely a very rewarding and
varied role.
You know you're dealing withdifferent personalities of
presidents and different membersof the executive and even
(25:27):
members, and you know a membermight raise something about I
don't know an idea and and thenit's a matter of getting that
back to the right people and atleast floating the idea and, you
know, ensuring that memberfeels heard.
So it's very rewarding, um,very busy.
(25:48):
I'm getting a lot of different,I suppose, experience in terms
of speaking and also justtroubleshooting, just working
out what resources there are andhow I can best get them out to
the people who need them, andand looking at the different
challenges of each club and andthe opportunities you know, for
(26:08):
clubs very strong and has strongmembership that has a different
, you know that club has adifferent focus than, say, a
club who needs to gain moremembers and needs to get more
members participating andcompleting speeches.
So, yeah, it's really lookingat each club and the club's
(26:29):
culture and saying, ok, whatcould make this club even better
?
So I think that's where manyyears of providing evaluations
and receiving evaluations forspeeches helps to position, you
know, area directors to be ableto give feedback.
Whether the clubs take it onit's up to the clubs, but we
(26:54):
visit through the lens of, youknow, supportive cheerleader, I
suppose and we just want to dowhat we can to help the clubs
succeed.
So that's me for the next threemonths.
It's going to be busy, busy leadup to Christmas and, yes, we
get a bit of a break in Januarybefore it all kicks off again.
(27:17):
So I look forward to what thenext three months of this role
entails and I'm definitelylooking forward to getting the
Area 26 conference done anddusted.
So stay tuned because I'll nodoubt do a episode about that or
at least mention it in anupcoming episode in an upcoming
(27:44):
episode.
Hope that gives you a bit of anidea of what the area director
role looks like in a reallypractical way.
And if you are interested inbecoming an area director at
some point, reach out to yourclub president or your existing
area director if you happen toknow them.
If you don't happen to knowthem, your president will, your
club president and secretary,and BPM and VPE should be aware
(28:08):
of who your area director is.
So if it's a role that appealsto you or that you're interested
in, definitely put out thefeelers and start to investigate
what else is involved.
Have a great week.
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to episode 44.
This week, I'm going to talkabout my experience as an area
director, three months into therole.
In episode 32, I gave anoverview of what this role
entails, but today I'd like toget into the nitty gritty of
what I've been up to for thelast three months, look at some
(00:23):
themes I've observed, and thenlook at what the next few months
is going to look like for me.
Before we begin, though, I'dlike to say that if you're not
yet a Toastmaster, or arerelatively new to Toastmasters,
the first 30 episodes of thispodcast are going to give you a
deep dive into what you canexpect from visiting a club, the
(00:45):
benefits of joiningToastmasters, what actually
happens at meetings and whateach of the speaking roles you
may see on the club's agendainvolve.
In those episodes, you'll alsolearn about how club meetings
can help you to developconfidence in prepared and
impromptu speeches, and whatopportunities are available to
(01:07):
help you to develop initial.
In those episodes, you'll alsolearn about how club meetings
can help you to developconfidence in both prepared and
impromptu speeches, and whatopportunities are available to
help you to develop additionalskills through taking on club
leadership roles or going downthe contest path.
(01:29):
My many guests have illustratedthese points with inspirational
stories of their own, anddefinitely worth checking them
out Now.
If you're currently a clubexecutive or are considering
putting yourself forward to bean area director next year or at
any point in your Toastmastersjourney, this episode will give
(01:51):
you, hopefully, a bit of aglimpse into the role.
And so, just to recap, thepurpose of an area director is
to ensure that each clubfulfills its responsibilities to
its members, and I'll talk alittle bit more about that
throughout this episode.
As was explained to us in thedistrict leader training I
(02:14):
attended in June, an areadirector is a direct link
between the clubs and thedivision and district levels, so
it's really an interfacebetween the local clubs and the
higher levels of theToastmasters organisation.
So let's dive in and look atwhat my first three months has
(02:35):
looked like, and I've got to sayit's been busy.
And, like anything, you canthrow yourself into any role
with as much or a littleenthusiasm as you like, and I
chose to go down the enthusiasmpath, and even though we need to
do two official visits, we onlyneed to do two official visits
(02:58):
to each club in the entire year.
I wanted to get out early tothe five clubs in my area and do
an official club visit sorry,an unofficial club visit to meet
everyone and just introducemyself and get a feel for the
clubs.
So I did that very quickly, gotthat pretty much done in July
(03:22):
and that gave me a bit of anoverview of the vibe of each
club, looking at where generallyeach club was at, potentially
identifying some challenges oropportunities for growth that
each of those clubs have.
But it really was a way just toget to know the clubs and to
(03:43):
start to meet some of the otherToastmasters in these clubs.
It's also given me a reallygreat perspective of seeing the
range of speaking experience inour area and the way people are
evaluating each other and justseeing what's on each club's
(04:05):
agenda.
So that has been very rewarding.
I've really enjoyed getting outto the clubs and in various
interviews with other people whohave been area directors, they
do say that the club visits aretheir favourite part of this
role and I can see why the clubvisits are their favourite part
of this role and I can see whyit's definitely, you know, one
(04:27):
of the fun parts of this role.
Now there's the unofficialvisits and then there's the
official visits, and when, as anarea director, you attend a
club as or in an officialvisiting capacity, you're
looking at the end to complete areport that's sent back to both
(04:50):
the club executive andToastmasters International, and
this is really to give thedistrict leadership and
Toastmasters International agauge on how that club is doing
in terms of meeting itsobligations to its members.
And we're given a reporttemplate and it's based on
(05:12):
another document called theMoments of Truth, and Moments of
Truth this is not a new conceptto Toastmasters I've seen it in
organisations as well but themoments of truth are when
impressions are formed, when anew person attending a club
(05:33):
meeting for the first time hasan interaction with the club, be
it through, say, social mediaor through the website or
whatever it happens to be theirexperience of that is a moment
of truth.
Will there be a response?
Will there be a prompt andhelpful response?
Will there be an invitation tocome to the meeting, et cetera.
(05:56):
So the Toastmasters officialkind of visit report highlights
a whole bunch of, I guess,criteria that we're looking for
and that we can provide feedbackto clubs about if they either
are doing these things well orthey're not doing these things
well and they could improve, andI think from what I've seen,
(06:20):
certainly in all the clubs in myarea, you know, the experiences
can vary between who is in therole and just the different
levels of experience of of eachmember, and so it's important
and I'll get on to the trainingaspect in a minute but it's
definitely important for eachmember in the club to understand
(06:44):
, you know, how some of theseprocesses work and what each of
the club executive roles do.
So in the official club visitreports we look at things like,
you know, the first impressions,and that is what does a guest
experience when they come intothe meeting room, you know, are
(07:06):
they made to feel welcome?
Are they given a name tag?
Is the meeting room set up andlooking professional?
We also look at, you know, isthe meeting room easy to find
and can guests actually accessthe room?
Because our clubs meet in in,you know, all over the state and
(07:27):
all over the country in variousvenues.
Some meet at hotels or pubs,some meet at libraries, some
meet in restaurants.
So having potential guestsbeing able to find your club is
really important.
Then we look at things likemembership orientation and, you
know, talk with the executiveabout whether new people that
(07:51):
are coming into the club so newmembers are formally onboarded,
whether they're given a mentor,how the Pathways program is
explained to them, you know, andhow the new members are
continuously made to feelwelcome and a part of the club.
Onboarding new members is areally important part of the
(08:13):
process, especially if they'vetaken that first step to
visiting a club.
You then want them to keepcoming along so they can get the
value out of Toastmasters.
Keep coming along so they canget the value out of
Toastmasters.
One of the other elements inthese reports is looking at the
club's fellowship, variety andcommunication and this is again,
(08:33):
you know, looking at does theclub socialise before or after
the meeting or does it haveother social events?
Or does it have other socialevents, you know, does the club
promote attending other clubs orarea, division or district
(08:53):
events, like some of thecontests that are coming up, and
we'll talk about that a littlebit more.
You know, are the meetingsinteresting and varied and is
everyone getting a chance tospeak at some point in the
agenda and allocated some typeof role and that sort of
overlaps with another element,which is program planning and
(09:16):
meeting organization and reallythe meetings that we have at
Toastmasters are the product.
This is what new members arebuying into.
This is how they can expect tohave the Toastmasters promise
delivered to them.
So an interesting meeting justkeeps members engaged and
(09:37):
wanting to come back for more.
And when there's a good mix ofreally experienced speakers and
new speakers, and when there's agood mix of really experienced
speakers and new speakers, newmembers can certainly see the
scope of what's possible forthem and they can see that
(09:58):
they're going to get support andbe supported in their growth
along the way.
So, yeah, as an area director,we look at all of these things.
We also look at membershipstrength.
So you know how, how big is theclub?
But again, what is that mix ofnew and experienced members?
Because it's been reallyinteresting looking at the clubs
that have, say, a lot of newmembers in comparison to more
(10:21):
experienced members, and thoseclubs have different challenges.
The challenges there seem to bearound getting everyone on
board, understanding what thedifferent roles are, how to
fulfil those roles, and whereasclubs who have, you know, a
higher percentage of experiencedmembers to newer members can
(10:45):
get very stuck in their ways andcan, you know, be more
resistant at times to changingsome of their processes, perhaps
changing things up, and it'sagain, it's just an interesting
challenge.
Each club has their ownstrengths and you know,
opportunities for improvement.
And, yeah, it's really goingthere as a visitor, as a, as an
(11:09):
outsider, but a supportiveoutsider, and looking for
potential ways that you knoweach club can improve.
And then one of the othercriteria that we need to look at
is achievement recognition.
So this is whether the clubactively, you know, celebrates
the achievements of its members,its progress through the
(11:33):
Pathways Program, their progressthrough the Pathways program,
their progress through thePathways program, the club's
progress through theDistinguished Club program, and
just really looking at membersbeing acknowledged, because we
all know that, you know, thepower of recognition of things
we've done makes people warm andfuzzy, it makes them feel you
(11:56):
know good about themselves.
But it's also that positivereinforcement which is very much
the Toastmasters way.
So we look at through thesereports whether the clubs are
doing all of those things.
And then there's a whole bunchof other questions that we speak
with the executive team about,you know, about their club
(12:17):
success plan, whether they haveparticular goals, whether
they're looking to run, say,speech craft programs, which are
short, sharp, six-week programsaimed at really running a short
speech program, but it normallyencourages new people to join,
whether they're looking atjoining at starting or running
(12:40):
an open house event again to getmore people in or to, you know,
really run as run as anexhibition of what they do, or
whether they're looking atrunning any other events.
And so the report is submitted.
So once I've done my officialvisit, I'll have a chat with the
(13:02):
executive team, give them myfeedback and then submit the
report, which, you know, as Isaid, goes through to the
district leadership andToastmasters International.
So that's part of what I'mrequired to do as my role.
And then it's really a matterof helping the clubs on each of
(13:22):
their specific challenges oridentifying the main focus that
you know this club needs supportin this space, whereas this
club needs support in anotherarea, and so a lot of what I do
after the visits is to shareuseful resources, and you know,
(13:44):
one of the resources I sharedand discussed the episode before
last was around the club upProject resources website, which
is fantastic, and more and moreI'm directing, you know, my
club presidents there or theVPEs or the VPMs, to that
website, just because it hassuch practical information.
(14:07):
So club visits have been a bigpart of the last three months.
I've done, as I said,unofficial visits to all my
clubs and at least you knowanother visit and starting to
work my way through the officialvisits.
I really wanted to get out tothe clubs and often ask me to
(14:34):
either give a speech about theupcoming area conference or some
sort of motivational oreducational speech, which means
I'm doing a number of speakingengagements beyond my normal two
clubs and just getting in frontof different audiences, which
again that's what I signed up toToastmasters for, and I'm
(14:56):
getting plenty of experience inspeaking in other rooms and
filling in last minute for otherroles on their agenda.
So whether that's being thegeneral evaluator or the table
topics master or an evaluator orgiving an educational or an
evaluator or giving aneducational so it's from my own
(15:17):
personal development it's fun,you know, it's great.
I'm getting lots of differentexperience.
So club visits is a big element.
We've also had one area councilmeeting and this was to get all
the clubs together, either thepresidents or a representative
from each club, just to get on aZoom call and have a chat about
(15:38):
the upcoming area conference,because all the club contests
feed up into the area conferencethat I'll be running in
November.
So that's a big piece of workfor the next month or so.
As you know, the clubs runtheir contests and then I gear
(16:00):
up to run the area version ofthat and from the area council
meeting a subcommittee is formedand we then get into the very
detailed planning elements ofthe area contest and I'll talk a
bit more about contests in amoment.
(16:21):
And also there's been areasorry division and district
council meetings, which I've satin on as well, and that's just
really hearing about thebusiness of the district, and
there's been a few elements thatwe've had to vote in, like
(16:41):
budgets and marketing andcommunications plans, and all of
this is circulated in advanceand then we as district leaders
get to vote on all of that.
So it just provides a reallyinteresting view of the behind
the scenes running of district69.
Now some of the key themes I'veobserved in the last three
(17:04):
months is that.
And so some of the key themesI've observed in the last three
months is that the first quarterof the Toastmasters year is
very heavily focused on trainingand there's been two rounds of
district leader training forarea and division directors.
So I've sat in on both of those.
(17:24):
One was an entire weekend andthe most recent one was sort of
a half a day online, and thiswas really to ensure that we
were okay with the variousthings we have to do.
We talked about any challengeswith clubs in our areas and
(17:45):
really, again, the focus beingon the upcoming contest season.
Then we, yeah, so training.
So there's a district leadertraining, but then also the club
officer training and, you know,on the 30th or 1st of July each
year, the new executive foreach club takes over and we then
(18:06):
need to get all of thoseexecutive teams trained up
through club officer trainingjust to ensure that they know
what's going on with their roles, what's expected of them.
And so, yeah, I presented theVP of Public Relations club
officer training segments atboth Eastern and Morton
divisions here in Brisbane andthis gave me extra opportunities
(18:30):
to practice some of my trainingskills and taking questions and
answers and just again hearingthe challenges or opportunities
for different clubs.
So training is a big focus onthis first quarter.
The other big focus is clubcontests.
So each of the clubs in thearea is gearing up.
(18:53):
Either they've done theircontests or they are in the
process of running them and30,000 Toastmasters globally
start the contest journey eachyear and there is a phenomenal
amount of work that goes intoorganising these contests.
I think because there are somany rules and so much
(19:37):
officialness, official stuffthat needs to happen for each
contest even the club contestsfor, say, the humorous and the
international, and the tabletopics and the evaluation
contests every contest needs tohave judges and a tiebreaker
judge and ballot counters andtimers and sergeant at arms and
all of these roles.
And, yeah, the VPEs do afantastic job organizing these,
these contests.
And yeah, ultimately theobjective for each club is to
pop out four winners, ideally,you know so, a winner for each
(19:59):
of the four contests.
This doesn't always happen.
Some clubs will only run acertain number of contests, but,
yeah, the objective is for eachclub to pop out a winner in
each of the four contests andthen all of those winners roll
up to the area contests and thenfrom there go to the division
(20:20):
and district and beyond.
So, yeah, part of that, part ofmy support in this capacity has
been to either act as a judgefor other clubs contests or help
them to provide, say, a testspeaker for their evaluation
contest or provide advice on howcontests run, and, yeah, it's
(20:45):
given me a lot of insight intocontests.
I've only really competed incontests in the last three and a
half years, so I haven't donemuch at all in the way of behind
the scenes activity.
So it's been quite interesting.
I was a contest chair at myMount Gravatt clubs contests on
(21:08):
last week and, yeah, justgetting all the paperwork ready
for that evening was aneye-opener.
So this is happening in everyclub all around the world about
this time Then, yeah, so I wouldsay training and club contests
have been the biggest focus, andreally getting out to the clubs
(21:29):
to visit members.
I mean, at the heart of all ofthis is still people giving
speeches and developing theskills to improve their
confidence and leadership skills.
It all comes back to that.
There's a lot of activity andnot distraction.
I love contests, for sure, butthere is a lot of activity
(21:51):
around contests and then there'sstill people getting on with
speeches.
So I think both are massivelyvaluable.
I've competed, you know, forthe last three years and I can't
compete this year, so, yeah,it's just interesting to watch
the amount of activity that goeson to support the people who
(22:11):
are competing Then, in terms ofthe next three months.
So what's coming up?
The first thing is the areaconference in November.
So our Area 26 conference is inNovember and, from my
perspective, I organize thevenue, I organize all the
(22:31):
logistics, I make sure all theclubs are able to provide a
contest chair for each of thecontests that will run that day.
There's catering involved andso it's a bit of event planning,
which I've done a lot of in myday job so over the years.
So the event itself isn't adrama.
(22:53):
It's literally here's the venue, get a room, make sure the AV
works, but it is slightlydifferent in terms of having to
have the right number of judgesand where they can come from and
making sure everyone's gottheir eligibility forms
submitted and their speakerprofiles and that we have the
(23:14):
capacity to run for contests.
So that, for me, is going to bemy focus in the next month as
we ramp up to that conference inNovember.
Also, I need to be completingmy next couple of official club
visits and finalising thosereports.
So again, the area directorsare you know, it's a KPI, I
(23:38):
suppose a key performanceindicator for each area director
to submit their club reportsfor each club and that's all
monitored on a dashboard so youcan see exactly who is doing the
work and who is not.
And yeah, when it's on displaylike that it's it's a case of
right.
Let's get it done.
(23:58):
And then I'm also gearing up tosupport other areas.
So there's four areas in theeastern division and I will be
supporting my fellow areadirectors in one way or another,
whether it's helping out attheir contests or just being
(24:19):
there in in whatever capacity Ican support them, as they will
with me.
And this is again part of theToastmasters way.
At an area director level weall have very similar challenges
and are very much looking tosupport each other.
And then we all gear up tosupport the division contest in
(24:42):
March and then we all gear up tosupport the division contest in
March.
So there's a bit of a breakbetween when the frenetic
activity of the area contestshappens and then the next level
contest, which is in March.
So yeah, it's a busy time.
Definitely.
We were told in district leadertraining that the first three
(25:02):
months was really the baptism offire and to the trainers that
said that absolutely that wascorrect.
But definitely very, it'sdefinitely a very rewarding and
varied role.
You know you're dealing withdifferent personalities of
presidents and different membersof the executive and even
(25:27):
members, and you know a membermight raise something about I
don't know an idea and and thenit's a matter of getting that
back to the right people and atleast floating the idea and, you
know, ensuring that memberfeels heard.
So it's very rewarding, um,very busy.
(25:48):
I'm getting a lot of different,I suppose, experience in terms
of speaking and also justtroubleshooting, just working
out what resources there are andhow I can best get them out to
the people who need them, andand looking at the different
challenges of each club and andthe opportunities you know, for
(26:08):
clubs very strong and has strongmembership that has a different
, you know that club has adifferent focus than, say, a
club who needs to gain moremembers and needs to get more
members participating andcompleting speeches.
So, yeah, it's really lookingat each club and the club's
(26:29):
culture and saying, ok, whatcould make this club even better
?
So I think that's where manyyears of providing evaluations
and receiving evaluations forspeeches helps to position, you
know, area directors to be ableto give feedback.
Whether the clubs take it onit's up to the clubs, but we
(26:54):
visit through the lens of, youknow, supportive cheerleader, I
suppose and we just want to dowhat we can to help the clubs
succeed.
So that's me for the next threemonths.
It's going to be busy, busy leadup to Christmas and, yes, we
get a bit of a break in Januarybefore it all kicks off again.
(27:17):
So I look forward to what thenext three months of this role
entails and I'm definitelylooking forward to getting the
Area 26 conference done anddusted.
So stay tuned because I'll nodoubt do a episode about that or
at least mention it in anupcoming episode in an upcoming
(27:44):
episode.
Hope that gives you a bit of anidea of what the area director
role looks like in a reallypractical way.
And if you are interested inbecoming an area director at
some point, reach out to yourclub president or your existing
area director if you happen toknow them.
If you don't happen to knowthem, your president will, your
club president and secretary,and BPM and VPE should be aware
(28:08):
of who your area director is.
So if it's a role that appealsto you or that you're interested
in, definitely put out thefeelers and start to investigate
what else is involved.
Have a great week.
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