Black Swan Sep/Oct 2011 Newsletter
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Newsletter Contents
What a fantastic contest for Area C1
Convention Update for Newsletter - Oct 2011
The value of follow-up
Editorial
Words of Wisdom
District Governor’s Report
Darren Fleming Workshop, version 1
How did they do that?
Darren Fleming, Version 2
Convention Update
JusTalk’s 250th Meeting
Linkedin Groups for Toastmasters
A Club contest at Talkabout
Excitement at Riverside
Area S34 Contest, Version 1
Area S34 Contest, Version 2
The Touring Toastmaster
The Touring Toastmaster Part 2
10 Years and counting
Bouquets and Brickbats
Renewals are posted
This is our first significant reality check
This is an overall analysis of the state of our District, Divisions, Areas and Clubs now that we have from TI (Toastmasters International) their end of month report which includes member renewals for the first time.
Congratulations TI
You've done it. For the first time this year, since July 1, the current member totals, member awards and DCP (Distinguished Club Program) reports are up to date and accurate. Amazing! After three months of hopelessly inaccurate reports, at last the current update seems to fit our local knowledge. Just congratulations for only taking three months to sort it out. And congratulations to District Governor Mark Richards for continuing to harass them until they recognised there was a problem, and later got around to fixing it.
Congratulations to our District Leaders
The congratulations go to our Club Officers, our Area Governors, our Division Governors and the Executive led by District Governor Mark Richards.
On the weighted scale used by TI our District is 2nd among the 87 Districts in the world for Paid Clubs, 4th for AC Awards, 6th for Leadership Awards, 17th for CC Awards and 37th for Member payments. More on Member payments later, but this is an outstanding start for our new District. Congratulations everybody.
Congratulations Victoria Quay and Canning Vale
Victoria Quay with 8 DCP Goals and 23 members and Canning Vale with 7 DCP Goals and 30 members are leading the way among our clubs.
Southern River with 6 Goals and Armadale with 5 Goals are doing well, but haven't renewed 20 members.
Congratulations Armadale and Southern River
TI publish a Top 10 Clubs list based on July 1 membership.
Armadale with 5 Education Awards from 13 members narrowly head Southern River with 8 Awards from 21 members.
They are followed by Victoria Quay with 9 Awards and 25 members and Canning Vale with 10 Awards and 33 members.
It is no surprise that these are the top four clubs by DCP Awards, though in a slightly different order.
Congratulations to John Palmer - our leading Area Governor
John's Area S31 has four clubs with 19 DCP Goals. Additionally John has this year achieved his DTM - see below. Congratulations John.
David Fox's S32 is close behind with 17 Goals in five clubs
Congratulations to Vicky Post - our leading Division Governor
Vicky is Southern Division Governor. Southern Division has the two outstanding clubs and the two leading Areas. As well the Division's clubs have achieved 61 DCP Goals - easily the best in the District.
And Vicky too has just achieved her DTM. Congratulations.
Congratulations to Triple Crown members
TI recognise members who achieve three or more Educational Awards. We have 8 members who have this honour to date.
Vicky Post and Mark Richards have 5 Awards
Peter Law and Martin Lindsay have 4 Awards
Lynne Brighton, Robyn Lloyd, Glenis Nicholas and Robyn Richards have 3 Awards
Congratulations to our new DTMs
We have 7 members who have achieved Toastmasters' highest individual award - Distinguished Toastmaster
Congratulations to Lynne Brighton, Ian Pickens, John Palmer, Pascale Amberville-Colby, Vicky Post, Gawain Simpson and Robyn Lloyd
Check out the page devoted to our DTMs. Several have contributed stories about their personal progress to the award.
Congratulations to our new club Founders and Mentors
Applecross chartered in early August and is already lodging member Awards. Congratulations to Founders Ross Wilkinson and Jackie Perriman and to Mentors Pascale Amberville-Colby and Glenn Wright.
Congratulations to clubs with strong member growth
Ian Pickens has worked hard as a successful Coach for Electric Toasters. He is still active in promoting the club and they are leading the way in New Member Awards with two DCP Goals and 11 new members. Ian is another of our new DTMs. Congratulations.
Trackside aren't far behind with 2 DCP Goals from 9 new members. They are the only two clubs so far to achieve both New Member Goals. Congratulations to both Clubs. They are an inspiration to all of us.
Brickbats?
No! Of course there are no brickbats. That's not our style. But there are some causes for concern in the figures.
Have we been too successful in encouraging early Renewals?
Our District Leaders have energetically promoted the importance of getting Renewals in on time. They have publicised the minimum 6 member requirement. Very successful. On the adjusted scale we are second in the world!
But, the actual member figures show that many clubs have left it at 6 or close to that! Between September 30 and October 20 when the first Renewal figures were published, our District overall membership has plummeted from 1216 members to 826 members. That's a loss of 390 members!!!
Yes, I know that some clubs are still getting in late Renewals and are batching them up to put through the reminder when they are all in. I can understand that, but it's not a good management system. We need a strong drive to get Renewals up to date as quickly as possible.
We seem to have lost three clubs
Yes, there are no Renewals from two clubs in Central Division - The A Team and Roeteric - and one in Northern Division - Ovatalkers. Our Lt Governor Marketing, Pascale, is attempting to find a way to carry them through but obviously it will be difficult two weeks after the cutoff point.
Yes, we have chartered Applecross and Tim Blackburn is close to chartering another one. But after that we will still be down a club overall. Just to be a Distinguished District by June 30, 2012 we need a net gain of one club. So right now we are down two clubs on our minimum goal.
We need to make a concerted drive to found new clubs and on our recent experience it seems as if Community Clubs are our most successful.
Some clubs have not yet lodged any awards
In fact a majority of clubs have not yet lodged any awards. In strong contrast, our newest club - Applescross - which chartered two months ago has already lodged 3 CCs, an AC and a CL.
It is generally true that our successful clubs lodge awards steadily during the whole year. They don't leave it to a desperate rush in mid June with just a fortnight to go to locate some awards. Work to become one of the strong clubs. Start planning for CCs, ACS and CLs right now.
If you would like to add a congratulation or comment on of the material post it on the Leave a Reply box below.
David Nicholas DTM
District 17 Webmaster