Area 33 Director, 2024-25

My term as area director concluded on June 30.  Tahiti Castillo succeeds me as Area 33 Director.  Nick Niewinski succeeds Beth Plamondon as Division D Director.  Matt Villella succeeds Katy Hursh as Division 106 Director. Also of interest, at today's awards ceremony, many of us were deservedly recognized.   Triple Crowns, Magnificent 7's, Distinguished clubs, district leadership roles- I was alignment chair- Toastmasters loves recognizing your work and accomplishments.  What will you be recognized for at the 2025-26  TLI?   AWARDS The 2024-25 District 106 Area Director of the year was from Division D-- Ollie Stocker, Area 31 (no photo).  Power Talk Toastmasters received a Magnificent 7 award for all officers trained both periods (no photo here). Area 33 Club TMOYs: Juliana Hoffman, CrossTown Talkers Diane Windingland, Power Talk  Tim Rice, Data Park  Dustin Schuler, Leadership Summit Val Stachour, Noontime Talkers     ...

  Toastmasters Club 1746748 on behalf of Diane W. Windingland, DTM We’re excited to announce our upcoming event: From Toastmaster to Professional Speaker & Podcaster Saturday, May 10 2:30–4:30 PM CDT Hybrid – In person at Eden Prairie Library and online via Zoom Cost: FREE! This event is a key membership-building opportunity for our club and part of Sarah Bateman’s High-Performance Leadership (HPL) project. We need your help to promote it! Subject: Great Free Event for Toastmasters & Aspiring Speakers From Toastmaster to Professional Speaker & Podcaster May 10 | 2:30–4:30 PM CDT | Free | Hybrid (Zoom & Eden Prairie Library) It’s a fantastic opportunity to learn how others have made the leap into paid speaking and podcasting. Check it out and register here: In-Person Registration Link Online Registration Link Hope to see you there!

  Area 33 Club Members, I enjoyed seeing many of you at a very well organized District 106 conference in Thunder Bay, Ontario.  Our district speech champions were Peter Tartaro (International) and Jim Emery (Tall Tales).  Congratulations to Carmen Barnes (Mills Early Risers) and Julianna Hoffman (CrossTown Talkers) for representing Division D well.  Daniel DeJoode (PowerTalk) was also among the featured speakers.  Anna Gaichas was elected Club Growth Director. It was announced that this would be the final D106 trio election and that there is a TI masterplan to make districts larger.  Likely, D106 combines with D6 which will expand our district back to roughly the 200 clubs from Minnesota and Thunder Bay.  I hope you, like me, were inspired by the conference. Are you are seeing huge benefits from participating in your clubs?  There are always leadership opportunities!  Can you get your club to the membership level that is required to be distin...

  Division D Leaders, Wow, spring is almost here! There is still time to get those last DCP points to be a Distinguished club.  Remember that club dues are due by the end of March . Encourage your members to pay now so they can get it out of the way. Some of you are already doing this! Shout out to our Division D clubs:  13 clubs completed at least 4 officer training for round 2. Thank you! 8 clubs have increased membership so far this year - Good Job! 2 clubs have achieved Distinguished : Whole Wheat, Tri-Dynamics 1 club has achieved Select Distinguished : Allilanz Toasters 7 clubs are on track for Distinguished : Mills Early Risers, Tri-Dynamics, Crosstown Talkers, TicTalkers, Pillsbury, Golden, Park Place 3 clubs are in the District Top 10 for education awards:  Tri-Dynamics, Speakeasy, and Park Place Your Area Director is scheduling club visits to be completed by May. This is a great opportunity for you to talk about challenges and plan...

 Division D Leaders, I hope your holidays were relaxing, and that you had a chance to connect with friends and family.  Can you believe it's already February?! There are only 4 months remaining for this Toastmasters year. Below are some things to keep in mind as you look ahead to year-end. Shout out to our Division D clubs: Building New Hope - 30 members! Pillsbury, Whole Wheat & Aliianz - over 20 members! On track for Distinguished - Tri-Dynamics, Tic Talkers, PowerTalk, Whole Wheat, Mills Early Risers, and Allianz Toasters PowerTalk is 7 for 7 for Officer Training! Your Area Director is scheduling club visits. This is a great opportunity for you to talk about challenges and plans for the next year. Below is a summary of key dates and information for your clubs. Please contact me or your Area Director if you have any questions. Key Dates: Club Officer Training  - now through the end of February. Gather ideas for ways to get/keep you...

Area 33-34 Tall Tales and International Speech Contest Please participate as a contestant or contest official. Briefings :   Ridgedale Library, 5:30 pm, immediately before the contest.   The Zoom pre-meeting is canceled.  Contestants and contest officials, please email  tm.david.rasmussen.com to register in advance, ASAP. Monday, March 10 8pm  ZOOM Beth Plamondon is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.  Join Zoom Meeting   https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81467365766   Meeting ID: 814 6736 5766 Passcode: 035753 Contest : Wednesday March 12 Ridgedale Library, Room 172  IN PERSON Doors: 5:30 pm Briefings for Contestants and Contest Officials: 5:30 Event: 6 pm SHARP https://www.eventbrite.com/e/area-33-34-tall-tales-and-international-speech-contest-tickets-1122151558519?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl Reference materials about ...

  We have a great opportunity on Saturday, it's our TLI.  I need everybody to email their area directors and encourage them to email their clubs.  We want as many people registered as possible.  I shared the agenda and poster we can use.  Please spread the word.   THIS COUNTS AS OFFICER TRAINING.  it's 4 hours, but action-packed.  The more we get signed up the better.  Any questions please let me know.   Matt     Event Agenda: Growing and Learning – Our Path to Distinguished Date:  January 4, 2025 Time:  8:00 AM - 12:00 PM Location:  Zoom 8:00 - 8:05 AM Welcome and Introduction Matt Overview of the event 8:05 - 8:40 AM Keynote Speaker Speaker: Roger Caesar [Speaker Bio and Topic Overview] https://rogercaesar.com/ 8:40 - 9:00 AM Mentorship: Building Strong Relationships Speaker: Ed Aylward The power of mentorship in Toastmasters 9:00 - 9:10 AM Break Refreshments and networking...

Flier:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wuyyLWNmlysRQWhRzZA80rVSnuceSoa9/view?usp=drive_link

Division D Leaders, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! Oh my goodness the year has flown by! We are heading into 2025 in just a few days. It was great to see some of you at the D106 Holiday party, and I hope everyone has an opportunity to relax and spend some quality time over the next couple of weeks. A shout-out to our Area Director team for getting 100% of the club visits completed by the end of November. I hope their feedback was helpful for you to continue to be successful in your clubs. There is another round of club visit reports in the spring. Take advantage of the opportunity to connect with your Area Director, and ask for help or suggestions. A special shout out to our clubs for exceptional performance: Whole Wheat has already added 5 new members to their club this year! Tic Talkers and Allianz Toasters have met 4 of their DCP goals. Pillsbury, Tic Talkers, and Building New Hope have added 4 new members. Park Place, Tic Talkers...

  From Keith Hardy-- Sun 8 December, 1pm Pacific (Las Vegas) at Jackpot Speakers, Bill Parker will present his Tall Tales workshop.  Bill is an accomplished speaker including winning the 2023 D115 International Speech contest.  Bill consistently delivers high quality workshops.  Well worth a look if you’re free and intend to enter Tall Tales contest next year.   Details attached.  The link is:   Meeting Zoom link: http://rebrand.ly/ jackpotSpeakersTM Meeting ID: 825  3902 0928    Passcode: 179251

 In 2021, Toastmasters and Zoom started a promotion providing half price packages to Toastmasters clubs for certain Zoom plans.  The FAQ is still at the toastmasters.org website.  Is this promotion still available?  It is!  I emailed clubquality@toastmasters.org this week and they offered a promotional code.    If your club wants its own Zoom account, please request the code from clubquality@toastmasters.org .  Let me know how it goes.  I'd be interested in which plan you chose and why.

 Fellow Toastmasters of Area 33, 1. Contests The area contest is Wednesday evening, October 2. I attended a great club contest held by PowerTalk on Monday evening with three strong speeches. Juliana Hoffman from Crosstown Talkers helped as a contest volunteer. (Thanks, Juliana.) If your club has not held a contest, there is still time before our  area 33 contest.  If you have held a club contest or appointed a contestant, please let me know.   Area/Division Online Contest Details: Per the  ballot   any 5-7 minute speech is eligible The  rulebook  talks about online contests on page 21 Area 33 contest, Wednesday, October 2,  registration Division D contest, Thursday October 10,  registration Please also let me know if you wish to volunteer as a helper for contests.  Crosstown Talkers, Leadership Summit and PowerTalk members have provided volunteers! 2. Dues Deadline To be a club in good standing, 8 paid members are required by S...

Area Council Meeting, September 12 noon David Rasmussen (Leadership Summit), Paul Stachour (NoonTimeTalkers), Irina Miroschnichenko (Crosstown Talkers) , Diane Windingland (PowerTalk) All clubs represented except Data Park. Suggested Actions: 1. Continue renewal efforts (September 30 completion) 2. Clubs, please hold a club contest.  If no one volunteers, select by raffle to designate the club contestant. 3. Clubs, please send two contest officials per club to serve as ballot counters, judges, etc. Discussion: All clubs are working on membership and we are seeing guests/new members at most clubs. PowerTalk would like helpers at their club contest, Monday September 23 (evening).  Contact David. Set up a club visit to CrossTown Talkers with Irina. (David) A speaker is needed for NoonTime talkers.  (David) Contest Details: Per the  ballot   any 5-7 minute speech is eligible. The  rulebook  talks about online contests on page 21 Area 33 contest, Wednesday,...

Officer training is complete.  Congratulations! Power Talk trained 7/7 officers! Leadership Summit, Crosstown Talkers and Data Park show 4 or 5 trained meeting the DCP standard! Noontime Talkers shows three trained.  Please let me know if someone was trained who didn't yet get credit.  (There has been a lot of that.) This is contest month.  Our contest type is "online," which is new to everyone.  Originally, the contest was advertised as "humorous."  Please hold a club contest.  Please encourage club members to register for the area and division contests. Per the  ballot   any 5-7 minute speech is eligible. The  rulebook  talks about online contests on page 21 Area 33 contest, October 2, registration Division D contest, October 10, registration        3. Area 33 Council, Thursday September 12, noon Club presidents, please attend or designate an officer from your club toward discussion of club quality, area c...

1. PowerTalk has five officers trained as of July 31.  Maybe, they can go 7/7!  Other area 33 clubs need more officers trained to meet the standard of 4 officers trained by the end of August.  Officer Training Opportunities: https://d106tm.org/club-officer-training/ 2.  Club Presidents, please set up a Club Success Plan on Club Central for officer credit toward DTMs. 3. The Fall contests are 5-7 minute Humorous speeches!  Please have club contests! Please sign up to be a contestant or take a contest role for the Area 33 contest, Wednesday October 2. Please sign up for the Division D contest, Thursday, October 10.   More info: https://d106tm.org/speech-contests/

District 106 has a good chance to be a distinguished district. The district needs a total of 41 distinguished clubs. The rest will take care of itself. If each division is distinguished or at least has enough distinguished clubs to be distinguished, then the district is distinguished. For Division D, the requirement is 8 distinguished clubs, or just three more. Additional distinguished clubs will help the district assuming not every division meets the requirement. f="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNKAv64Oc3_CbuGpm4SawyoMh44X7E5n9w-ZyjAXCWjYV6wHGnLaQgxzZHbzxUJkArpthd9xUAvaENty0ia0cWKeYGGMZe7hLPLorDwk48zg0NieTNrhT2BZHhl7mp88yi55tOU5nPjWbo1jIPBLcbPnDNTDrINrHby-lbo6HJvcX3TSlM1z2BaPY0/s1821/Screenshot%202023-05-30%20Area%203132.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; ">

  It is Toastmaster contest season.  This is a great opportunity to see excellent speeches and evaluations and to learn from the best. This Saturday, March 25, is the Area 31 and Area 32 International speech contest and Evaluation contest.  Briefings are at 8:30.  Registration:  https://d106tm. org/event/area-31-and-32- speech-contest/?instance_id= 937   You will receive the Zoom link immediately after registering.  Please let Eric Blomgren, contest chair, know if you are available for a role.  Saturday April 22 is the online Division D contest.  Registration:  https://d106tm. org/event/division-d-speech- contest-6/?instance_id=917   Please let me know if you would like a role. May 12-13 at Duluth are the hybrid District 106 contests.  Register for the Spring convention here:   https://d106tm.org/event/ district-106-annual- convention/?instance_id=838    The early bird promo code is still available and great...

When I first became an area director in 2014, I was advised "Join a leadership club."  The district has a number of clubs which focus on leadership.  In Divisions B and D, we have Spirit of Leadership, The Leaders and Leadership Summit. While an area director, I became a club mentor.  My leadership development was in overdrive. I was over-committed so didn't initially renew at Spirit of Leadership.  However, in 2016 when I became a division director, I felt I needed a support network.  I have been a member of Leadership Summit since. Leadership clubs have much to offer, including some exceptional members who exemplify "leadership." Colleen Hamilton, a member of two leadership clubs, likes the "higher standards" that specialty clubs provide. "The Leadership Summit Toastmasters Club is a Leadership Development club. Our meetings feature advanced training seminars and panel discussions. If you are a Toastmaster who aspires to become a better leader, ...

  The twenty clubs in Division D added 49 new members July-January.   Six clubs have received a distinguished club program (DCP) point for adding new members—Sunrisers, Speakeasy, Whole Wheat and Crosstown Talkers.     Two clubs have received both DCP points for adding eight new members—Allianz and Pillsbury.   I asked these clubs for their secrets.   I expected to hear about open houses and Speechcraft , since they have always been the one, two go to approaches.   I was amazed at the breadth of response and the detail of the plans.    Joanne Boche of Whole Wheat says “follow up” with inquiries and guests.   Eugene Banks points out that Whole Wheat has a good location and start time that is reasonable for working people.     A club has to be convenient for people.   Whole Wheat makes strong points.    In my club roles, three new members joined out of the back and forth of emailing visitors and prospective gu...

 1. Officer Training dates are available through February 28.  dates   Clubs receive a Distinguished Club Program (DCP) point when four members attend Fall and Spring trainings.  Club status (January 23):  link 2.  Clubs are encouraged to hold an International Speech contest and an evaluation contest this Spring.  details Dates : Area 31-32  March 25, 9:30 am   Zoom     registration   Area 33-34  March 18, 9 am  Zoom     registration Division D   April 22, 11 am   Zoom    registration District 106 May 12-13  Duluth, MN 6pm    conference 3. Distinguished Club Program   overview Membership is a key to being a distinguished club.  Clubs with 20 members and 5 DCP points by June 30 are distinguished.  Clubs with a net gain of three members over their base also qualify with 5 DCP points.  Completing path levels and adding members...