A new club has been chartered in WA – the first new club in WA this Toastmaster year … and the first northern suburbs new club since 1994.
The club has been established in the State government Department of Education Services, commonly known as DES. So what better name than DESperados!!!
Richard Strickland
Mike Helm
The origin of the club was a DES staff symposium on 26th August 2010. DES CEO Richard Strickland, an enthusiastic Toastmaster at Victoria Quay club who has seen the benefits of Toastmasters first hand, asked staff member Past District Governor Mike Helm to chair the staff symposium and also to give a short presentation about Toastmasters. Staff were very interested in what Toastmasters had to offer and accepted Mike’s invitation to attend a sample meeting which was held on 10th September.
Fifteen staff members attended the sample meeting plus external Toastmasters leaders Inner City Division Governor Kristin McIntosh and District Public Relations Officer Pascale Amberville-Colby.
It was agreed to hold fortnightly meetings where enthusiasm has remained high. The knowledge and competence of the new members is of an exceptionally high standard and they have a thirst for developing their skills further. This demand has been met to some extent by introducing an array of guest speakers to the meetings – Toastmasters leaders Pascale Amberville-Colby and Perth Area Governor Peter McDonnell, the new club’s mentors; Kristin McIntosh, past Perth Division Governor Bill Hewitt and Inner City Area Governor Gerry Prewett.
The formalities for starting the new club were completed, and an excellent group of club officers elected, at the fourth meeting on 22nd October. The club currently has 21 first time members and rising, almost a third of the total DES staff.
The new club’s sponsors are Richard Strickland who has generously offered resources to assist the new club, and Mike Helm who will provide the benefit of his experience in Toastmasters.
Keep an eye on DESperados club! Its members are sure to feature strongly in future speech contests and leadership activities.
It was brought home to me today just how important it is to get yout details correct everywhere that your club has left them. My own club received a query on behalf of another club where a member of the public wished to join. How good was that? The fellow didn’t want to just attend a meeting he wanted to join. The problem was he couldn’t find any contact details that worked!
The details at TMI were out of date as were those on the Contact Us page of the web site. It was fortunate that I knew members of the club and eventually we were able to pass on details.
It was a salutory lesson in how important it is to keep those details bang up to date. Remember where you have lodged all your contatact details too. It’s not just the obvious places like your web site but also maybe in Libraries, with Councils and Community Newspapers.
I just can’t emphasise enough how important it is to keep those details up to date.
With two months to the closing date of June 30, 2010, there is still time to meet the requirements for Distinguished Area, or even Select Distinguished or the top award of President’s Distinguished. The table below shows what you need to reach these goals if you started with 4 Clubs. All our Areas did, except W21 with 3 Clubs, and Peter Law has already reached Select Distinguished, so I don’t need to give him the goals. If you start with 4 Clubs and gain a new club, that does not change your goal requirements – but it does count towards your goals.
Distinguished
Select Distinguished
President’s Distinguished
Distinguished Area – 4 of these 5 Goals
75% of Oct dues by Nov 15
3
75% of April dues by May 15
3
Average of 1.75 CCs per club by June 30
7
Average of .5 ACs per club by June 30
2
60% of clubs become Distinguished
2
Select Distinguished Area – all 5 of the above
+ all 3 of these
80% of Area Reports for 1st round by Nov 30
3
80% of Area Reports 2nd round by May 31
3
60% of Clubs 20+ members by June 30
2
President’s Distinguished –
all 8 of the above + a net gain of at least 1 club
1
For most Areas the major problem is the 7 CCs. You don’t need them for Distinguished, but you do for Select and President’s.
If you want to discuss your best methods to achieve Distinguished, Select Distinguished or President’s Distinguished, ring me on 0401 011 212 or email me at davidnic@iinet.net.au
Currently we have 3 Divisions, 50 active clubs and an active membership of about 800, which is an average of about 16 per club. Â You can check out the current nominal membership on the WA DCP page. When the Renewals figures to the end of March are published next month you will find that my estimates are approximately correct.
District WA challenges us to do better
The Toastmasters International Directors have started a process for WA members and clubs to separate from District 73 and form our own Provisional District. Â The process is already underway.
In May this year the District 73 Council will elect a District Governor for the whole of District 73, a Lt Governor Education & Training and a Lt Governor Marketing for WA and a Lt Governor Education & Training and a Lt Governor Marketing for the balance of District 73 – Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia.
In May next year, 2011, the District 73 Council will elect the 3 top officers – District Governor, Lt Governor Education & Training and a Lt Governor Marketing – for both WA and the balance of District 73.
On July 1, 2011, we will be a Provisional District, with all the privileges and responsibilities of Toastmaster Districts.
How do we go from Provisional to Full District status?
Earlier this year the International Directors redrafted the previous rules. Â My understanding of their published results is this:
We can apply for full status when we have at least 60 clubs with an average membership of at least 20 members. Â When we have reached those two targets, there will be an assessment made of our general efficiency and prospects for further growth. Â If we pass that, we’ve made it.
So why do we need a 4th Division?
Essentially a Division needs at least 16 clubs with 4 Areas of at least 4 clubs each. Â You can see my Maths – when we go through the 60 club target we will be close to qualifying for a 4th Division. Â Further, we will have to show there are prospects for further growth, and the best evidence of that will be more new clubs coming onstream.
We need a challenge, a friendly rivalry between our 3 existing Divisions, to drive the steady growth necessary to become a full District. Â Currently I am Western Division Governor and the WA New Clubs Coordinator. Â So, I issue these challenges
To Western Division to be the growth engine which drives us forward to split off the 4th Division
To the 2010/11 Western Division Governor to continue our current growth and to do even better
To the current Innercity and Perth Division Governors to galvanise their Area Governors and emerging leaders to match Western or do even better
To Toastmasters living in the northern corridor based around the railway to Joondalup to seize the opportunities available in that enormous population base which hasn’t had a new Toastmaster Club since Stirling was chartered in 1994.
Ambitious plans for Western Division
Currently I am discussing with Mark Richards, the District 73 Lt Governor Marketing and a prominent Western Division member, a forward plan which will achieve the first of my challenges – for Western to split off a new District. This year looks like being very successful with the Division on track to be President’s Distinguished along with 3 of our 4 Area Governors, all of whom will finish with a new club. That involves 3 new clubs with no loss of any current clubs.
The railway to Mandurah is the key to our forward plans. New suburbs are springing up on either side of the railway. We are developing a plan to set up new community clubs based on the new suburbs. Mark and Robyn Richards established a blueprint for publicising and forming such community clubs with their founding of Canning Vale.  Now the Canning Vale club, through member John Palmer, is setting out to follow that blueprint in Southern River.
How do we raise our average membership from 16 to 20+?
Well, that is a different issue. It wont be easy, but it has to be achieved. Next week I will have some suggestions.
For any queries or more information David Nicholas DTM
Western Division Governor
WA New Clubs Coordinator
TEEM is Toastmasters Enhanced Entertainment Membership
21 potential members were entertained, trained and challenged by Cliff Boer at the Demonstration Meeting held at the Fremantle Bowling Club.
Cliff Boer warming up the group
Why TEEM?
Cliff’s vision is that by enhancing entertainment for members and clubs we will reduce dropout rates and strengthen our new DistrictWA. It will boost membership generally across the State and in particular in clubs where TEEM members have a vital function.
A Different Kind of Club
Of course we will conform to Toastmasters International technical requirements for a club. However, we will interpret those requirements creatively. Here is an example of meetings this month.
Saturday afternoon, March 20
A select group will meet at Cliff’s house to be trained in special techniques to be used at the meeting on March 31.
Wednesday evening, March 31
The club has been invited by Victoria Quay to demonstrate exciting ways to liven up the club meeting. The TEEM VP Education will handle the program for the night, taking over from the Club’s VP Education. There will be demonstrations from TEEM members and Victoria Quay members will be challenged to have a go at the same entertaining and challenging techniques. There will be space for a club member to deliver a speech and be evaluated. Table Topics – with a twist – will be a major feature. Edit will certainly take members out of their comfort zone.
Where and when will we meet?
Our Demonstration meeting and the two meetings detailed above give the answer. We will meet sometimes at a suitable venue like the Fremantle Bowling Club – but not exclusively the Bowling Club in Fremantle. We will meet sometimes at members’ homes. We will meet sometimes at Toastmasters Clubs. There may be other locations which emerge over time.
Already in March we have scheduled a meeting on a Thursday evening, a Saturday afternoon and a Wednesday evening. Our membership is drawn from many clubs. Almost every possible time slot will clash with one of those club meetings. So it will be rare for all our members to be able to attend the same meeting. But that isn’t very different from all our Toastmaster Clubs with a 20+ membership. Have you ever attended a meeting when every member was present? I haven’t – though I have attended a full member rollup – but that was a club which was being revived and had only 6 members at the time.
What did we do at the Demo?
I will give you a few descriptive names and describe one in a little detail. If you aren’t a TEEM member and you want to know more about the fun we have, get your VP Education to contact me and arrange for us to visit.
These were three of Cliff’s exercises
There were two Table Topics exercises – Edit and One Word. Wow!
Then there was Mirror. It was in two parts. In the first we formed into pairs – A & B. A would do a set of body language movements, including facial expressions. B would have to mirror them. Then we swapped and B would do the movements and A would mirror them. With careful attention everybody got quite good at this. That first section was in the early part of the evening. Then, later, Cliff came back to it. We formed into pairs again – different pairs this time. We went through the mirror exercises again, but now the originator was instructed to move very quickly and with exaggerated movements. It was a hoot. The two photos illustrate the early practice and the later no holds barred time.
Who is joining?
After the meeting eighteen of those present filled in the application form. Cliff wan’t one of them. He explained that he sees his role as an inspirational one. He will provide his services free to the members, because he has a passion for it, not because it is his role as a member. We know of several more who couldn’t make it on the night because of other commitments. We will charter next month.
If you weren’t able to attend the Demonstration Meeting, but you would like to join, there is an opportunity up to March 28.
There is a joining fee
It will cost $90 for a year’s subscription. Download the Charter Member Application Form. Print the two pages and fill in your Last Name, First Name or Given Name, your address, your contact phone number and your email. Sign at the top of the second page. Don’t fill in the club detail information at the top of the first page. Scan the 2 pages and email them to me. I will send instructions for paying the $90 joining fee.
If you are interested and have any queries, ring me on 9457 6468 or email me at davidnic@iinet.net.au
CSBP is an industrial chemicals and fertilizer manufacturer, in Kwinana WA. The meeting was held on 7 October, 2009, to see if there is sufficient interest in forming a new corporate club. And there definitely is.
We had help
Several experienced toastmasters were recruited to help with the meeting. They included Lt Governor Marketing Mark Richards, Perth Division Governor Judith Allen, Area P50 Governor Pascale Amberville-Colby, Successful Club President Sarah Duxbury and Canning Vale VPM John Palmer.
Approximately thirty people crowded into the meeting room, and were taken through a tightly run one hour meeting.
The program
Mark Richards gave a presentation on “What is Toastmastersâ€.
John Palmer had some table topics questions that required respondents to take positive or negative views on views ranging from daylight saving to shopping hours.
Sarah Duxbury evaluated the Table topic speakers and ensured that relevant feedback, including useful recommendations were made.
We were treated to an ice breaker speech.
We had a Project 9 speech that was a humorous take on impulse shopping relating to propriety plastic food storage items, drawing many knowing laughs from the audience.
Pascale and Mark delivered high quality evaluations, explaining the format of the evaluation process and giving constructive recommendations.
Pascale recorded timing with military precision
Judith summed up the meeting with a 5 minute general evaluation
Then the floor was opened to questions.
The response
When asked who would be interested in joining, the response exceeded expectations. Membership application forms were produced, and 13 signed up on the spot, others took forms away, and indications are that those who were unable to make it to the meeting are still keen to participate. It was encouraging to see such a response and we are confident that word of mouth will spread and we will have a new club chartered very soon.
Thanks to the helpers
Thanks must go to those Toastmasters who helped out today, Mark , Judith, John, Sarah and Pascale. Your professionalism was commented on after the meeting by several people who attended. Other comments included
“It was different to how I thought it would beâ€
“it was funâ€
“I like the way you mixed humour with the formal educational aspectsâ€
Western Division has had an amazing start to the 2009/10 Year.
The Distinguished Club Program
Member awards across the whole of District 73, with its 10 Divisions, currently amount to 71 Awards.
Of these, Western Division has contributed 33 Awards – 45% of the total from the 10 Divisions. This is quite extraordinary.
Distinguished Club Goals across the District, with 10 Divisions, come to 57 DCP Goals.
Of these, 23 or 40%, come from Western Divisions. Again extraordinary.
Further Western has 2 clubs with 6 Goals!! right now – Canning Vale and Fremantle Gourmet.
What a start to the year for the hardworking members of Western Division. You can view the latest figures for Member Awards and Club DCP progress at
the toastmasterswa.net website.
New Clubs
I have set a target for our 4 Area Governors – each has a goal of ending the year with at least one extra club in the Area.
Here is progress to date
W16, Governor Robyn Richards – John Palmer from Canning Vale has already had a Demonstration Meeting for the Jacaranda Gardens club
W21, Governor Peter Law – Ross Wilkinson from Gateway is close to finalising arrangements for a Demonstration Meeting for the Applecross Club
W28, Governor Gerry Prewett – Gerry from Cannington Communicators is close to finalising arrangements for a Demonstration Meeting for the Victoria Park Club
W29, Governor Michael Foster – Michael from Mandjar is close to finalising arrangements for a Demonstration Meeting for the Rockingham Club
Club Officer Training
Right now 10 of our 15 Clubs have had 4 or more Officers trained. 4 Clubs in W29 should be added to this number next weekend when Michael Foster conducts training down in Busselton. Only Amity is in difficulty of meeting the target.
Division Council Meeting
The Area Governors and I will be meeting together on Sunday afternoon, August 30 for an hour’s Council Meeting.
We will be discussing at least the following
Distinguished Club Progress in each Area
Prospective New Clubs
Governor Club visits
Club and Area Contests
Using the toastmasterswa.net website
Criteria for Division and Area Awards
This is only the start
Yes! We have begun very well. Now we need to plan carefully and work hard to continue the success and make this the best year in the history of Western Division and District 73 – while District 73 still has us.
David Nicholas DTM
Western Division Governor 2009/10
9457 6468
Our first meeting for 2009/10 was held yesterday, July 26, 2009.
It is clear that this is going to be a bumper year for new clubs in WA. A Demonstration Meeting has already been held. Another 5 are already planned for September and October, with another 3 definite prospects about to get under way.
As a person who stutters, public speaking has always been my greatest fear. I would do everything possible to avoid speaking. Since joining Toastmasters I have gradually grown in confidence, overcome my fear and now I actually enjoy public speaking.... Peter Dhu Curtin Graduate School of Business
