The Great Scavenger Hunt

Lots and lots of information is posted on the District 86 website: http://www.toastmasters86.org/.  Do you know where to go to find that for which you are seeking?  Can you help others find it too? 

The Great Scavenger Hunt is about to begin.  There are 10 questions for you to answer. They are all listed on the website and it will be the website answers that will count as being accurate.  The FIRST email I receive at district86governor@gmail.com with the correct answers will receive a $50.00 gift certificate for the Spring Conference 2011.  All others who send in their answers to this email address will be put into a draw for a $25 gift certificate.  Use The Great Scavenger Hunt as the subject line.

All members except those in current district officer roles are eligible to play. 

 Ready? Set? Go...

What is the district newsletter called and where do you find the link on the website?

What is the date of the last update of the Club Officer Training?

How many points on the Above & Beyond contest does the club get per DTM?

What two links are listed under the Wondering What to Do Next heading?

How many main headings are there in the Tips for Contests?

In the Contest DOs and DON'Ts, how many DOs are there?

For how many elected positions are there descriptions under Postions for Nominations Process?

Under Clubs, how many new members have joined since the District 86 began July 1, 2008?

What is the key phrase in the slide show for the Spring Conference 2011?

How many district awards are there and what are they?

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Now's the time to search the site and find those answers.  Send in  your answers before February 15th.

Are you game to win a gift certificate?  Good luck!!!

Merri

Training Is For Everyone!

Yesterday was an awesome day!  Your district officers gathered in Milton for a full day of exciting interaction, education and shared learning.  At least that's what it looked like!

During the sessions, the division and area governors learned about how to blend new district membership contests with international ones.  Our Lieutenant Governor Marketing, DTM John MacDonald promoted the extended Talk Up Toastmasters contest which TI runs.  If your club has the highest number of new members registered with TI during this contest, it will receive a $100 gift certificate for the Spring Conference bookstore.  All clubs who have any new members during the contest period will be put into a draw for a $50 gift certificate: two clubs will be drawn.

Our Lieutenant Governor Education and Training, DTM Avis Brodie presented the new rule book for running great contests. The International Speech Contest and the Evaluation Contest is getting underway in our clubs with the area and division contests only a short time away.  Be sure to encourage those who are preparing to participate and cheer them on. Come see the ultimate challenge at the District Conference at the Delta Meadowvale in Mississauga April 8-10th. 

Our governors got some really great tips for getting media coverage for promoting your club and building your membership from our District PRO, ACB, ALB Katie Chida.  Ask your Area Governor when they come for their club visits to share what they have learned.  Get your VP PR to use it; then watch your club grow!!!

Calling all District Leaders!  We need you!  Run for one of the District Officer positions for 2011-2012. Our Immediate Past District Governor, DTM Doreen Hillier presented the nominations procedures for the upcoming elections. Be sure to check out this information on the district website.

And much more; ask your Area Governors to visit your club and share some great information with you. Get ready for you and your club to be Soaring to Excellence on June 30th.

And training isn't just for the governors.  Your District Trio is heading off to Chicago for two full days of training so we can serve you better for the remainder of the year.  Each of us will be trained according to our roles and what is new on the horizon for Toastmasters International. I can't wait to see what's up. Stay tuned as I will be sure to share it all with you upon our return.

So, you see training is for everyone!  Between now and the end of February, Phase II training is going on in a venue near you.  Go, ask questions, learn stuff and share what you already know. What has your experience been like for the past six months? What do you want to accomplish the next six months?    Attending club officer training is a proven strategy for club success.  Find out when and where on the district website: http://www.toastmasters86.org/.

So training IS for everyone...how about you?

New Year's Goals

Happy New Year everyone!  I trust you all had an outstanding end to 2010 and began 2011 with all the excitement you could muster.  Have you reflected on all the things that made last year what it was?  Have you considered how you are going to move on to bigger and better things for this coming year?  Now is the time!

Time is our most precious asset but it is totally non-renewable. We all have exactly the same amount of time each week.  We have 168 hours or 10,088 minutes.  Sounds like a lot doesn't it?  But once it is gone, it is gone.  What will you have to show for your time at the end of your week?

Are you one of those people who say that you don't have time to do this or that?  Are you sure that is the case?  Let me challenge you.  Why not keep a time log for one week?  Make yourself a simple grid, either on a piece of paper, or you can make up a spreadsheet.  Down the side put 15 minute time slots from about 6 am, or earlier if you are regularly up earlier, and stop at your normal bedtime.  Across the top put 7 days beginning with whatever day you start.  For each time slot, write in what you did.  Colour coding is a great visual aid as you start to see a pattern for your regular habits.  Perhaps eating times could be green, for eating healthy.  Work could be blue, travel times yellow, etc.  Those slots with nothing in them are your spare moments of every day. 

Most of us might consider that the few 15 minute time slots aren't worth worrying about. Consider this.  Harriet Beecher Stowe, the wife of a minister and mother to 7 children, used her few minutes of every day to write the famous novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin.  This she often did by candlelight after her children had gone to bed.  Makes our excuses seem a little lame, doesn't it?

So, in your few minutes of each day, what could you do?  Could you prepare table topics for one of your club meetings?  How about selecting a word to be the grammarian?  And of course, you could outline a speech and then add the details.  Maybe you'd like to work on an HPL project.

Often we think in terms of spending time doing one thing or another.  I challenge you to rethink this.  Stop spending your time and start investing it. Invest it in your future; your goals; your dreams.  You could invest it in learning a new skill.  Did you know that 15 minutes a day would add up at the end of a year to the equivalent of time invested in a university credit course?  Invest it some activity to increase your fitness level.  Invest it in some time for leisure to keep your mental state from stressing out. Whatever you do, invest it in achieving something of value.  Time is going to pass regardless of what you do.  Invest it so that when time is running out, you can say that you have lived in such a way as to minimize any regrets.

Let 2011 be the year that you rethink your future.  Do you know that most people spend more time planning a two week vacation than they do planning their lives? Don't let that be you. Plan today so that you will accomplish what  you set out to accomplish with your one life to live.  Set your sight now on June 30th. What will you be celebrating?  Write and tell me so I can celebrate with you.

Happy 2011. Plan on it.

Merri