A stunning improvement this year

Yes, our District went from No.46 last year to No.13 of 85 Districts in the world in this year.

Congratulations to District Governor, Mike Helm DTM

Mike produced a stunning vindication of his very narrow victory in the Council vote at Fremantle in May 2007. Could the District be governed from Perth? Or would the administrative burden prove too much for the WA leaders - Governor Mike Helm, Treasurer Alan Smith, Secretary Jeanette Farrar and Parliamentarian David Nicholas? The results speak for themselves.

And we could have gone higher had there been more effort to get our Clubs Distinguished. Look for the analysis below.

WA led the way

The figures tell the story. Not only did we have Mike Helm, the first West Australian District Governor, leading the way, but our stunning score of New Clubs propelled us up into the top group of Districts. And where did they come from? WA of course. Here is a breakdown of club numbers, State by State.

Club Numbers Analysis by State 2007/08

The big points area for Distinguished District is in the net increase in Club numbers. That’s where WA led the way for District 73.

Points for Distinguished Clubs

This is where our District did very badly. There are 10 points available, but we got only 2. Here is a breakdown of where the Distinguished Clubs were located, Division by Division. Note that the Tasmanian Clubs are located within Metro Division, which is predominantly a Victorian Division. You won’t be surprised at the WA results.

Distinguished Clubs Analysis by Division 2007/08

What were the sources of the WA success?

Effective Leadership at the top

• District Governor Mike Helm worked tirelessly to encourage our local leaders.
• WA New Clubs Coordinator David Nicholas recruited an excellent team of motivated and innovative workers
• WA Governors, a new concept in advanced clubs, developed by Mike and David, brought together each month key WA leaders.

Resourceful and distinguished work at every leadership level

• Our Division Governors, Gil Alexander and Mark Richards were both President’s Distinguished and distinguished themselves by the amount of work they put in to lead their teams.
• Our Area Governors We had 8 AGs. Michael Malone and Steve Barry achieved President’s Distinguished. Judith Allen was District Area Governor of the year.
• Our New Club Founders 12 New Clubs were in one year! Lots of members worked to bring this about, and particularly the Club Founders

Persistent, effective work

At every leadership level there were willing and able workers. I will be publishing a brief history of the new clubs push early next week. Many members were involved.

What do we do now?

Our own District in WA

This was the first, highly successful year of our campaign to form our own District in WA. We need to reach a target of at least 60 clubs, with a powerful growth trajectory.

We grew last year

We put on 12 new clubs, grew from 35 to 46 clubs, and formed a third Division - Innercity has joined Western and Perth.

We aim to do better in 2008/09

• We have 3 talented, hard working new Division Governors - Bill Hewitt in Perth, Ian Pickens in Innercity and Ross Wilkinson in Western.
• We have 11 Area Governors determined to at least match the 2007/08 records.
• We have a team of talented and proven successful new club founders and mentors

Look forward to another stunningly successful year.

David Nicholas DTM
WA Webmaster
WA New Clubs Coordinator

The Convention is over

22 West Australians attended the District 73 Convention at Lilydale in Victoria from Friday May 16 to Sunday May 18.

We had some very important District 73 Officers there:

The District Governor Mike Helm from Rising Stars, WA Governors and Central Communicators

The District Treasurer Alan Smith from Victoria Quay, WA Governors and Central Communicators

The District Secretary Jeanette Farrar from Gateway, WA Governors and Central Communicators

The District Parliamentarian David Nicholas from Victoria Quay, WA Governors and Central Communicators

We had contestants from both Divisions in all 4 Contests.

And amongst our other members were some who received special awards.

Here is an overall summary of all these results

Humorous Speech Contest Winner: Austin Nevis

Table Topics Contest Winner: Monica Hunter

International Speech Contest Winner: Chris Smith

Evaluation Contest Winner: Susie Shulsinger

Toastmaster of the Year: Marlene Sinclair

District Officer of the Year: Alan Smith

Division Governor of the Year: Bruce Hill

Area Governor of the Year: Judith Allen

New DTMs : Gil Alexander DTM, Stanley Blackford, DTM, Damian Chong DTM, Stephen Forrest DTM, Michael Gow DTM, Michael Malone DTM, David Nicholas DTM (5 times), Glenis Nicholas DTM (2 times), Moira Nicholson DTM, David Reynolds DTM, Mark Richard DTM, Pat Wallace-Bell DTM

Award-Winning Newsletters: Amity Toastmasters, WA; “The Raconteur”, Lilydale Toastmasters, Vic; “Speaking Out”, Launceston Toastmasters, TAS.

The Travel Gavel: Victoria Quay

Melbourne, November 24

The Federal Election on Saturday was an exciting affair resulting in decisive change and the adoption of a forward looking approach to Australian politics. The District 73 Council Meeting held at Nunawading on the same afternoon was anything but that.

District 73 administers Toastmaster Clubs in South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and WA. The two Council Meetings held in November and May are the supreme decision making meetings. The Council consists of the Presidents and Vice Presidents Education of all financial Clubs; Division and Area Governors; and the District Governor, Lt Governor Education & Training, Lt Governor Marketing, Secretary, Treasurer and Public Relations Officer - which adds up to 311 members or their proxies.

There was no quorum

A quorum is 1/3 of the Club delegates, a total of 90 at present. There were 39 people present, representing with proxies about 50 votes, well below the quorum requirement.  There were 3 delegates from South Australia, 3 from Western Australia, 1 from Tasmania and only 32 of the potential 216 delegates from Victoria where the meeting was held.  It was not a representative meeting.

The Budget had to be deferred

The District’s financial planning has been thrown into confusion by a ruling from Donna Groh, Executive Director of Toastmasters International, that our District may not conduct Speechcraft Courses or receive income from Speechcraft Courses. Since the Budget included $30,000 gross income from Speechcraft with an expected net $14,0000 for the year, Treasurer Alan Smith has been forced to go back to the drawing board and prepare a new Budget which will be emailed to all delegates for ratification. A consequence of this ruling is that local clubs will be the only authorised conductors of Speechcraft courses and all profits from these courses will stay with the clubs.

The Split has been deferred too

There has been a proposal to split District 73 into two Districts - you can read about this at The Split Proposal. However the Split Convenor, Geoff Morrissey, has not been able to publicise widely enough the proposal in Victoria to gauge adequate support. As well, the Poll conducted through this website has shown that a majority of WA respondents do not wish to proceed with the Split at present. Check out the Poll question and results on the right hand menu of this page.

Future meetings must be held by video conference

It’s time District 73 woke up to the undemocratic nature of our current conferences. Toastmaster International guidelines require two Executive Meetings and two Council Meetings to be held each year. These meetings make binding decisions for our District’s administration. It may be reasonable that the May Council Meeting, held in conjunction with the District Contests, is conducted at a specific location, but there is no excuse for the other three meetings being conducted at a specific location which makes attendance from other State delegates very difficult.

A video conference costs money

Yes, it does, but that expense should be regarded as a necessary cost of consulting our decision making members.  There will be savings as well, because top District Officers will not need to fly from one capital to another.  That will reduce travel expenses substantially.

An Executive Meeting is scheduled for Perth in February

Let’s make this a video conference meeting.  The Executive members are the 6 members of the District Management Team, the 9 Division Governors and the 35 Area Governors.  Only 13 of these 50 in the Executive live in Perth.  Even if the Victorian Lt Governor Education & Training and the Tasmanian Lt Governor Training fly over for the meeting (at considerable expense) that will make only a potential 15 of the 50 in attendance.  This is not good enough.  With video conferencing we stand a good chance of getting a good majority of delegates participating in District 73 decision making.

Let’s do it.

If you have an opinion on this subject, please share your ideas with other members by posting a comment on our blog.

Have your say on this very important subject.

Read the discussion below and then contribute your ideas in a post. Add a comment or put forward an argument. At the end of this article, there are previous posts, and then a screen where you can type in your comment or put forward new ideas. You will be asked for your name and email, and then you can submit your own material.

This post was originally submitted on August 31. Since then the District 73 Executive has met in Adelaide and decided to publicise the issue in time for it to be considered at the November 24 District Council Meeting being held in Melbourne. Lt Governor Bernard Marmion  circulated an information sheet about the split to all District Clubs on October 5. You can download the Reformation Proposal as a pdf file.

Have your say. This will be a very significant decision for District 73. We need as wide a discussion as possible. Already ten members have contributed their thoughts, and most are definitely unenthusiastic about the proposal at this time. So what do you think? Read the explanation following and then post your ideas and opinions.

Why split District 73?

District 73 is geographically the largest in the Toastmaster world. It covers 4 Australian States - Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia. This makes it very difficult to administer, because it is 3,000 kms (2,000 miles) from Melbourne the main population centre in the east, and Perth, the main population centre in the west.

Look at the difference from District 69, covering Queensland and the Northern Territory, and District 70, New South Wales (and Canberra of course). They are big Districts compared to most in the world, but nothing like the geographical spread of District 73.

What split is proposed?

It is proposed to split the existing District 73 into two Districts. The main residual District would have Victorian and Tasmanian Clubs. The new District would have West Australian and South Australian Clubs.

What are the benefits to WA and SA to split off?

Melbourne Clubs have dominated District Administrations for many years. WA and SA leaders have often felt neglected and ignored by District Administrations run from Melbourne. Having our own District would shift decision making to our clubs. Then it would be up to us to run our own affairs.

Travel costs have limited our opportunities to take part. Currently, the District Convention is held in WA once every 4 years and in SA once every four years. Travel expenses to get to Melbourne from Perth have been rising steadily. With our own District, Conventions would be held in Perth twice every three years and in Adelaide once in every three years. This will be a definite benefit to WA members and a marginal benefit to SA members.

Perth and Adelaide are similarly sized cities. Melbourne is much larger. Perth and Adelaide members will share many common problems, which are different from those in Melbourne.

What are the possible disadvantages of the split?

South Australian members may feel dominated by Western Australia. Currently WA has twice as many clubs and members as SA, and current growth figures may maintain that balance.

For South Australian members, Perth is much further away than Melbourne. It is practical for SA members to drive to Melbourne, but not very practical to drive to Perth.

West Australian members may feel like waiting till they can have a District in their own right. If they can form 8 new clubs this year, then two or three more years of the same will get them to the magic 60. Administratively it may be much better to have a District based on just the one State.

What would be the process to carry through the split?

The previous District Council held in Perth in May, 2007, appointed Geoff Morrissey from Melbourne to set up a Reformation Committee to report to the District Council in November, which will be held in Melbourne. Geoff is coordinating this Committee which has representatives from all four states -

• Tasmania Edmund Breen
• Victoria Jack Fawcett
• South Australia Nick Nash
• Western Australia David Nicholas

The process from now on will be:

1. The Committee is currently considering the Reformation (the split) proposal and will soon present its report to Clubs.
2. A motion may be presented to the District Council being held in Melbourne in November. If it adopts a Reformation (split) motion, that proposal will be sent to the Directors at World Headquarters.
3. If they approve the proposal, the District Council meeting at the Convention in Lilydale in May, 2008 will elect one District Governor for District 73, and two Lt Governors Education and two Lt Governors Marketing for the two separated Districts.
4. At the District Council to be held in Adelaide in May, 2009, elections will be held for both of the two separated Districts - each will have a District Governor, a Lt Governor Education and Training, and a Lt Governor Marketing.
5. The two Districts will function separately from July 1, 2009.

There is an opportunity right now

Until this year, World Headquarters has insisted that a new District must have 100 clubs, but now they have announced that in some circumstances 60 Clubs is enough. Look at the current number of clubs in each State, with a projected number of new clubs being formed this year.

These are speculative figures, but they show there is a real possibility that by the end of this current Toastmaster year, we could have over 160 clubs in the District, up from 145 at July 1, with 100 between Victoria and Tasmania and over 60 in Western Australia and South Australia.

Western Australia and South Australia could combine to form a new District

The numbers may be there. Perhaps we can achieve the targets, and perhaps the Toastmasters Directors will approve the split.

What do you think?

• Should we do it? Should we try to reform District 73 into two Districts?
• Is this the right year to try to do it? or should we wait till Club numbers build up further?
• How do we publicise it? How can we best get information out to the Club and District Officers who will make these decisions?

David Nicholas DTM

Have your say. Post a comment or a suggestion.

Mike Helm, our Perth Division Governor, is standing for District Governor. See below to download his Flyer.

We have never had a West Australian as District Governor, the No.1 position in District 73. This is our opportunity to elect a West Australian to this important position.

The election will be held on Saturday afternoon, May 19, at the Esplanade Hotel, Fremantle. The meeting starts at 3pm and the election for District Governor is the first item of business after the meeting has opened. Delegates have to be officially registered before the meeting, so it’s important to be there by 2.30pm or have registered earlier in the day.

Who can vote?

Each Club is entitled to two votes. The President and the Vice President Education have a vote each. If one of them only attends, he or she has an automatic entitlement to a proxy from the other, and so has two votes. If neither can attend, they can proxy their votes to a current member of the club.

It is important that we have all our Clubs represented at the meeting, and that we have all our voting entitlement present.

Area Governors have an additional vote as District Officers. They can also exercise Club votes, and so can have up to 3 valid votes. But they must attend to exercise the District Officer vote - that can’t be proxied.

Why should we vote for Mike Helm?

Mike is highly qualified for the top leadership position in the District. Read the Mike Helm Flyer

District 73 has been in existence for over 50 years and there has never been a West Australian as District Governor.

The District Council is usually held in Melbourne where our votes are swamped by the Victorians. There won’t be another District Council Meeting in Perth for 4 years. This is our opportunity to elect a highly qualified West Australian to the top position.

What should you do to help Mike be elected District Governor?

If you can make it, attend the Council Meeting on Saturday afternoon, register in time and cast your vote(s) for Mike.

If you and your fellow Vice President Education or President can’t attend, make certain that another member does attend and carries your proxies. Download the Proxy Form, fill it in and give it to the member.

If you want more information

Email or ring Mike Helm on 0419 962 394

Toastmasters International recommends that Clubs meet weekly.

Yes, there are only four clubs amongst the 142 in District 73 that do meet weekly. They are Victoria Quay, Gateway, Durack, and Amity.  They are all in WA.

Is it a coincidence that right now, at April 20, the first three clubs are the only ones to have achieved the 9 Goals necessary for President’s Distinguished Club? Victoria Quay and Gateway already have the full 10 Goals. Amity, though it only chartered in September 2006, already has 8 Goals.

No, it isn’t a coincidence. These clubs are leading the way in District 73 because they are strong and effective, and part of their strength is the weekly meeting.

Common objections to weekly meetings

Our members are too busy to attend that many meetings.

We wouldn’t get members to join if we met weekly.

Our meetings aren’t interesting enough to attract members to attend regularly.

The advantages of weekly meetings

For visitors and members there is never any doubt whether there is a meeting this week - or is it next week? It is always this week.

Members get twice as many speaking opportunities as in clubs which meet fortnightly. As a result, many more members complete personal awards during the year, which benefits the Club’s Distinguished Club Program achievement. By April 18th, these three clubs had registered between them 11 Competent Communicator Awards and 12 Advanced Communicator Awards.

Officers are elected for six month terms, rather than 12 months. Although many officers complete a second six month term, there is the opportunity to rotate positions and give leadership experience to a greater range of members.

There is a very important advantage, related to retaining members. Members who miss meetings need to be followed up. A member who misses two meetings at a fortnightly club has been out of touch for a month, and may be lost. At a weekly club, the same two meetings missed only cover a fortnight, so the member is more likely to resume attendance when contacted.

Weekly meetings are worth investigating

World Headquarters recommend it, because weekly meetings promote strong, healthy, successful clubs.

The Presidents of our three leading clubs will be happy to give you further encouragement.

Lisa Cluett DTM	Ross Wilkinson	Glen Lewis
Victoria Quay	Gateway	Durack

You can get more helpful information about how to convert your club to weekly meetings by contacting David Nicholas.