Leadership, Officer training, Mentoring, Membership retention and Marketing are the District’s main focus this year.

My focus as your Lt. Governor Education & Training is to help our members attain their goals through training, retention of members and mentoring.

Many of our club officers do not understand the need for training, ”after all I’ve been an officer for ___years and the club seems to be getting by”. Getting by is not a goal of a successful club, excelling, being Distinguished, helping our members grow is what Toastmasters is all about. Each club member should expect its officers to attend officer training and bring this knowledge to the club in the form of performing the duties of a club officer. Anything less is depriving the club members of a valuable asset - the power of leadership and guidance.

Retention of members is a vital component to the success of District 11. How do we retain members? What does each club need to do to keep members?

Answer>>>Each member needs to feel important to the success of the club. Clubs need to develop enjoyable, educational and interesting programs, in this way both new and experienced Toastmasters will want to return to club meetings.  Set as a goal to be distinguished each year; set a plan in place for each member to achieve Communication and Leadership goals. These goals are part of the personal growth each of us wants to experience, taking pride in the knowledge that the amount of effort put forth, equals the amount of rewards received.

Mentoring: A mentor is actually a coach, teacher, confidant, friend, parent, fellow club member. Without mentors in our lives I doubt many of us would attain the level of knowledge we now have. Imagine finding yourself in an environment of which you have no understanding or knowledge and there is no one to help you understand or teach you what you need to know. A new Toastmasters member faces this dilemma when joining our club; we all know how we first felt when joining Toastmasters. We did not understand the meaning of the jargon we heard>>Table Topics, DCP, CC, CL, AC, DTM.

Some of us were fortunate to have (you guessed it) a mentor, while others had to learn on their own and many just gave up and stopped attending and leaving the club wondering why?

Every club should have a mentoring program in place, when a new member joins, a mentor must be assigned at that point. The rewards of being a mentor are many, knowing you helped a person set and attain goals, helping the member gain confidence and gaining a new friend. Sharing your knowledge, experience and watching another person grow is a reward you will never regret.

Let us begin with this thought in mind “This is the first day of many in my quest for excellence and personal growth and accomplishment”. This is a commitment to the most important person in Toastmasters >>>YOU!

As we “Build Dreams Together” bring others into your dream, help them reach their dream of becoming more than what they are.

Take---Care

Walter Wolfe DTM

Lt. Governor Education and Training