Be a D25 Club Coach

Club rebuilding is just as important as club building. District 25 is taking this opportunity to spotlight a key tool instrumental in club rebuilding! It is the club coach program.  Low-member clubs can be given a shot in the arm by having a coach (or two) who is passionate about bringing Toastmasters to more people. It is hard to turn guests into members when the attendance is low.

Help your district give every club what it needs to succeed. Make sure even our smallest clubs present Toastmasters in the best possible light to guests, build their membership and become Distinguished. We want every District 25 member to have a wonderful Toastmasters experience.

Join our existing club coaches and you will be part of a team recognized for its efforts at the district and International level!

Current Club Coaches - District 25
Club #	Club_Name	Name
643446	AAFCU Flying Toasters Club	Jacqueline Teixeira, ACS, ALB
643446	AAFCU Flying Toasters Club	Kathy Brewer, DTM
2219278	WBC Toastmasters	L Eve Engelbrite
2219278	WBC Toastmasters	Thomas Jacob, ACB
4538	Power Communicators	Roberta Whinery Ley, DTM
4538	Power Communicators	Manhal M. Shukayr, DTM
2476	Mid-Cities Noontime Club	Jim M. Danielson, ATM, CL
2662832	The Voice	Charles Roy Mencke, DTM
8474	First Command Club	Jamie Leigh Pickering, DTM
1540842	Circle of Excellence	Marylee D. Mims, DTM
2507494	Destiny Seekers	Cindy Hinckley, DTM
629	Six Twenty Nine Club	Jodie Sanders, DTM
1465837	Las Colinas Towers Toastmasters	John G. Bergs, DTM
2287526	Texas Toast	Rucha D. Jani, ACS, ALB
2112134	Soapbox Heroes	Mary L. Feltman, DTM
2112134	Soapbox Heroes	Rachael M. Williams, ACB, ALB
676842	Heart of Texas Bridge Gappers Club	Louisa M. Whitehead, ACB, CL
594840	Toast the Blues Toastmasters Club	Jonna Chambers, CC
676842	Heart of Texas Bridge Gappers Club	Jeanette C. Vance, ACS, ALB
6497	Phi Rappa Yappa	Cindy Marie Warmbrodt, DTM
1879279	Leaders-Speakers of Tomorrow	Felicia L. Christian, DTM
591399	Excellence in the Speaking Arts TM	Michael Amos, ACS, ALB

Club Coach: Guiding a Club to Success Brings Rewards

Ask people to reflect on who were their most influential mentors, and many will say that a coach in junior high, high school, or college had a strong influence on their  lives. Coaches motivate people to achieve their highest performance, to be dissatisfied with anything less than their very best. A great coach’s influence touches the future.

How would you like to touch the future? You can—by volunteering to be a Toastmasters Club Coach! If you are interested in honing your own leadership skills while helping a Toastmasters club to achieve success, we need you! Club Coaches are in short supply in District 25. At present, 36 clubs are eligible for coaches in D25. Many of these clubs meet Wednesday at noon, so finding enough members to serve as coaches for these clubs has not been easy.

Here are the answers to a few Frequently Asked Questions about the Club Coach program:
Q Does my club qualify for a Club Coach?
A A club must have 12 or fewer members at the time the coach is appointed. An existing club member cannot be appointed as coach for his/her own club.

Q If my club qualifies for a coach, how can my club sign up for the Club Coach program?
A Your club can request a coach by emailing Lt. Governor Marketing Cindy Hinckley. Information is available on this District website page.

Q What qualifications must I have in order to be a Club Coach?
A Club Coaches are experienced Toastmasters with at least a Competent Communicator award; a Competent Leader award is also desirable.

Q What credit will I earn as Club Coach?
A Being a successful club coach meets a requirement for the Advanced Leader Silver. The club must achieve Distinguished status for the coach to earn credit.

Q How can I sign up to be a Club Coach?
A The District Governor or Lt. Governor Marketing must appoint the coach. Either one or two coaches can be appointed to a low-member club.

Q What will I do as a Club Coach?
A The coach helps the club create a plan for membership growth and achievement of Distinguished Club goals. He or she also guides the club toward having strong meetings to attract new members.

Q What kind of time commitment must I make?
A The coach attends meetings whenever possible and remains with the club until the club achieves Distinguished Club status.

Working with a club while guiding it to success is among the most rewarding assignments in Toastmasters. Consider volunteering to become a Club Coach. Touch the future: Be a Club Coach!

Bonne Stroman
Immediate Past District Governor

Do You Take a Tablet to Toastmasters?

No, not a pad of paper, but the electronic kind of tablet. 

From palm-size to wall-size, video screens have become our ubiquitous servants. From our doctor’s offices to our car dealer’s service bays they are providing instant services never thought of a mere five years ago.

In 2014, is the pace of “instant” video communication about to impact Toastmasters?

The novelty of using tablet computers for meeting functions is probably already wearing off. With surprising frequency these all-too-common tech gadgets are occupying necessary positions in our tracking, monitoring, speaking and, most recently, our Toastmasters training. What’s next? How about one-on-one recruiting? If CD’s are used as résumés, why not use tablets as marketing tools for recruiting new clubs? If a two-minute “elevator speech” can sell personal qualifications, why not a five-minute video selling Toastmasters International qualifications?

The power of the ten-inch screen in front of corporate decision makers continues to fascinate and gain prominence. If Toastmasters is truly international, can an international meeting – on Skype – be far behind? Once the logistics of language, time zones and protocol are worked out, as they say, “We’re live.”

But, back to District 25. If your club has implemented the use of a tablet for a cutting-edge purpose, forward your story to Cindy Hinckley. We can compile our responses and, who knows, maybe create an article for Toastmaster magazine. The recent response to the “Lunch and Learn” at the last TLI indicates that our District is ready to market the benefits of using this next generation of “techy” tools.

I for one, am anxious to see your ideas.

Jesse Torres

Area 34 Governor

Club Renewal Policy Change — Now It Takes Eight

A successful club attracts members and keeps them engaged. All of us want our clubs to be successful.

How many members should a club have to be successful? After conducting a survey of members' satisfaction and an analysis of the Distinguished Club Program, Toastmasters International has changed the minimum club membership level from 6 to 8, effective April 1, 2014. Therefore, for a club to continue in good standing after the April dues renewal, it must have at least 8 members.

You can visit Toastmasters International at the following link to see the official policy. It is located on page 139: http://www.toastmasters.org/policyprotocol

District 25 wants to educate and assist clubs in the transition to the 8-member minimum by presenting a special TLI workshop "Club Renewal Policy Change" on December 14 at Texas Wesleyan University. See how your club can prepare and what district resources are available to to help. http://www.d25toastmasters.org/tli/schedule.htm

My Day with the RA

Linda Williams

Linda Williams, Region 3 Advisor, paid us a visit last month. A Region Advisor (RA) oversees several districts' worth of Toastmasters clubs, providing support and advice to district officers mostly by phone, but also making one visit in person each year.

Since these visits are so rare, it's important to make the most of the RA's time. Organizing the schedule was the responsibility of Lt. Governor Marketing Cindy Hinckley. Linda would be here on Friday and Saturday, October 18-19. The District Executive Committee (DEC) Meeting and the Marketing Workshop were already planned for Saturday. So Cindy arranged a varied lineup of meetings with clubs and corporate sponsors to keep us busy all day Friday.

Besides the RA and the LGM, the entourage also included the PRO (that's me, Jodie Sanders, Public Relations Officer). I was enlisted to drive the car, take pictures, and carry the luggage. Actually, there was no luggage to carry, but driving the car was a useful service that allowed the others to discuss district affairs without distractions. Lt. Governor Education and Training Marylee Mims joined us for the second half of the day.

The first stop was in west Fort Worth at PDX, Inc., the company that sponsors the PDX RxOrators. We met with club President Cindy Feneley and VP Education Mark Yarbro, along with three company executives who sponsor the club. The discussion centered on how the company has and can continue to support Toastmasters in their workplace.

Our next visit was to Medtronic, which sponsors the Savvy Sayers club at their Haltom City facility. One of the important duties of Region Advisors (and other International officers) is to present Corporate Awards, which are generally given to companies that sponsor multiple clubs (whether locally, nationally or internationally) and have a high profile in their community.

At a ceremony attended by more than 25 people, Linda Williams presented the Corporate Recognition Award to Medtronic. The beautiful crystal award was accepted by Bill Keighley, Manufacturing Director, who said "It's heavier than it looks!" as he held it.

Cindy Hinckley and Area 55 Governor Bret Hauser, both members of Savvy Sayers, also participated in the ceremony.

Others present were District Governor Dean Lampman, other Savvy Sayers members and their supervisors. I had an unexpected responsibility during Linda's speech — she handed me her Special Occasion Speeches manual and asked me to evaluate her!

Linda Williams, D25 officers and some of the Talk Blue crew!

Back on the road, we stopped to pick up Marylee Mims, then headed to IBM in Coppell for the noon meeting of Talk Blue. We had a great visit with the members and took on some meeting roles, too.

Talk Blue member Marcheta Gardner is working on chartering a new community club and she was able to discuss her progress on this endeavor with us after the meeting.

The last club visit of the day was at NEC Corporation in Irving where club president Amy Newman had arranged a meeting with herself and officers Lidia Boisson, John Heiser and Stacey Street. We discussed several issues of concern to a young, fast-growing club. Amy also provided drinks and yummy cookies which definitely saved my life because apparently RAs and Lt. Governors don't take time to eat lunch.

Our final stop was a nearby restaurant where we ordered an early dinner and reviewed our day. (I bravely took the opportunity to give Linda some verbal comments on her speech which she accepted graciously.) We were joined for a while by Dean Lampman, who had something to drink but no dinner. The server naturally thought Dean should get the check for the entire group; also naturally, this took Dean aback somewhat, but he coped well.

Back in the car, I delivered all my dignitaries to their destinations, and my day with the RA was over. For me, it was a most educational, exciting and enlightening experience. Also awfully alliterative, apparently.

Jodie Sanders
Public Relations Officer

Opportunities Are Waiting!

I would like to introduce our newest Marketing Team member, Dan Chisum, who has accepted the position of Club Support Chair. He will be in charge of Club Coaches and Helping Hands. Read more about these roles here.

Here is a list of opportunities for those ready to commit to giving back to others by serving as a Club Coach or as a member of a Helping Hands Team.

Club Coaches:

• 4th Sunday, 6:30 pm - North Irving
• 2nd and 4th Tuesday, 1:00 pm - Grapevine
• Wednesdays, 4:05 - 5:05 pm - Arlington
• 1st and 3rd Saturday, 10:00 am - Lewisville
• Wednesdays, 12:05 pm - Southwest Fort Worth
• Alternate Wednesdays, 6:00 pm - North Irving
• Wednesday, Noon - Fort Worth - Near DFW Airport

Helping Hands:

• 1st and 3rd Wednesday, Noon, Northwest Fort Worth
• Wednesday, Noon, Fort Worth -  Near DFW Airport

If you are able to fill one of these roles, please contact Club Support at danchisum@d25toastmasters.org to volunteer.

Spreading the Word

Mariam Durrani is taking full advantage of winning our Region 3 Advisor Linda Williams' personal Toastmasters cup at the Marketing workshop. She is talking up Toastmasters to her teammates and supervisor.

The teammate Mariam carpools with took this picture after learning how Mariam won it.

A supervisor commented on the "new addition" to her mug collection, but then noticed there was only one mug on Mariam's desk. When asked where the collection was, Mariam stated, "the mug collection is just that... a collection. Toastmasters is a path for speaking and leadership which I endorse." The supervisor smiled and nodded.

It is great to know that Mariam is doing her part to build "A Toastmasters Field of Dreams."