Fellow Toastmasters and Club Leaders of District 65

Greetings.

I thank all of you for your participation in Area and Division Contests as well as at the District Conference. Thank you also for timely payment of April membership dues. The elections of the club officers need to be held at the first club meeting in May and I want to thank all current club officers who have served and continue to serve their club membership as well as wish success to the incoming club officers.

Exactly two months remain in the district year and naturally the district would like all club members and especially club leadership to strive in becoming a Distinguished Club. Becoming a Distinguished Club is a mark of excellence and a performance measurement system designed and developed by Toastmasters International. Clubs that achieve this high distinctions are generally healthy clubs (charter strength membership of 20+) with high energy level meetings, ongoing membership recruitment campaigns, commitment to completion of individual educational goals, and finally a demonstration of strong club leadership.

Becoming a Distinguished Club is within reach of all the Clubs in District 65. Completion of five or more goals in the ‘Distinguished Club Plan’ (DCP) is simple and straightforward. Fifteen Clubs to-date have already achieved this high honor. One of the five goals set by the District 65 in the beginning of the year was to have 50% of the Clubs become distinguished. This past year, 35 clubs became distinguished and this year the 50% goal translates to about 43 clubs. Please make sure that YOUR club is among of these 43 clubs. Those clubs that are unable to become distinguished this year due to variety of reasons, I urge them to start proper planning for the next year. Once again, every club is capable of becoming a distinguished club and has the fun doing it.

Congratulations to the following clubs that have become Distinguished to-date (4/27):
Morning Knights; B&L Visionary; Ithaca Area; Mohawk Valley; P.O.W.E.R.; Northpointe; Lilac City; Savvy Speakers; Daybreakers; Postprandial; Rochester High Noon; Cayuga; Grand Pioneer; Speechcrafters and Empire Statesmen. Two clubs have to-date have become SELECT Distinguished – AM Lockport and Downtown Club.

Here are some updates on the District activities.

1. The Spring Conference registration was over 160. Nine excellent educational sessions, two great speech contests, election of new district officers and two well attended (over 100 each) C&L luncheon and dinner/banquet. Thirteen of the nineteen Area Governors and three of the four Division Governors attended the conference. Thank you.
   
   • Mayor of Syracuse, Matthew Driscoll was the proud recipient of the C&L award. (visit http://www.tmdistrict65.org./Temp/2007SCCLAward.html on the district 65 web site.)
     
   • The winner of the International Speech contest is Patrick Mellody of Downtown Club in the western division. Patrick represents the district at the Region VI contest and we wish him good luck.
     
   • The Table Topics Contest was won by Nathaalie Maxwell of Riverside City Club in the southern division and a toastmaster since just three months.
     
   Congratulations also to all the newly elected district officers.
   


2. New clubs building activities are being aggressively pursed during the next two months to meet TI’s and district’s new club building goals. Help build new clubs by volunteering as members of the DEMO team and a club mentor. If you believe that a Toastmasters club will be appropriate at your place of employment, call us and we will arrange for a DEMO meeting.
   


3. We urge all members and especially leadership of all clubs to bring-in two or more new members during the next 60 days, starting today, May 1, 2007 and before June 30, 2007. Will you deliver? Can you deliver? How can the district help you deliver?
   


4. There are more than 50 clubs in the district to-date that have not recruited 8 new members required to achieve two of the 10 DCP goals. Many of the clubs are getting close to getting the remaining new members.
   


5. To-date, we are about 65% and 83% of our educational goals of CCs and ACs respectively. Traditionally, these goals have a major surge during the last two months of the year. As club leaders, please make sure that the names of members given to the Area Governors during their club visits complete their educational goals prior to June 30.
   


6. Over 500 new members have joined the District since July 1, 2006 and in addition, 150+ charter members to-date. More than one-third of the members in District 65 are new members and less than one year with the district and this number is anticipated to be over 40% by end of June 2007. These new members are the future club leaders, speech contestants and district officers. We welcome you.
   


7. Bob Logan, Lt. Governor of Education & Training and the team of District Trainers are in process of finalizing the club officers training program to be held in June. The dates are Saturday, June 9 in Syracuse and Buffalo and Saturday, June 23 in Rochester and Ithaca. Further details on the training location, time, etc., will be announced by Bob Logan shortly.
   


8. TI’s web site is updated each Friday by 9 AM. Visit the site and see YOUR club latest status on DCP goals including (1) educational and (2) membership goals. It is these two goals when achieved will make your club a distinguished club, between now and end of June.
   

The time is now to take the thoughts (the DCP plan) and words (educational commitments and membership recruitments) into action (becoming distinguished club) by helping and guiding the each member in your club to complete his or her educational goals and make every effort during these final two months in bringing two or more new members in each of the clubs.