On A Point – Toastmasters Southern Africa – District Newsletter
Editor’s Note
Dear Members of District 74,
Reward? My life journey taught me to reward myself as much as possible in order to make my tomorrow better than my yesterday.
Toastmasters is the best Reward I ever gave myself.
Take a tour through this Reward edition and see how members and clubs reward themselves through travel, membership growth and training!
Kind regards,
Gerson Veundja Kamatuka, DTM – On A Point Editor
Give the reward of a genuine compliment…
“People work for money but go the extra mile for recognition, praise and rewards.” Dale Carnegie
In a non-profit, voluntary organisation such as ours it is even more important that your members are recognised, praised and rewarded.
How are you doing this in your club?
Many clubs give their members a standing ovation for completing their CC1, CC5 and CC10. This compliment of recognition makes the member feel special and inspires them to continue their Toastmaster journey.
Rewards for the best speech, best table topic speech, best evaluation and best CL role will also give those members not only recognition but reward their effort.
The unsung heroes of many clubs are the club executive who put time, effort and energy behind the scenes to put together a great meeting.
The reward for being on the executive is to hone your leadership skills, develop your people skills and become an inspirational leader. However, they also need to be recognised and rewarded.
When last did you compliment the committee on a job well done? When you next attend your club meeting pay attention to all the committee are doing for the club and recognise them for what they are doing.
Remember a well-deserved compliment is a fantastic reward for any committee member for the hard work they have put into the club.
Reward the unsung heroes of your club.
Merryl Jubber, DTM – PR Manager
Full House 7 x 7 Club Fitness Reward
We donât get trained for DCP. We get trained to learn how to fulfill our roles well. When a sports team trains who gets trained? Everyone including the substitutes.
CONGRATULATIONS to the following clubs for qualifying for their first Club Fitness Reward, the Full House 7 x 7. These clubs had all 7 of their Club Officers trained in the first round of Club Officer Training that ended on the 31st of August. They are receiving a R250 voucher which can be used towards purchasing stock from our Stock Custodian or put towards the May Conference in Cape Town.
1. Central Centurion Toastmasters Club
2. Centurion Breakfast
3. Centurion Toastmasters Club
4. Scientia Toastmasters Club
5. Sanlam Speaks
6. President Club
7. Pretoria 2000 club
8. Cape Town Club
9. Taverners Club
10. ToastED Toastmaster
11. Rhodes University Club
12. Protea Club
13. Lilongwe Club
14. Rivonia Toastmasters Club
15. Crocodile Toastmasters
16. Bedfordview Toastmasters Club
17. Johannesburg Toastmasters Club
18. Forest Hills Toastmasters Club
19. Highway Club
20. Siemens Club
21. Ernst & Young Cape Town Club
22. Talking Heads Club
23. Rainbow Toastmasters Club
24. Florida Club
25. West Rand Toastmasters Club
26. Republikan Toastmasters
27. Changed People
28. De Deur Change Makers
29. Absa Sundowners
30. Diplomatic Corps
31. Zambezi Club
32. CIMA Toastmasters Zambia
33. Tableview Toastmasters
Zivai Matondo, CC, ALB – Club Fitness Rewards Coordinator
Toastmasters Reward!
It all began when I walked into the room in 2015 to join SOWETO POSITIVE SPEAKERS, I did not have a clue what to expect, all I wanted was to be a better speaker.
Little did I know that what started as a hobby would become part of my life.
Each role has a reward towards your goal and your TOASTMASTER journey. Within no time my efforts were rewarded and I was elected Club Treasurer.
No effort goes unnoticed in TOASTMASTERS. I worked hard and when my club rewarded my efforts by electing me as Club President 2016/17, I was not sure what was required of me in my role. However, based on my past experience with the club, I knew I needed to take the club to the next level. During my term of office my team took the club from 8 members to 15 members by June 2017. I was rewarded as Best Club President for Division S that year.
My rewards since I started my journey are that I:-
-Gained confidence.
– Speak better
– Listen well
– Became a better leader
– Managed my time efficiently
Take up your roles, attend meetings and deliver speeches and you will see the rewards and how your life will change for the better.
Tebogo Majokana, CC, CL – Area S4 Director
Smedley Reward at Rosebank!
Rosebank Toastmasters is known to be the coolest Club in Gauteng, a reward that the club has acquired through hard work and an energetic style of learning. It is an honour for our club to qualify for Smedley award, it was through team work and dedication to reap this reward.
If two or three agree on a common purpose, nothing is impossible (Jim Rohn).
A Challenge for a club means an opportunity for new ideas and it takes a group of good people in a team to conquer any challenge and reap the rewards. We implemented a few strategies that rewarded us with Smedley award for 2017.
We introduced, Bring a friend or a Colleague to a meeting, Meet and Greet session, Educational on Toastmasters benefits, Fun time Session, Theme for each and every Meeting. Through these strategies we achieved and were Rewarded.
I encourge you to attend and learn from Other Clubs. Invite Members from Other Clubs to attend your club and by doing this you will be rewarded with learning and being inspired by the collective.
John Phadima, CC – President: Rosebank Toastmasters
Smedley Reward at Capital!
âOur business in life is not to get ahead of others, but to get ahead of ourselves -to break our own records, to outstrip yesterday by our today, to do our work with more force than ever before.â These were the words of Stewart B Johnson, a Scottish Abstract Artist known for figurative work.
1st of July 2017, I was voted into office as the President for Capital Toastmasters Club. What I realised was at the club Executive committee we had a great task ahead of us. Working towards 9/10 points on the DCP for us to be a President Distinguished Club.
We agreed that each officer should own his role and work diligently on their portfolio and we made sure that there was no labour that went unnoticed or not rewarded. As the President I called a meeting of my team and spoke to the awakening of the Toastmasters call within each of us and to work diligently to achieve this reward.
To get the reward I realised that every club officer should have a mentor to the roles they were taking on and that the executive committee should attend club officer training so that together with their fellow officers they could learn more vital reward giving strategies.
We came up with award winning strategies for each officer and this piece of art is going to put on a platter the reward giving strategies implemented thus far for both membership retention and conversion. These are as follows:-
Communicate our meeting way in advance on the Zimbabwe Toastmasters Whatsapp platform, sending meeting invitations to all. We sent emails to members and prospective members, guests who are on the club’s Face Book page.
We made sure that the VPM maintained a guest book which he chronicled all the guest’s information. This was used to follow up on their intention to join Toastmasters. This communication was ongoing.
The club rewards members who bring guests and prospective members and convert them to club members as a motivation tool. We congratulated each member who converted a guest to a member publicly which encouraged them to do this again and encouraged others to do the same.
I encourage you to seek continuous assistance from your Area Director, Division Director and other seasoned members on how they have managed to retain and convert members.
The club carried out new member inductions and orientations and rewarded them with Toastmasters pins. This motivates prospects to want to join our club.
In every meeting award the Best speaker, Best evaluator and Table Topics speech. This encourages prospective members to join and rewards the member’s efforts.
Other plans that we have in the pipeline for this year are:-
Membership drive scheduled for September 2017
Buy more tags, banner, badges and ribbons for our club to make our meeting rooms enticing and thus attracting new members.
“I can see the colours of the rainbow; And I can feel the sun on my face; I see the light at the end of the tunnel; And I can feel heaven in it’s place
And that’s the sign of a victory and reward !!!!!! “Andrew Tsuro DTM
Yours Truly
Grace Hwingwiri, CC, CL – President: Capital Toastmasters
Reward Training in Division Z!
Being a Toastmaster is a rewarding experience. Division Z Wintercon aptly named Toolscon and was convened by two time District Public Speaking Champion Lloyd Mugabe ACG, ALB. Division ZaZi (Zambia and Zimbabwe ) had rewarding experiences during their respective Wintercons.
On the 22nd of July Team Zimbabwe put together a remarkable Wintercon hosted at Chapman Golf Club with a record 70+ attendants. The occasion was graced by the District Director Keith Bowen, DTM and will go down in history as having been highly successful.
On the 23rd of July there was a Speaker to Trainer Workshop hosted by Keith Bowen, DTM and yours truly. Also to assist were IPDvD Linda Chimanikire, DTM, DvD Shuvai Mahachi and Dorothy Chanakira. The workshop was rewarding as it built capacity for growth of the Toastmasters brand in Zimbabwe.
Club Officer Training was also conducted in Bulawayo with a prospective club brewing in the second city dubbed The City of Kings. A replica of the club officer training and Speaker To Trainer were also successfully held in Zambia on the 12th of August 2017.
Edmore Gamudani, DTM – Club Sponsors and Mentors Coordinator, TLI Coordinator
Repeated Rewards at Transformers!
It takes an entire Club to make a Guest feel welcome and witness the remarkable rewards that Toastmasters International offers. It is not a single member nor a single action.
Our Club Website has given Transformers Toastmasters Club the most reward in creating awareness and interest in our Club. Eagerness to be part of our Club is further motivated byâ¦
The enthusiastic welcome extended by all our members to our guests and the varied showcase of skills development on our programme together with the fun and joyous atmosphere throughout our meeting encourages guests to join and members to stay. All this and the obvious passion and full participation of all our Members at meetings is a winning formula and our club is rewarded by an excellent conversion rate of guest to members.
Our attent to our guests doesn’t stop after the meeting they are also given individual attention after meetings, and contacted personally in the following days and weeks. We believe our sincere and genuine interest in each member â long standing and new â as well as each guest, creates continuous rewards for our Club.
Kirstin Bosworth – President: Transformers Toastmasters Club
Smedley Reward at Waterfront!
Between March and August 2017 Waterfront Club recruited 5 new members to the team. It’s unbelievable because it seemed unachievable but we did it and we continued to work at it again and again.
How did we do it? Amongst other things we had great team work between myself the President, the then VPE Fungai Mtisi, and some committed officers. We pushed hard, we spoke about Toastmasters wherever we were in our workplaces etc and we invited visitors. When visitors came we made them feel welcome, we agreed as a club that the responsibility of entertaining a visitor was not the responsibility of the person who invited the guest but the club at large. That way our visitors were happy.
As the President I supported other Presidents, I visited other clubs and I took on roles. That way other Presidents and members supported my club too. They referred visitors to my club if it was more conveniante for them.
Communication is an important tool in Toastmasters and ultimately in growing your club. We have kept the communication going and alive even when we feel people are not responding! When our VPE was promoted to Area Director we had to double up roles before we had appointed and trained a new VPE. That way our communications lines remained opened.
Incentives help members bring visitors and join in new members. When the club had no money Our VPM prepared a gift of nuts and grains and packed them so nicely that everyone wondered what was inside. She advertised 2 weeks before the meeting that whoever brought 3 or more visitors would win a prize. On the day, one of the members had brought more than 3 visitors and she won the prize presented in a purple gift bag. The prize was opened and everybody was amazed and yet appreciate this natural gift.
Persistence and commitment is of the utmost importance. Sometimes one feels that you are all by yourself when officers are not pulling through, attendance is low, and club subscriptions are poor. My advise is don’t give up. I have benefited immensely from the support of our Area Director Fungai Mtisi. She really goes out of her way. Our Club Mentor Trynos Dongo has really been there for Waterfront! Thanks guys!
Nancy Matshe, – President: Waterfront Toastmasters Club
I made it! And I was Rewarded!
Nothing beats the value of getting a reward. This certificate says it all
– Heights!
– Heart-beats!
– Being terrified and panic stricken all the way!
– Relief
And
– The excitement and fulfillment of being awarded this certificate is priceless.I must confess I really like getting BRAGGING rights for this particular achievement…definitely not a mean feat!
I am learning the many benefits of gratitude; having it and expressing it. Often we go through life taking ourselves and others for granted.
When was the last time you acknowledged / affirmed yourself?
When was the last time you appreciated a family member or a loved one?
When was the last time you acknowledged and thanked others in your club?
Every speech presented gives a learning opportunity. Every evaluation given grants a growth opportunity. Every meeting arranged gives a connection opportunity…#justsaying…
Fellow Toastmasters; gratitude is the new cool. Be sure to reward those who serve you at any and all levels.
“Thank You ” is the ever present reward you can always give yourself and others.
Thank you!!!
Dorothy Chanakira, CC, ALB – Area Z4 Director
Member Travel
Dorothy Chanakira, CC, ALB, from Harare, Zimbabwe, was recently seen at the world-famous Capilano Suspension Bridge in Vancouver, Canada
Nancy Matshe, from Harare, Zimbabwe, was recently seen at the 2017 Toastmasters International Convention in Vancouver, Canada