Dialogue Page 5

Coaches Corner

Half Time!

Norm Frickey, DTM Lt. Governor training and Education

It’s hard to believe that we’re half way through this Toastmasters’ Year. From my perspective District 26 is on course for another outstanding year.

Successful Fall Conference. We concluded this first six months with a very successful fall conference on November 12 and 13. One hundred ninety two of us from Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska got together, socialized, networked, were treated to an inspiring keynote speech and two workshops by world-class inspirational speaker Albert Mensah, attended four other great educational sessions and assembled at our business meeting to approve the budget and validate district officer appointments. WOW! THANKS TO ALL WHO HELPED AND ATTENDED.

Education, Training, Contest Report
July 1 – November 31 2010

Club officer training was successful.

5 Toastmasters Leadership Institutes were held
627 club officers were trained (53% of yearly goal of 1174)
117 of 166 clubs (71%) had 4 or more officers trained
8 clubs had 7 officers trained (Morgan County TM, Artfully Speaking TM, Summit TM, Money Grammers, Double Talk, Highlands Ranch, Evening Stars, Advanced Club, Apple Polishers)

Education accomplishments as of November, 2010

111 Competent Communicators (32% of yearly goal)
46 Advance Communicators (23% of yearly goal)
72 Leadership Awards (33% of yearly goal)
42 District Officers Trained.(98% of goal)

Speech contests held

36 Area contests
6 Division contests
1 District contest

Toastmasters Web Site Improvements on the Way
December 16 - January 3, 2011

(From the Toastmasters International Web posting) System upgrade begins in December. Toastmasters International will upgrade its Web site over the holiday season. This action will result in a number of benefits for members, including improved online content and a greater ability to track education awards.

To accommodate this upgrade, the Toastmasters’ online store will be inactive from 11:59 p.m., Pacific Standard Time, Dec. 15, 2010, until 5 a.m., PST, Jan. 3, 2011. The same will be true for the club and district business sections. In addition, members will not be able to update the “My Profile” section during this time.

Because members won’t have access to the Club Officer list during this period, we are extending the deadline for Club Officer submissions to Jan. 14, 2011. World Headquarters is conducting physical inventory from Dec. 16, 2010, through Jan. 2, 2011. During that time, the following transactions cannot be processed:

Supply orders
New member kits
Charter kits
Education award certificates (including free advanced manuals)

Orders received by 11:59 p.m., PST, Dec. 15, 2010, will be processed and shipped. Orders received after that date will be held and processed after Jan. 2, 2011.

f you are unable to submit your transaction before Dec. 16, submitting your information online – starting at 5 a.m., PST, Jan. 3, 2011 – will be the fastest way to receive your materials.

Revised Toastmaster Speech Contest Rulebook

The International Speech Contest season is just around the corner and just in time for this event the Toastmasters Speech Contest Rulebook has been revised and is in the mail to all clubs (assuming the officer list has been submitted and is accurate)

Contestant eligibility error in the printed version. On page 5 of the rulebook, being mailed, it erroneously states that contestants at all contests must have completed a minimum of six speech projects in the Competent Communication manual. This is incorrect and therefore an correction addendum to page 5 is included in the packet. This addendum correctly states that only contestants in the International Speech Contest must have completed six speech projects from the Competent Communication manual. Contestants in speech contests other than the International contest do not need to meet this requirement.

Other significant changes.

Contest Judges qualification. To be a judge at a Toastmasters speech contest individuals must meet all the eligibility requirements:

At all levels, the judge shall be Toastmaster members in good standing
At area, division, and district, speech contests:

judges must be a Toastmasters member in good standing since July 1 or the previous year and
judges must have completed at least six Competent Communication manual projects.

Contest Judging:

At Division and District Contests no judge shall be a member of the club represented by a contestant.

Find it online. The updated and corrected Speech Contest Rulebook can be found on the Toastmasters International Web site. (http://www.toastmasters.org/rulebook.aspx).