It's the February 2023 Dispatch!

District 42 Toastmasters

Monthly Dispatch

February 2023

Hello D42,

Welcome to the February issue of District 42’s Monthly Dispatch for the 22/23 Toastmasters year.

February may be the shortest month of the year, but there are still so many important days and celebrations packed into the 28 days.

District 42 is finishing the second round of Leadership Training. Have you been able to attend one yet? Below you will find links and information on registering for the next session. Attending Leadership Training might give you some tips and tricks on how to make Toastmaster's experience a great one for anyone joining.

Does your club have many new members? How are you helping them adapt to Toastmasters Program? My club, the Calgary Pace Setters, has a mentorship program and we are planning on holding a New Member Orientation / Bootcamp. How about your club?

Would you like to read about anything specific in the future? We are excited to hear your feedback. Send your comments to Vesna Ivkovic - D42 Dispatch Designer

Upcoming Events

See what's happening in February 2023.

In this issue:

Message from District Director
District News
Blog
Leadership Opportunities
Upcoming District Events
Did You Know
PR Guidelines & Publication Rules
District 42 PR Contest
Education Awards & Club Incentives
Club Anniversaries

MESSAGE FROM DISTRICT DIRECTOR

Heart Tree - Bev LeBlanc, DTM District Director, D42 2022-2023

The 'LOVE' month is upon us. You'll likely see hearts & flowers everywhere. You may receive Valentine's notes from many sources. Let me be one of the first to give you one: I find it almost unbelievable that we are more than halfway through our Toastmasters year together.

District News and Notes

Mary Schoendorfer, DTM, D42 Administration Manager 2022-2023

Leadership and Training events are open to all members and 4 club officers must attend sessions between November 1^st and February 28^th in order for a club to earn a DCP point. Clubs that earned at least 5 DCP points by January 31^st will receive the District Go-Getter award!

Upcoming sessions for District 42 are

Divisions D and E are hosting a session on February 4^th. Register HERE
Divisions A and C are hosting a session on February 22^nd. Register HERE
If the District 42 dates do not fit your schedule, you can look at the Region 4 Calendar and attend training in another district.
February 6^th is the All-Leaders Call. Register HERE.

There will be a notice of meeting sent to all eligible Toastmasters for the District Executive meeting on February 26th.

Club Vice Presidents of Education, Presidents and Secretaries: To ensure your members receive proper credit for their Pathways level completions, make sure you complete both parts of the approval process. Part One is to approve the award in base camp. Part Two is to enter the award on Club Central. Also, encourage any new Toastmasters to take the Pathways Orientation program. The next session will be on February 28th; register at this LINK

Lastly, contest season is upon us. Take note of the following dates for the spring contest round (International Speech and Evaluation contests). A club can have their contests in any format the club chooses.

Keep these dates front of mind:

The club contest deadline is: March 11 (schedule now)
The area contests deadline is: March 25 (contact your Area Director to help)
The division contests deadline is: April 8 (contact your Division Director via your Area

Director)

District contests will be shown at the Conference at the end of April.

Status of Club Officer Training - Eugene Sicat, PQD

We encourage you to attend Club Officer Training to learn about the role and responsibilities. This will ensure you can lead like a champion. In addition, seasoned Toastmasters share valuable information, best practices, tools, and resources provided by Toastmasters International to help you deliver superior support and service to your members. We also distribute new information to support your role, so even if you have been to the training numerous times, you will get something new in every training. Moreover, your expertise is of immense value to newer Club Officers, so that will also, in return, provide help to other officers.

For a more up-to-date list, you can refer to this google sheet: Training Status - D42

Find Out More

BLOG

Shine the Light: Stories of Inspiration and Success

Chuck LeBlanc, DTM Division D Director

SHINE THE LIGHT Stories of Inspiration and Success In District 42 we believe that every member has a story to tell. Stories which can bring hope to other members who might be stuck, and inspiration to clubs which may be languishing.

My DTM Story - Brian Fegan, DTM D42 Club Extension Committee Chair

I first joined Toastmasters in 2002 as I had a problem with filler words! I used a lot of them and took a long time to get to my main points when speaking! Not a good thing as the first 30 seconds of a conversation or an interview are so important!

Time Management Tips That Work - Eugene Sicat, D42 PQD

There are so many valuable and excellent articles in TI. Here is another one that I read recently on "Tips for Time Management ". It talked about several techniques, from: Creating a Time Audit, Having a Power Hour, Batching similar tasks together, Rating tasks based on importance or difficulty and organizing your day accordingly; Creating routines, Setting time limits to get things done, and Challenging to put a time limit on tasks.

Promoting Your Club Event - Vesna Ivkovic, D42 Dispatch Designer

Do you know how to promote your club event? District 42 Event calendar is used mainly for District, Division and Area advertising. Special events such as Club Anniversaries or special guest speaker events might also find their way to our Event Calendar. So where does that leave our clubs?

Getting Creative With Public Relations - Stacey Kaminski, PRM

Be familiar with the Toastmasters brand and the core pillars of the organization. In Toastmasters, all members are guided by integrity, respect, service, and excellence. Start thinking outside of the box and be bold with your messaging. Each club is different and unique, don't be afraid to advertise these quirks!

WEBMASTER

TECH TEAM CHAIR

Are You District 42's Next Webmaster or a TechTeam Chair volunteer?

District 42 is currently without a Tech Team chair or a webmaster. If you are tech-savvy and would like to serve the District in one of these roles, please contact District 42 Director Bev LeBlanc. More details about these roles can be found HERE

UPCOMING DISTRICT EVENTS

District 42 Spring Contest - Alisen Dopf, D42 Contest Chair

I am so happy to be your District Contest Chair as it's a real honour to shepherd our most talented and daring Toastmasters on their Competition journey. My whole team is dedicated to providing an encouraging and fair environment to compete. All contests - Area, Division and District - will be online.

Did You Know - Twila Tayfel, D42 Dispatch Editor

Grammarian and Ah-Counter Roles

Many people join Toastmasters because they want to improve their communication skills. When asked to be more specific, these people often say they would like to reduce their usage of crutch words and improve their use of language. Toastmasters has two meeting roles that can help with those goals – the grammarian and the ah-counter.

Learn More About Guidelines and Publication Rules

DISTRICT 42 PR CONTEST

District 42 PR Contest

SOCIAL MEDIA POST OF THE MONTH 2023

We are inviting all the creative District 42 members to submit their favourite Social Media Posts for the chance to promote their clubs and win a prize at the end of the contest. Click on the link below for more information on how to participate.

More Information

AND THE AWARD GOES TO...

DCP Go Getters and 7 out of 7 Incentives

Eugene Sicat, PQD

For the DCP Go-Getter Award, kudos to the following clubs who have achieved 5+ DCP points to date. Check out Leo's report page HERE.

For the 7 out of 7 officers trained, we have one club that has already achieved it having trained all 7 officers during the 1st and the 2nd round of training:

Calgary Pace Setters (Area D23)

We have 13 more clubs who are eligible to achieve it and they are:

Twin Rivers Club (Area A15)
MVP Advanced (Area A27)
Heart of the Rockies Toastmasters (Area A27)
Civil Speakers Toastmasters Club (Area B4)
Wascana Toastmasters Club (AreaB4)
Big Country Toastmasters (Area B18)
B.L.T. Advanced Toastmasters Club (Area B18)
Centennial Toastmasters Club (Area C17)
Connected Communicators (Area D2)
Dynamically Speaking Toastmasters (Area D12)
Literally Speaking Club (Area E13)
Speakers Edge Toastmasters (Area E19)
SAIT Sayers (Area E28)

EDUCATIONAL AWARD RECIPIENTS

Congratulations to all of our Educational Award recipients! Many awards were submitted for the last month. Click below to see the full list of awards.

Educational Awards