Welcome, new Toastmasters!

Welcome to the new and returning Toastmasters who have joined or rejoined a Toastmasters club in District 90 in the past month. "Ninety News" is a newsletter of District activities and important Toastmasters matters sent regularly to members.

District 90 Distinguished!!

Yes we are!! After several nervous weeks waiting for stats to be updated... 

With the chartering of Northern Trainers (soon to be Trainers On Track) in Northern Division and Enhance Toastmasters in Western Division, our club number is 149, a net growth in club numbers of 3.47 percent.

These clubs added to the previous six new clubs in D90 for the year... In Focus Advanced (Oxley Division), Australian Catholic University (Hawkesbury), Rouse Hill (Macquarie), Toastmasters@TRC (Northern), Sandoz Toastmasters (Macquarie) and Keynoters Advanced (Hawkesbury).

Thanks to the great work of hundreds of Toastmasters through the year, including many active club leaders, the District 90 membership number for the year grew by 3.3 percent.

And most importantly, the number of clubs achieving Distinguished in the District surpassed President's Distinguished District level of 50 percent... 54.1 percent in fact, or 78 clubs. 

In addition to this, all of our Divisions achieved Distinguished or better… Eastern Distinguished, Hawkesbury, Northern and Oxley Select and Macquarie and Western President’s Distinguished.

On the Area front, Areas 15 and 23 in Eastern, 8 in Hawkesbury, 3 in Macquarie, 1 and 20 in Northern, and 4, 26 and 28 in Western are all Distinguished. Area 22 in Hawkesbury, 2 and 16 in Macquarie, 5 in Oxley and 13 and 14 in Western are all Select Distinguished. And Areas 7 in Macquarie and 11 in Western are both President’s Distinguished.

Pathways Learning Experience

In an effort to offer members improved opportunities to learn and to grow, Toastmasters is rolling out a new education program and learning management system. Updates will appear in this month's issue of the TOASTMASTER magazine and at www.Toastmasters.org.



We have also received a detailed information document which can be downloaded here.

A couple of interesting highlights from this document...

The Member Experience is still the centre of our learning system. The Pathways Learning Experience is a journey with paths, possibilities and personal potential.

Each member will complete a needs assessment to assist in choosing what path best meets the desired goals for their own personal learning experience.

Training will be delivered through E-learning modules. District leaders will receive training at 2017 mid year training events. Local District training will be delivered by Pathways Guides (a new role) beginning 60 days in advance of the District rollout.

The Pathways rollout schedule will begin in January 2017.

The first districts that will receive the Pathways program are: District 51 (Malaysia) - Region 14; District 57 (California) - Region 2; and District 27 (Washington DC) - Region 7. District 90 is in Rollout 5 which could be as early as mid 2017 (actual timing will be determined by the progress of initial and subsequent rollouts as bugs are ironed out of the system).

A link to a list of frequently asked questions is included in the document.
 

From the District Director

Welcome to the new Toastmaster year. This is always an exciting time for Toastmaster clubs and new Executive teams are in place and they all are finding their feet. It is no different with the District leadership.

We have a new group of Area and Division Directors and a new Senior Management Team. Go to the District 90 website www.d90toastmasters.org.au and click on District Leaders, to see who we are. And as your incoming District Director, I am equally excited.

The first thing to report is that under the leadership of Bob Kirchner OAM DTM, our District was Distinguished in its first year. This was only made official last Saturday when the dashboard updated.

As you can see, we made Distinguished by just 18 membership payments. And this was a huge team effort. With a week to go, we were a forlorn hope of getting there. So many clubs got behind the drive, and they themselves were driven to become Distinguished clubs. A new club was started in Tamworth and another advanced club in the mountains (in two days). Not one single person got us there, but an entire District. And the support from past District Governors was phenomenal. Teamwork at its purest. Thank you everyone.

This has set the District up for another great year.

What’s Happening and Plans in the Pipeline

• We have set a goal of having all clubs at minimum membership strength of 20. The District Trio of Shirley Childs, Phil Reed and I, will be ringing every club in the next few months.
• And we ultimately would like clubs to have a minimum average attendance of 15 members at meetings.
• We have set a longer term goal over 5 years of having 30 new clubs in Sydney and another 30 new clubs in localities out of Sydney. Phil Reed has done a lot of planning of where these clubs will come from. A long term goal, but the seeds are being planted.
• We are launching a new Directory that all Toastmasters will be able to download.
• Shirley Childs and her team have Club Officer Training well under way currently. Last year, 7 clubs had all 7 Executive Officers trained in both periods. This year, we would like the number to be in excess of 50 clubs.
• We held a successful Incoming Area Director training day on the 18th June. And this has set up our incoming Area Directors to be at the service of our clubs.
• Club International Proxies are currently being assigned. At the time of going to print, there are only 53 clubs from our 149 clubs still to submit their proxy. We expect these to be finalised in the next week. The District’s Proxy Prowler has a team of Division and Area Directors working towards this goal. If your club is one of the 53 to go, please attend to this quickly so we can focus on other tasks.

The International Convention this year will be held in Washington. Our last District Governor, David Fisher, is running for the position of International Director for Region 12, and we wish him well with his campaign. Whilst I am overseas, Past District Governor, John Taylor will be acting District Director in my absence. 

Michael Said DTM
dd@d90toastmasters.org.au
 

Program Quality Update

Wow, last year went with a big bang. My heartfelt thanks to all those who allowed me to cajole and coax them into adding members and awards at the end of June to help our District achieve Distinguished status. What a remarkable team we have. If I may add, District 90 toastmasters, you rock!

There is a certain buzz in our District now and we must not rest on our laurels. To maintain and sustain this momentum, it is important that we keep working towards the development and growth of our members. It is our drive towards excellence which will help learning take off, knowledge escalate and performance soar. The results will be phenomenal for our members and needless to say for our district.

Last year, through your Division and Area Directors, I have requested for your input into the types of educational and training programmes you wish us to hold and we are doing our best to fulfil the requests. This year we will ensure that webinars as well are available to reach all members.

Club Officer Training

The current round of Club officer Training is well under way. There are dates scheduled right up to the end of August. We would like to see as many of our Club Officers trained this year. Last year we had over 80% trained. This was a great result and this year we would like to see in excess of 95% trained.

In the previous year, 7 clubs had all 7 Executive officers trained in both periods. I’d encourage you to contribute to our goal of having over 50 clubs with all of their officers trained in both periods.

What does this mean? It means that the Club Officers will be better equipped to serve the members' needs and run the club successfully.

Please check the What’s On for upcoming sessions at d90toastmasters.org.au/whatson.html.

Club Contests

By now you would have commenced planning your Humorous and Table Topics Contests. This is an exciting time for members as you get the experience to speak under contest conditions. I’d like to point out there there is a new Contest Rule Book this year. It can be downloaded for free here.

A reminder that you may ask your Area Director to be your Chief Judge at your contests. If your club is a small club and requires assistance from other clubs, your Area Director may also be able to help you find judges and other officials.

Area Council Meetings

Attention all Presidents, Vice Presidents Education and Vice Presidents Membership.

By now, you should have been advised by your Area Director of the upcoming Area Council for your Area. If not, please be in contact with your Area Director so you can firm up the date.

They should also inform you of a schedule for future Area Council meetings. Please ensure you have these dates in your calendar. Attending Area Councils is one of the most efficient way of meeting up with your Toastmaster colleagues from adjoining clubs. It also ensures that the upcoming Area contests are well planned for success.

You may find your Area Director through this link: www.d90toastmasters.org.au/dleaders.html

If you don’t know who your Area Director is you may contact me pqd@d90toastmasters.org.au

I wish all of you an enjoyable and successful year.

Shirley Childs DTM
pqd@d90toastmasters.org.au

Club Leadership Training

A further reminder...!

If you are a club officer, have you attended a session of Club Leadership Training (CLT) in the current round?

Even if you have "been there, done that" – there is always something new to learn and your experience can come in very handy for the newer Toastmasters.

CLT is also open to the general membership, you don't have to be a club leader to attend. At some time in the future, most Toastmasters will serve as club officers, so any learning or skills you gain now will hold you in good stead for the future.

Check the District 90 website What's On for details of upcoming sessions.

Club Growth Team

Phil Reed, Club Growth Director, has arranged four teams to assist clubs.  He said:  "The goals of our teams are twofold: 

1. To help clubs grow to 20 members
2. To assist in the formation of new clubs."

Club Support

This team will advise clubs about growing membership.  If you have any issues, please feel free to contact Club Support Officer Mark Ransom. The early aim is to assist clubs with 19 members or less.

They may advise clubs with more than 20 members where meeting attendance is low.

Sponsor, Mentor and Coach (SMaC)

A club with 12 members or less may request appointment of Coach(es)  The coach(es) work with the club to reach a net gain of 5 members and to become distinguished.

Example: Net growth of 5 members.  Club membership at the appointment date:  11.  By the end of the coach(es) term, the club has 16 members and achieved a minimum of 5 goals in the Distinguished Club Program.

A Sponsor, Mentor or Coach completes a task in the Advance Leader Silver.  Please contact Scott Johnston if you’d like to be a member of the team.

New Clubs

District aims to help more people gain confidence in communicating and leading.  For 2015/16, we chartered 8 new clubs.  There are several clubs 'in formation'.

The New Club Team will assist in the formation of new clubs.  The team can, with the SMaC team, help arrange sponsors and mentors as may be needed.

Please contact Dianne Sammut if you would like to assist forming new clubs.

Speechcraft

Through educational sessions, the team gives clubs information to ensure the club Speechcraft course will be effective.  It is a proven way for clubs to grow their membership.  In can help a 'club in formation' gain members so they can charter.

We'd like to have a co-ordinator in each Division as a liaison point with clubs.  Contact Pauline Gilchrist to discuss.

Can we help your club increase membership?

For more information, please discuss membership with your Area Director either now or at the time of the club visit.  Alternately, you can contact the Leader of a team:

Grow clubs workshop

A dedicated workshop is being held this Saturday at Brush Farm Academy in Eastwood for Club Vice Presidents Membership and Public Relations aimed at helping clubs build membership.

Attendees will be exposed to the entrepreneurial concepts of marketing and how these concepts can be applied to your Club to allow you to grow your Club.

The workshop is being conducted by well-respected trainer/educator Joseph Boutros who has had an extensive successful career in both corporate and private eEnterprises, having worked in senior management positions with the likes of Goodyear Tyremarketers, 7-Eleven, Fletcher Jones and owning his own businesses. "His entrepreneurial perspective on Marketing will simply amaze you."

Details of the workshop can be found on our District What's On webpage.

A great opportunity!

District 90 is looking to purchase USB sticks for issue to Area and Division directors for this year and next.

This will help these officers in carrying out their roles as they will have their resources in the one place and don't need to go searching various websites or through a number of manuals to find information to help you, the member.

District is searching for sponsorship from a club, or clubs, to pay for these. The price for 100 sticks is $750.

What we get:

• 100 USB sticks loaded with up to 500MB of data
• printing on both sides
• all Area Director resources in one place           
• happy Area Dirctors

• your club name printed on 100 USB sticks
• free publicity for 2 years
• the satisfaction of knowing you have reduced the stress of your Area Director

If your club is interested, contact Udo Moerig DTM, prm@d90toastmasters.org.au

Margaret Kravchenko – Toastmaster of the Year!

Margaret Kravchenko – a 16-year veteran of District 70 and 90 Toastmasters – has been named District 90's first Toastmaster of the Year.



Margaret, a Distinguished Toastmaster, joined in July 2000, although she had first visited a club meeting eight years earlier.

A member of Holroyd Toastmasters, highlights of Margaret's Toastmasters career to date have included mentoring of numerous members, including Doris David who won the 2015 District Evaluation Contest.

Her biggest achievement so far, though, has undoubtedly been her long involvement with Up Up Toastmasters where she is still widely respected as one of the club's strongest mentors. Margaret is a mentor to the club still.

Margaret Kravchenko, District 90 salutes you!

Photo: at the recent District 90 Changeover Dinner, Margaret receives her award from outgoing District Director Bob Kirchner, Program Quality Director Michael Said and Club Growth Director Shirley Childs.

Changeover photos and recognition

Photos by District Photographer Suben Subenthiran from the recent Changeover dinner at Hornsby RSL Club are now viewable from the District 90 Facebook page, or by this link...

Among the recognition and accolades during the evening, outgoing Hawkesbury Division Director and incoming Club Growth Director Phil Reed was named Division Director of the Year while Area 6 Director and incoming Hawkesbury Division Director Melanie Cheong was named Area Director of the Year in tandem with Area 18's Alison Edwards.

And, of course, the 2016-2017 District 90 Management Team was formally installed by Past District Governor Joan Rinaldi. Pictured, from left: Geri Rich (Western Division Director), Leesa Barnard (Eastern), Jane Lally (Northern), Melanie Cheong (Hawkesbury), Past District Director Bob Kirchner, Club Growth Director Phil Reed, Program Quality Director Shirley Childs, Administration Manager Debbie Tibbles, District Director Michael Said, Logistics Manager Tanya Wickham, Finance Manager Jan Vecchio, Public Relations Manager Udo Moerig and Chris McLoon (Western).



Registrations now open for...



Registrations for the 2016 District 90 Semi Annual Conference are now open.

Registrations can be made, and more information obtained, at the dedicated webpages here.

The Conference will be held at Gosford RSL on Friday, Saturday and Sunday November 4, 5, 6.

Further details will be announced as finalised.

Vale – Denis Greenwood

Past Northern and Eastern Division Governor Denis Greenwood died in June aged 77.

Denis was heavily involved in the creation and support of many clubs during his time in Toastmasters, including Dynamic Dora Creek.

He also had a long involvement in the Lions organisation, especially in the Lions' Driver Reviver program.

A more detailed biography will be included in an upcoming newsletter.

Denis is survived by wife Krista, also a past Toastmasters Division Governor and children Vinay & Angela, Baleen and Vaneeta & Bruce.

Update your Toastmaster records with TI

Every Toastmaster should log into the Toastmasters International (TI) site to update their records. Some statistics about our member database.

5% of all emails sent bounce. And another 3% of members don’t list an email address at all.
25% of members don’t have a mobile number listed.
45% of all numbers listed are not in the correct format.

As one of our strengths is our communication, we should be able to communicate with our members effectively.

We ask you to take a few minutes to log into TI at https://www.toastmasters.org/Login. Your Username is either your member No or your email address on the TI database. (Your member No can be found on your Toastmaster magazine envelope that arrives monthly).
 
If you have never logged in before, or you cannot locate your password, click on “Forgot your password?” and enter the email address on the TI database. A new password will be sent to you in less than 2 minutes. If your email address has changed, you will need to get a club Executive member log into Club Central and  correct your email address, before you ask for a new password. Should you still not be able to log in, send an email to membership@toastmasters.org and provide them with your member No and what the problem is. They will respond in less than three working days.
 
Once logged in, click on “My Toastmasters” and then “Update All My Contact Information”.

• Your mobile No should show the Australian prefix (61) and then the mobile No without any spaces and drop the leading zero. In my case it is shown as just 419522949
• You land lines (home, office or fax) should also show the Australian prefix (61), add the area code without the leading zero and then the landline No without any spaces. Again, in my case it is shown as 295295003
• In any phone or fax numbers are blank, set the default country as the United States and remove and XXX that may be listed in the number field.
• Use the bottom section to correct your email address. It is preferable to only have the one email address as having a secondary address can cause problems when logging in. And if you share an email address with another Toastmaster, you are likely to encounter problems logging in.
• As a minimum, you should list a working email address and a mobile No. If you don’t have a mobile, then a home landline should be listed.
• After all updates are completed, press save.

One you are able to log in, you can see what speech manuals you have completed, what Executive roles you have had, And you can access more Toastmaster material that will assist you on your Toastmaster journey. You will then be connected to the Toastmaster world.

Club Anniversaries

Congratulations to the following clubs for reaching significant anniversaries...

Sociable Seafarers ............................................................... 45 in August!
Berowra Toastmasters ................................................................... 40 in August!
Brisbane Water Breakfast Toastmasters  ................................................. 10 in August!

Click this link to view educational achievements
in District 90 so far this Toastmasters year (note:
current records are not due on line until later in July)

Need supplies for your club? Or for yourself?
Visit Toastmasters Supplies Australia website here.