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A note to new Toastmasters... Welcome to the new and returning Toastmasters who have joined or rejoined a Toastmasters club in District 90 recently. "Ninety News" is a newsletter of District activities and important Toastmasters matters sent regularly to members.
From the District Director
The first weekend of November saw a successful semi annual conference held at Gosford RSL.
There were many highlights and for those who were not there, and those who were and want a reminder, they included...
- The Friday night entertainment from Chin-Hwi and co was outstanding, particularly the birthday tribute paid to Elizabeth Wilson.
- Over the weekend there were three presenters, Mark D’Silva, Joseph Boutros and Anna Perdriau, each delivering in their unique style, leaving great takeaway messages.
- There were the finals of the Table Topic and Humorous Contests, both won by David Griffiths. David’s win in Table Topics, makes him the first person in D70 or D90 to have won all four District contests. Congratulations, Dave.
- There was the 35 minute business session, with a number of proud flag and banner bearers, where our District again achieved a quorum for our third District 90 Council meeting.
- Many Toastmasters stepped up to chair events, act as Toastmaster or be functionaries ensuring all events ran as clockwork.
However the real highlight came out of mishap. Conference Chairman Tanya Wickham was hospitalised after an injury on the Monday before the Conference. In an instant, Pieta Beggs took over and ran the Conference in a flawless manner.
Nothing was an issue and any request was met with a smile and perfect result. This is testament to Tanya, firstly, for setting up the Conference allowing someone to step up. And secondly to Pieta and her team for taking the challenge and delivering a great Conference. It was Toastmasters in action!
Tanya is still convalescing but is well on the way to a full recovery. She is yet to attend a Toastmaster meeting but she tells me that this should change soon. The District wishes you a speedy recovery Tanya.
– Michael Said DTM
Our Contest Winners
One of the highlights of the Gosford Semi Annual were the contest finals, Humorous Speech and Table Topic.
Parramatta Toastmasters' David Griffiths took out both championship titles among some very tough competition with Helen Youngberry from Summerland Toastmasters in Lismore as runner-up in both.
Craig Morris of Dural Toastmasters took third place in the Humorous while Brendon Wilson of Manly Multilingual was third in the Table Topic Contest.
It's interesting to note that the dual winner and runner-up both are members of clubs that notch up 50 years in this Toastmasters year. Parramatta celebrated its 50th in September and Summerland will celebrate its 50th in June.
David and Helen are pictured here with Craig (left) and Brendon.
Conference success
As District Director Michael reports, this year's Semi- Annual Conference was a great success, all down to the planning, preparation and promotion by the hard working Conference Committee under the chairmanship of Tanya Wickham.
The whole event went off with only a very few minor hitches. The venue was fantastic (Gosford RSL) and the company was great (a record attendance for our second D90 Semi Annual).
Planning has started now for the 2017 Annual Conference with the announcement at Gosford that our Annual Conference Chairman will be Gill Walker. Stay tuned for news as it comes to hand!
Travel Gavel
Congratulations to In Focus Advanced Toastmasters of Ballina for taking out the Semi Annual Travel Gavel honour.
Ballina is one of our northernmost clubs and had enough attendees travelling to Gosford to take the prize! In case anyone was wondering, Ballina is 675 kilometres from Gosford...
Pictured are In Focus members (from left) Charmaine Priestley, Jan Vecchio, Udo Moerig, Donna Kildea, Mary Ford and Judy Mason with Area 1 Director Leanne Kirchner (who passed on the Gavel) and Club Growth Director Phil Reed.
Great education sessions
District was blessed with three wonderful education session presenters, Mark D'Silva, Joseph Boutros and Anna Perdriau. Here's an education session photo shoot...
New earlier deadline looming for District Leader nominations
A new deadline has been imposed by Toastmasters International for the nomination of candidates for District Officer roles.
Previously, nominations were sought up until the end of March.
Under the new requirement, nominations have to be in by Thursday December 15 – just a little over two weeks away!
That said, the call for nominations is now being made.
Nomination is for the following positions...
District Director
Program Quality Director
Club Growth Director
Eastern Division Director
Hawkesbury Division Director
Macquarie Division Director
Northern Division Director
Oxley Division Director
Western Division Director
Other senior leadership positions (Public Relations, Administration, Finance and Logistics) are by appointment by the District Director.
Area Director roles are also by appointment by the District Director, except where elections are held at Area level, in which case, the District Director shall appoint the elected candidate accordingly. Nominations for Area Director are not subject to the December 15 deadline.
District has a Leadership Committee which is tasked with seeking out prospective candidates, evaluating and interviewing candidates, nominating candidates and providing a complete report of candidates.
The members of the committee are Bob Kirchner (Immediate Past District Director and Committee Chairman), Mary Ford (representing Oxley Division), Dianne Sammut (Macquarie), Ros Scoble (Northern), Reg Stewart (Hawkesbury), Tom Wilde (Eastern), Elizabeth Wilson (Western).
Nomination for positions can be made after December 15 but these will be floor candidates at the election which will be held on Saturday April 22 during the 2017 Annual Conference.
Floor candidates do not have the same opportunities as candidates nominated via the District Leadership Committee.
If you would like to nominate for a position, and you are encouraged to do so, please download the formal letter and documentation here, or click on the image...
This includes a full rundown of qualifications but in a nutshell, nominees for any of the "trio" positions must have served a minimum of at least 12 consecutive months as a Division Director. Candidates for Division Director must have, at the time of taking office, have served at least six consecutive months as a member of a District Council (i.e. a club president or vice president education). Not a requirement but many previous leaders suggest experience as an Area Director (or Governor) would hold a newly elected Division Director in good stead.
 Vale – Malkit Banwait
Toastmaster Malkit Banwait tragically passed away on Sunday November 20.
Malkit came to Parramatta in October 2003. He immediately showed a passion for learning and an enthusiasm for everything he did. A few years later he joined a second club, The Hills District club and served as President twice there.
At Parramatta, he took on the VPPR role in 2013-14, producing the twice monthly newsletter, the "ParraNatta", culminating in coming second in the District Newsletter Competition.
He served in other executive positions with his usual energy and was the Area 37 Governor in 2014-15.
Malkit and his wife Rita often opened up their home to Executive meetings and these turned into Indian feasts. Hospitality was their nature.
Malkit was a truly generous man, doing anything for anyone. This was reinforced at his funeral service where it was made known that he had helped more than 40 families.
Malkit was a gentleman of the highest order and has left a footprint in and outside of Toastmasters that time will not quickly wash away.
Rest in peace, Malkit.
Club Growth Update
Movers and Shakers
Speechcraft Bonanza
We are in the midst of a successful series of Speechcraft Bonanzas. If you want to know the "how to" of running a successful Speechcraft Course... or if you want to learn about how to run a four week course, then the Speechcraft Bonanza will suit you. Here is a link to the D90 What's On page: www.d90toastmasters.org.au/whatson.html
Why Speechcraft:
- Help people gain confidence in presenting in an accelerated course
- Grow membership – invite participants to join the club near the end of the course
Contact: Pauline Gilchrist, speechcraft@d90toastmasters.org.au
Club Support
We are here to assist. Our team can visit clubs or Area Council Meetings to discuss growing club membership. This team is an ideal contact point for clubs with less than 19 members.
Contact: Mark Ransom, clubsupport@d90toastmasters.org.au
Phil Reed DTM
Email addy appeal from the Newsletter Editor
As this newsletter goes out, it should be noted that almost 80 of our members do not have an email address listed with Toastmasters International.
If clubs could encourage members who do have emails but haven't listed them with TI to do so that would mean they would get "in the loop" in regard to communications from District. If for some reason they do not wish their emails to be listed with World Headquarters but would be happy to be included on District emails, these can be sent to newsletter@d90toastmasters.org.au.
Click this link to view educational achievements
in District 90 so far this Toastmasters year
Need supplies for your club? Or for yourself?
Visit Toastmasters Supplies Australia website here.
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