Episode 32: A new Toastmasters year, and a new vision as Area 26 Director

You'll hear from my fellow Toastmasters and I how this global organization has impacted our lives for the better and how it could impact yours . Now let's get talkative . Welcome , ladies and gentlemen , to episode 32 of the Talkative Toastmaster podcast .

This week , I'm going to talk about the role of Area Director within Toastmasters , mostly because I'm one week into my new role as Area 26 Director within District 69 . This is an entirely new role for me my first time at it and I'm really excited to outline what it involves and what the coming Toastmasters year will look like from my perspective .

Before we begin , though , I'd like to say that if you're not yet a Toastmaster , or are relatively new to Toastmasters , the first 30 episodes of this podcast are going to give you a deep dive into what you can expect from visiting a club , the benefits of joining Toastmasters , what actually happens at meetings and what each of those speaking roles that you may see

on a club's agenda involve . In those 30 episodes , you'll also learn about how club meetings can help you to develop confidence in both prepared and impromptu speeches , and what opportunities are available to help you to develop additional skills through taking on club leadership roles or going down the speech contest path .

My many guests have illustrated these points with their inspirational stories of their own Toastmasters journeys . But , going forward and as I step fully into my role as Area Director , the podcast will start to focus more on topics beyond the club and perhaps more into the realm of leadership opportunities generally within Toastmasters .

As I gain more exposure to the leaders in District 69 and beyond , I look forward to speaking with them and gaining their perspective of Toastmasters through the lens of leadership . Of course , I'll continue to interview Toastmasters and share their inspiring stories , but you may start to hear more episodes with district leaders , like Nikki Gerd in episode 31 .

Now , with all that being said , this week , I'd like to cover , firstly , what is the purpose of an area director , secondly , what specific responsibilities does an area director have ? And thirdly , my vision for Area 26 in 2024-25 . Okay , so what is the purpose of an area director ?

Essentially , this role helps to ensure that each club and I have five in my area fulfills their responsibilities to their members and , as was explained to us in the district leader training I attended last weekend . An area director is basically a direct link between the clubs and the division and district levels .

Through regular club visits and contact with club presidents , the area director gauges the health and quality of each club within their remit and sends this information back to the district leaders .

For me in Area 26 , I'll be working closely with the Mount Gravatt , upper , mount Gravatt , sunnybank , brisbane Leaders and Chelmer Speakers , toastmasters , clubs and a huge shout out to all of my clubs . I really can't wait to work with all of you this year .

I'll put the links to all of those clubs in the show notes so that you can see where and when they meet if you would like to head along as a visitor at any time . So let's now look at some of the specific responsibilities that an area director has . Here's a bit of a list .

There's regular club visits , organising the area conference , managing the area budget , managing area council meetings and representing the area at the division and district level council meetings . Let's look at this whole notion of regular club visits and , as I said earlier , the area director is really the link between the clubs and district and division level leaders .

So getting out and about to clubs gives us a really good feel for what's going on within each club and how each club is performing , how the members are enjoying themselves and moving through their goals , etc .

Within a very compact geographic location they're all within a couple of kilometers of each other , whereas some area directors have clubs that may be spread out over 200 or 300 kilometers , which would be pretty hard to get to on a regular basis .

We are required to do two formal club visits each year , and that also involves completing a report , quite a detailed report , about many aspects of the club , which can be everything from looking at the first impressions of the club , what the website looks like , how engaged they are on social media , what that general first impression of the club is , and what a

member might experience when they first walk through the door .

Through conversations with the president and the vice president of membership , we then talk through their processes , of how they communicate with a guest who has been to Toastmasters , how easily they explain the joining process and how all of that works , and then ultimately , if they become a member , how that member is onboarded , given a mentor , offered support and

whatever they need to achieve their goals . We also look at meeting quality , and that is is the agenda set up in a way that again helps members to get through their speaking projects and assignments ? Is the agenda interesting and keeping people wanting to come back ?

Is it allowing members to really put into practice the skills that we say that they will learn by attending Toastmasters ? And does the meeting have a great vibe ? Is it an environment that people want to keep coming back to ? And then we look at other items like education .

So is the club encouraging members to work through the Pathways program which , as I've talked about in previous episodes and many of my guests have mentioned Pathways it's about ensuring that members are working through that very structured layout of the education program which transitions them from being a nervous , anxious speaker to becoming a far more confident speaker ,

which is why they joined in the first place speaker , which is why they joined in the first place . So we speak with the club's leadership about the education program , and that feeds into the Distinguished Club Program , which is a set of goals that each club can work towards , and a big part of that is the educational goals within the club .

And one of the other key areas that we speak with club executives about , although way much later in the year is the idea of succession of the leadership roles and we explore whether there's newer members coming through who may be interested in stepping into any of the club executive positions in the following year and if those people can be identified early that

they're mentored and encouraged to move into those positions when the elections are held . And it's also as much about educating all members about the possibilities for leadership outside of the club or inside the club and outside of the club , so the executive committee roles , and then looking further to roles like mine of area director and beyond .

So we have division directors , district leadership positions and right up to the world stage really positions , and right up to the world stage really . So there's no end of leadership opportunities available in Toastmasters . But the club visits really are about gauging the pulse of the club . You know what's actually really going on and I love this part of the role .

I've already been out to do a couple of informal visits and while we have to complete two formal visits , there's no limit to how many times we can pop in for an informal visit or come along , as requested by the president , to help out in some way . I've already been out to a couple of my clubs for informal visits .

One asked me to present a speech on evaluations and how to do them for the newer members , which I was more than happy to do . That is one of my favorite topics to talk about , so being asked to speak about it was a no brainer for me . I was more than happy to do it and that's one of the ways I see I can serve my clubs in this role this year .

So regular club visits are a key part of this role .

One of the other really important aspects of the role is organizing the area conference , and this is the day or half a day event where the clubs who have by that stage run their club competitions for the evaluation humorous evaluation and table topics contests all come together to compete at that next level , and I've done plenty of event management in my marketing

career and organizing an area conference in its own right is fairly simple in terms of event management .

But what I find fascinating about the area conference is that there has to be a certain number of judges and official roles which again in the district leader training weekend last weekend , we were given a very comprehensive insight of what's needed , what roles we need to fill and how we can go about doing that .

So it's quite detailed and I'm really looking forward to pulling together the Area 26 conference .

It's going to be in November so I have a little bit of time , but it truly will require collaboration between the five clubs in the area and involving people and , again , part of working in a volunteer organization is getting people on board and asking for their assistance .

So I'm hoping that we will have a fantastic area conference and that we can be sending through some fantastic speakers and competitors through to the next level .

One of the other areas is managing the area budget , and the budget is relatively simple at an area level because the main function really , and the main expenses are really about funding the area contest , covering the cost of things like trophies and venue hire and catering and things like that .

There's not a whole lot else at the area level that actually requires funding but , again , being a non-profit organization , we have to create a budget that allows for any income and expenses and that has to come out at basically net zero . So that will be an interesting process .

Also , we have the area council meetings and this is where I , as the area director , will run a business meeting effectively for our area with the five presidents and the five VPs of education and VPs of membership and really speak about area business and really speak about area business .

The first area council meeting will focus on organising the area conference in November and then , when we run the second one early next year , it will focus on just ensuring where clubs are at in terms of their goals and in terms of their succession planning .

So it's not a massive burden of time but it just will help to keep the area running smoothly , make sure everyone's on the same page and , yeah , it just means that we can discuss area business . Similarly , area directors form part of the division and district councils and we attend some of those meetings and this is where higher level business is discussed .

Obviously , again , being a volunteer organization and having thousands of members across the district , some some decisions have to be made and that's where those decisions are put forward and discussed and voted on at a division and district level .

So there is quite an administrative component to the area director role , although for me , I think this will be very much offset with the club visits , which , again , is the part I'm most looking forward to .

It's actually just getting out into the clubs and speaking with Toastmasters about their journey and ensuring that the club and the organization is helping them to reach their goals . That's really what these roles are about and that's why I signed up for them and that segues nicely into my vision for Area 26 this year .

It's a strong area and we have a lot of very experienced Toastmasters in Area 26 . There are some members who have been in Toastmasters for 30 , 40 , 50 years , so there is a whole lot of experience and we also have a whole lot of new members .

I know , through just even visiting a couple of clubs in the last week or so , how many newbies are coming into the organization , which is exactly what we want to see , and I think to have that spread of very experienced members right down to people walking through into clubs for their very first time is exciting and it's cultivating that culture of new people

coming into the organization again , making sure their needs are being met and they're being mentored by the more experienced Toastmasters that we have , and also that our very experienced Toastmasters remain engaged and are getting their needs met , because when you've been in Toastmasters for 10 , 20 , 30 years , it might start to become repetitive , and I think this is

where the Pathways program can invigorate or reinvigorate some Toastmasters and it gives them new alternatives for speaking assignments and projects that they might want to get involved with .

So my vision for the area is really just to support the clubs , and whether that's helping to give speeches about evaluations because I've now had a fair bit of evaluation experience right up to the district level or whether it's helping them to improve their social media presence or their digital presence , which is what I do in my day job , if I can help them

that way to attract more members , if I can help them to look at the systems and processes within their clubs to make the club more efficient and to ensure that more guests convert into members , then I'm happy to help there as well .

So it's really working with each club to ensure that the clubs are meeting their goals and that the area is meeting its goal as a whole , and that very much is a collaborative part with all the presidents and the executive teams of Area 26 .

As I spoke about last episode with Nikki Gerd , I didn't set out at the beginning of , say , last year to set my sights on being an area director .

In fact , I'd been asked a number of times whether I would consider the role and initially , and probably for the better part of last year , my response was oh , no , no , I don't have enough time , I don't have no , no , no , no .

It was very much a no and the more I spoke with people on this podcast and around the organization and just saw different parts of Toastmasters through the district conference last year that I was involved with last year that I was involved with it slowly changed my mind until it became a very solid yes .

And at this point , one week into this role as Area 26 Director , I'm really excited . I am absolutely excited about being able to support the clubs in the area , being able to support quite a number of first-time presidents in those clubs and really seeing what we can do as a team .

I think that's one of the great things about Toastmasters it's that the roles change over every year and it's almost a chance for each incoming person to put their mark on that role and to make it their own within the confines of what needs to be achieved and what needs to be done .

But each new personality that steps into , say , a club president role and a club vice president education or vice president membership or vice president PR and combined with the new person stepping into an area director role , I just think , keeps things ticking over , helps to enliven , perhaps , things that may have been done in a particular way for a long period of

time . So there's always new ways of looking at how to improve systems and processes , and that's what I'm really looking to do this year . So that's how my Toastmasters year is shaping up .

Of course , I'm still a member of Mount Gravatt and Leading Edge Advanced Toastmasters , so I have my regular club meetings and club commitments each week as usual , which is is fantastic . And now there's this added layer of fun and excitement as I go out into the clubs of Area 26 .

Really looking forward to it and to sharing this part of my Toastmasters journey through the coming episodes . If you're ready to unlock your potential , consider joining a Toastmasters club near you . Check out the find a club link on the Toastmasters International website at wwwtoastmastersorg .

It's worth visiting a couple of different clubs as a guest to see which club best suits you . If you do take the leap and visit a meeting , I would absolutely love to hear your experience . Feel free to message me at talkativetoastmaster at gmailcom or tag me in the comments if you found this podcast on YouTube , facebook , instagram or Twitter .

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