On A Point – Toastmasters Southern Africa – District Newsletter
Editor’s Note
Dear Members of District 74,
As I am preparing this newsletter, I received the sad news that due to visa issues Fidell Muriritirwa will not be representing District 74 at the Toastmasters World Championships, however we are priveledged to be represented by Gary Tintinger from Division P and we wish him all the best and I am sure he will deliver a world class performance, at the semi-finals of the Toastmasters World Championships of Public Speaking, scheduled for Thursday, 24 August and the finals scheduled for Friday, 25th of August in Vancouver, Canada.
In the same vein, we are blessed to be represented by our District Director, Keith Bowen, DTM, our Club Growth Director, Nikki Quinn, DTM and our Past District Director, Sandra Cooper at the Toastmasters International Convention scheduled from the 23rd to 26th of August in Vancouver, Canada.
The Smedley Award, which is given to any club registering five (5) or more new members during the period 1st of August to the 30th of September, is also another highlight on our calender at this moment. Table View Toastmasters was the first club in our District to receive the Smedley Award when they registered five (5) new members on 03 August. Read how they achieved this success and be inspired.
We have introduced a new segment of showcasing members’ travels to amazing destinations and we accordingly look forward to receiving photos from our members. Remember to take a picture of you, your destination and your Toastmaster magazine.
Be informed and inspired as you take a tour through this SUCCESS edition!
Kind regards,
Gerson Veundja Kamatuka, DTM – On A Point Editor
Success with semi-annual dues!
Want to earn a R250 voucher for Toastmasters stock for your club or a discount on the iCon conference in Cape Town in May 2018?
All you need to do is pay semi annual dues to WHQ for 20 members by 20th of September, get a ribbon for your banner and a R250 voucher!
Have you issued your members with their first invoice yet? If not, you should do so as soon as possible, now is the time to do it.
Then on the 25th August you could follow up with a reminder and a second invoice. Most people get paid between the 25th and the 31st of the month. Avoid the stress of a last minute rush, and collect semi-annual dues early.
Nikki Quinn, DTM – Club Growth Director
Shout it out and Make the Circle Bigger – achieve success for All!
By now many of the club officers will have attended Club Officer Training and taken the first step to achieve success for their clubs armed with knowledge of how to help the members of their clubs achieve their goals.
At the Club Officer Training there was a presentation called “Make the Circle Bigger” encourage your VPE to have your Division Director or your Area Director present this at your club. It will be another step in helping your club achieve success by not only helping your members achieve their goals but by helping to show that everyone deserves to be in the Toastmasters Programme to help achieve their goals and success.
There is no better advertisment for any product or service than word of mouth. Each member I have spoken to has agreed that the Toastmasters Programme has changed their lives so we all need to speak about the programme to everyone we know and everyone that we meet. We owe it these people to help them achieve their success and growth by inviting them to a club meeting, even if it is not your club due to logistics.
We are all walking billboards for this amazing organisation that continually helps us achieve our goals. Let’s all go out there and help others achieve their goals. Make the Circle Bigger.
Merryl Jubber, DTM – PR Manager
Succes is in your future!
I joined Toastmasters in late 2010, a few meetings later, I participated in a Table Topics Fortune cookie event. My Fortune said: “Success is in your future”.
Soon, thereafter, my Home Club became part of Division S or Division Success. I realised that as a leader, to be successful you have to show people that you care about them, that you will be there for them even when times are tough. I found that you have to plan, plan and then execute the plan with flexibility in order to be successful.
This year as our new Division S Director my vision is “Stand by me, I will Stand by you, we will all Stand together” to achieve Success as a group and as a Team. If you are meeting your members’ needs then you will achieve the highest status in Toastmasters, President’s Distinguished. We can only achieve this goal if we work together, support one another and achieve our goals together successfully as a team.
Yours in Toastmasters
Stephanie Greenwood, ACB, ALB – Division S Director
If you want to be successful; then invest in yourself!
It’s that time of year again…… when we have to decide whether we are going to invest in our success or not?
Your semi-annual dues now need to be paid to remain a member of your Toastmasters Club.
To be successful one needs to have self-confidence, understand critical thinking and be able to have world class communication and leadership skills. Where better to develop and practice these skill than at your Toastmasters Club?
Each meeting gives you the opportunity to practice these skills that will ensure a successful future for you. A supportive environment that allows you to try new ideas, get feedback and then develop these ideas some more. Your ticket to success!
Price comparisons reveal that a 2 day presentation skills course will cost you in the region of R7 250 per person where for a fraction of that cost Toastmasters offers you 6 months of opportunities to practice roles that will create your own success.
Ask around, there are many testimonials of new Toastmasters who are promoted at work soon after joining Toastmasters, entrepreneurs signing bigger deals and even more stories of people improving their communication with their work colleagues, friends and families.
And there’s more…..
If your club pays for 20 members by 20 September 2017 your club will receive a R250 voucher towards stock purchases or as a discount for one of your member’s conference fees.
When deciding to pay your Toastmasters Dues invoice, can you really ONLY evaluate the price? Surely the broader Toastmasters Value Proposition and the value of achieving success in your career and life goals makes you say…..
Who should I pay?
Karen Levy Strauss, DTM – Past Semi-annual Dues Coordinator
Create success systems!
Two weeks ago I spent three nights on Lake Kariba. Over and above the thrill of sitting on a houseboat doing absolutely nothing, fishing was the highlight of the idle time. My idea of success on the fishing expedition was… catching fish. “Don’t cast,” the captain ordered, “just drop the line.” I dropped the line, as instructed, waited impatiently for five minutes. “Come to papa!” I whispered softly and repeatedly, taking care not to fight but using enough force to reel in the sea monster. After a fierce battle, I finally wrestled the creature into the keep net. It was a Tilapia Niloticus, ok a bream, a little over the size of my thumb. But hey, it was success, I had caught a fish! After catching 5 or so little Tom Thumbs, I heard, for the fifth time, “Throw him back in the water!” I thought the whole idea of fishing was to take fish out of the water and not to throw fish into the water. “This time, drop your line on the right side of the boat!” He wormed the hook, I dropped the line and what followed was repeated success, I must have caught at least 20 palm sized and above fish in under two hours.
From the fishing experience it occurred to me that so often we set goals, somewhat like “I want to catch fish!” Attaining those goals is in itself a measure of success. But dropping the line on the right side of the boat and repeatedly dropping instead of casting was the system that assured me of sustained success, in ever increasing measure.
Have you set your goals for the remainder of 2017? Establishing systems that will ensure you will repeatedly attain and surpass those goals in the 2017/2018 Toastmasters year and beyond. Don’t cast, just drop your line on the right side of the boat, again and again and again! Your success is dependent on your goal systems.
Lloyd Mugabe, ACS, ALB – Past International Prepared Speech Winner
Smedley success at Table View!
Table View Toastmasters are proud to announce completion of the Smedley Award requirements by the first week in August. We have in fact grown our membership from 20 to 28 since the 1st July. The secret of our success? Advanced planning, hard work and dedication.
From the beginning of July we began planning the growth of our club – how to attract visitors as well a following up on them and reviewing their requirements – before, during and immediately after the meeting.
The plan included sourcing new visitors, following up previous visitors and making them feel special when they attended our meetings. Guests are also assigned a member as a “buddy” for the meeting, and all visitors promptly receive a call and a personal invitation to the next meeting the following day – unless of course they have already signed up!
By planning forward we intended to win the Smedley award, but more importantly, to bolster our ranks immediately before dues renewal – ensuring the strength of the club against any possible non-renewals.
I’m going to Vegas! I don’t remember the exact moment it sank in for me that I was actually going to represent District 74 at the World Championships of Public Speaking 2015, but I was excited and ready.
After winning the District contest as I stood on that stage holding my trophy and grinning from ear to ear, Aletta Rochat (Past District Govenor) asked me if I wanted to say anything. I responded “Of course!”
This was because I had walked the journey to No.1 with many of the Toastmasters in the room and I wanted to recognise their contribution to my success.
In his debut book, ‘Today Is To Do,” Toastmaster Ntsundeni Ndou writes; “Achievement is what you see on the day of recognition and success is the sum of all the small efforts we put in day in, day out.
My success was a combination of the 3-hour Sunday meetings with my mentor Mary Byrne (RIP 07/2017) as well as the numerous Toastmasters who had listened to my speech repeatedly and provided feedback. Success is how we rally for each other and provide support for each small but important step.
Martin Luther King’s statement: “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’ can be responded to by what we do at Toastmasters. We serve in small pockets around the globe, which contribute to something much bigger than we ever fully realize and THAT is the true success.
Zoya Mabuto, CC – Past International Prepared Speech Contest Winner
What is success?
If I were to ask you, “Are you a successful Toastmaster?” What would your response be? Most members would say; “I have my CC!” “I have my DTM!” “I am working on my ?”
This is because when we think of success we usually think of our accomplishments.
Now here’s a personal question; “What is Success?”
You see, personal success comes in many different forms and your concept of being a success might not be the same as mine. If you want to be successful in your life, then the very first thing you should do is to take the time to decide exactly what success means to you. Never mind what it means to anyone else, what does it mean to you?*
In what areas of life do you already feel like a success?
What role do health, friends, and happiness play in your success?
How about integrity, honesty, values, love, and compassion?
Success is a multi-faceted, personal concept. By defining what that concept represents to you personally, and taking the time to write it down, you will automatically move your life in the direction of success.
Shaun Wilkinson, ACS, ALB – Area A4 Director
A successful club leads to successful people!
The Distinguished Club Program is one of the best tools we can use when attempting to measure our success as leaders in Toastmasters and as a club. However, when we focus too much on chasing check marks we lose focus on what is truly important; the success of our members, the culture of our clubs and the membership experience.
Success leads to more success. When we focus on a supportive atmosphere where we celebrate the victories of our members in and out of Toastmasters, we drive the sense of a culture that stands beside you during the best and worst days of your life. Not every member comes to Toastmasters because of a need for better leadership and communication skills. But, every member wants a sense of belonging in your club.
Focus on the membership experience, build a sense of culture and keep the excitement. If you take care of these fundamental basics, if you take care of your members, and you drive Toastmasters’ core values of Integrity, Respect, Service, and Excellence your club will be a success.
Brandt van der Westhuizen, ACB, ALB – President: Swakopmund Club
Serve your members’ needs and success will follow!
This has been the mantra that has driven UCT Toastmasters to achieve great success in 2016-2017. As a university-based club, we face the challenge of member retention as a number of student members who graduate pursue their careers elsewhere. And students cut corners to manage their budgets. We developed a strategy of providing partial sponsorships for the initial 6 months of membership.
We encouraged members to pursue and achieve their education goals, to get the most value out of their sponsored Toastmasters membership. These members gain invaluable skills and are set on a path to greater success in their careers and communities.
Our club’s success in achieving Select Distinguished status in its first year of inception was based on an understanding of our members’ needs. Providing student members with a helping hand in the beginning motivated them to continue with their Toastmasters journey and renew their memberships.
Meeting our members’ needs was a win-win for everyone – starting from the member, all the way up to the District.
Durgaprasad Madras Rajaraman Iyer, ACB, CL – Co-VPM, UCT Toastmasters
Member Travel
Gerson Veundja Kamatuka, DTM, from Windhoek, Namibia, was recently seen at the bank of the Kavango River, which partly serves as the border between Angola and Namibia
