Setting YOUR Potential Free!

by Erika Arnhart, Spring Conference Chair

Mark your calendars now! The District 54 2010 Spring Conference will be held April 16-17, 2010 at the Par-a-Dice Hotel Casino in East Peoria, IL!

Your Conference Committee is excited to bring you Dr. “Chief” Donald Grady, Ph.D., as our Keynote Speaker. Dr. Grady, our Spring 2009 C&L Award recipient, inspired and challenged us in ways that we never imagined during his brief acceptance speech last year. We are fortunate that he has agreed to come back to District 54 to share more of his life story and experiences with us, addressing our theme “Setting Your Potential Free.” Dr. Grady will undoubtedly have much to share, having had a long and impressive career including time in the Army, law enforcement, and most recently, as the Chief of Police and Public Safety at Northern Illinois University.

Rest assured, this is going to be a Conference you will not want to miss! Between the Friday “Game Night for Bragging Rights,” the District Executive Council meeting, the International Speech and Evaluation Contests, and engaging educational sessions, there’s bound to be something of interest for everyone! In addition, the Conference Committee is planning a special first timers’ reception Friday evening and a club attendance promotion! For every club in our district with three or more members in attendance, an entry will be placed into a drawing. The prize will include a pizza gift certificate (from a local pizza establishment) and a gift certificate to the Toastmasters International store. We truly desire everyone from within the District to come to the Conference, but, if this is not the case, this promotion will allow attendees to take back a small part of the event to their local clubs. Five pizza and TI store gift certificates will be given away, one for each Division. We will buy the lunch; you share the story of what you experienced!

As you can see, everything on the weekend’s agenda is being planned with you in mind! It is our sincerest hope that this Conference will help you reach your full potential as a communicator and leader within Toastmasters and your community. Plan now to attend – and bring your family, friends, and guests, as well. Complete event details, including online and mail-in registration information, can be found at potential2010.com.

Clubs and area businesses also have another unique opportunity to be a part of the Conference experience by advertising and/or placing messages in our program. Interested parties can find additional information on the Conference website under the “Sponsors” tab or may contact Laurie Heermance, the Spring Conference Marketing Chair. Deadline for ad submission is March 1 to be included in the program.

Four Steps to Continuous Success

by Joseph Wilhelmi District 54 Sergeant at Arms, Division E Governor

Personal, individual success is what each club is chartered for. That is its mission statement. Each club has the responsibility to create an environment conducive to education. Education is what each of us needs, both in communication and in leadership. It is the responsibility of club leadership to have and further develop the atmosphere in the club, both at the executive committee level, and within the club to exist cohesively to attain that perfect setting to allow individual success.

1. Each Successful club had 5 or more officers trained with all seven trained at the mid term TLI. By successfully training each new officer, whether they have served in that office or not previously is vital for each member to understand fully their responsibility to the club. I have personally seen in failing clubs, each Executive Committee tries to re invent the wheel and re design each role of each officer. Most often these are items that the officers involved see as their weakness, and look to work within their strengths, rather than address their weakness and work to improve.

2. Each club that was in fact successful, with full honors, had separate Executive Committee meetings with reports from each member of that committee. Each report spoke to what they had accomplished, or not…..Then spoke to what they needed to accomplish. I can assure you, when you have an Executive Committee meeting, and you are not able to give a comprehensive report that speaks to the work you have done to insure your contribution is productive, you will be on it for the next month. This is called accountability. Each member is accountable to ourselves.

3. Each club should have a written Club Success Plan. This is the first order of the first meeting in July, as an Executive Committee that should be on the agenda of each club President. If you do not do this you already have a plan to fail. Success is a choice not a dream. Each individual, Club, Area, Division and District must have a plan to succeed.

4. Each club should have a fully functional website from FreeToastHost. Why FreeToastHost? Because it is directly designed to help the individual succeed from offering education to the Duty Roster, which if used properly, each person can schedule their success into their lives. This is done with duty roster meeting dates on the website far into the future to allow personal planning.

Also your website page should have as much information as possible about your club, where you meet and times that people are interested in. I have seen many websites, but the most productive are in fact those with less clutter.

For example, in 2005 ,when I began in Real Estate, only 40% of the buyers would visit a website before contacting an agent. When I left Real Estate in August of 2008, 97% of the buyers would surf the web before calling an agent. Also the amount of time spent at each site varied due to the amount of information and ease of use related to that website.

February Newsletter Now Available

The February, 2010 edition of the District 54 Dispatch is now available at this link (Google docs). Enjoy!

Rock On!

by Karl Herbst

The Toastmasters Leaders and Speakers Forum has announced that Rock On! has been voted the best website of Toastmasters clubs in Illinois and Indiana. See http://www.rockontoastmasters.org

This took teamwork and is a great milestone for the club and the start of many good things to come. Thanks to all who helped make it possible.

Educational Goals

by Martie Ogborn, Lt. Governor, Education and Training

Where will you be at the end of this year's Toastmaster season, June 30, 2010? Stay focused on your goals to finish your Toastmaster year strong. Go to http://www.finishstrongmovie.com to watch a 3 minute movie and be inspired. The message turned the switch "on" for the New Orleans Saints at the beginning of their season. The rest, as you probably know, is history! As of February 7, the New Orleans Saints are first-time Super Bowl WINNERS!

Not only do you and your club have goals, so does the district. Please review the table below and keep in mind each one of the numbers represents a life that has been changed. Work with your fellow club officers and Toastmasters, strive for 9 or 10 of your Distinguished Club Program goals, and see your club reach “President’s Distinguished” status no later than June 30, 2010.

District Goal	Actual to date	Year's goal	Needs more	Percent complete
Paid clubs	76	77	1	98.7%
Mem payments	1583	3082	1499	51.4%
CC awards	48	105	57	45.7%
AC awards	20	30	10	66.7%
Leadership awards	43	75	32	57.3%
Member retention rate	78.5%

Elections at Spring Conference

The District's election for 2010-2011 district officers will take place at the spring conference, April 17, at the Par-a-Dice Hotel/Casino in East Peoria, Illinois. For more information about the spring conference, see the spring conference website.

All voting members of the District Executive Council have the opportunity to vote in the annual district elections at the spring conference. Voting members include club presidents, vice presidents education, division governors, area governors, and the district-level officers.

If you are eligible to vote, but cannot attend the election, please make sure that you send your proxy with someone who will be present and able to vote in your place. The proxy is here (42K PDF).

This proxy is only necessary if a voting member of the District Executive Council is not able to vote but wants to assign a proxy.

Nominations for District Officers

Nominations for District Officers are now open! Please see the following documents (Google docs) for details:

• 2010 Call for District 54 Nominations
• District 54 Officer Nominating Form
• Officer Agreement and Release Form
• District 54 Job Descriptions