Area 33 Director, 2024-25

 1. This Fall, District 106 is holding a Tall Tales and a Table Topics contest.  The Division D contest is scheduled for Saturday, October 8.  The Area 31 contest is scheduled for Saturday, October 1.  Other area contest dates will be announced soon. 2. Club officer training is required by August 31.  Training dates, including virtual, are available on the D106 calendar .   3. Area Directors are assigned as follows: Area 31, Mary Benson-- Allianz, Eloquent Engineers, Golden, Sunrisers, TCO Speakos Area 32, Eric Blomgren-- Mills Early Risers, Pillsbury Club, Speakeasy Club, Stagecoach Speakers- Metropoint, Whole Wheat Area 33, Beth Plamondon-- Ah Busters, Crosstown Talkers, Leadership Summit, Noontime Talkers, PowerTalk, Talk Masters Area 34, Brian Rice-- Data Park, SRF, Tri-Dynamics, Uncommon Speakers Our role as District leadership is to help clubs perform their mission.  Please let us know how we can help! My focus has been on promoting outdoor ...

Toastmasters clubs were hit hard by Covid.  Just after a Spring contest in 2020, my home club lost its meeting place.  The response within District 106 of educating clubs about Zoom online meetings was timely.  Eloquent Engineers Toastmasters and many other clubs still meet each week over Zoom. In 2021, we even completed the Speechcraft that we were midway through.  Now in 2022, we have again been granted access to the room where we used to meet.  We had a hybrid meeting last week.  Perhaps this Fall, we will provide an in-person Speechcraft.   Are other clubs meeting in-person? Other clubs are also starting to meet in person again.  Uncommon Speakers found a new meeting place last November.  Leadership Summit is meeting in person (hybrid), indoors, for the first time tomorrow.  Mills Early Risers restarted hybrid meetings. Will PowerTalk meet in person for monthly 6:30 am meetings?  Maybe not.  The club has thrived with Z...

 Our group met today.  We have three area directors assigned.  We might possibly have a fourth, it's a 50/50 proposition.  Also, we were fortunate to have the previous division director present, who can help us along, and get us started with club contacts. We met at a covered picnic table in a park.  It wasn't the best location, as there were no rest rooms nearby.  We'll find a better park for our next get together.  It was a nice day though! First on the agenda was ice breaker speeches.   All of us gave ice breakers, and most/all (?) of us reflected on Toastmasters experiences during our presentations.  We are strong group.  Our speeches fell within the time requirements.  We brought polish.  Leadership is about building relations and relying on each other.  The most important part of the meeting is the saying "hello". Our district director defined three keys to success .  1) We need to recognize that everyone has f...

  We join Toastmasters toward improving our public speaking skills, but many of us discover a greater benefit.   Toastmasters develops our leadership skills.   Some of us join clubs with a leadership focus to discuss leadership and see it modelled.   Leadership Summit Toastmasters club, which meets the first Tuesday evening of the month is one of these clubs. Pat Croal is a Leadership Summit founder (with Theo Black) and a Toastmasters International Presidents Award winner (with Keith Hardy).   A long-time hospital laboratory manager, she now oversees the Park-Nicollet Foundation.   As a leader, she models engagement and positivity.   The Summit, an annual event toward engaging new club members, is her idea. Another Leadership Summit member, Harold Osmundson, is a member of the Toastmasters International Board of Directors.   I first met him eight years ago when he visited my club in his district leadership role.   When I volunteered as...

Toastmasters has been hit hard by COVID-19.  Some clubs have thrived with Zoom meetings.  Some even have become national in scope as people from California or Texas or Tennessee join in on local Twin Cities meetings.  But, many clubs have noticed declines in networking time and mentorship time.  Overall, membership numbers have declined and personal interaction has been cut back. What to do?  I have two ideas. First, we need lots and lots of leadership.  We need area directors.  We need support for area directors.  We need contest Toastmasters.  We need lots and lots of events.  Without plentiful leadership, well meaning volunteers end up burned out.  Toastmasters should be fun.  If people are feeling that the effort is a grind, it will sure help that there are others around to grind some coffee for us, to provide moral support and to re-enthuse us.  If you have been a district leader before, please help out the next gener...