Don't miss an easy, and important DCP point for your club! The deadline for Club Officers to be trained is February 28. To earn this DCP point, a minimum of four (4) Club Officers must receive district sponsored training before this date. For questions and additional training opportunities, contact Debbie Allmon pqd@d33tm.org.

What's next with Club Growth Team?

Meet District 33 Public Relations Manager Distinguished Toastmaster, Flora Turner.

Flora Turner's work style embraces Toastmasters International's Mission of empowering individuals to become more effective communicators and leaders. Flora has performed a full range of tasks that exemplify helping people to succeed, such as District Director, Program Quality Director, Club Growth Director, Division A Director, and Area A4 Governor.

She has received numerous awards within the Toastmasters International organization, such as Excellent in Program Quality, Leading by Example, Division A Area Governor of the Year, Toastmaster of the year, Spark Plug of the year and Star Member Award.

As the District 33, Public Relations Manager, Flora has initiated six teams: Newsletter, Canva, Meetup, Website, Social Media, and Podcast to assist Toastmasters’ members in their personal lives and their professional career.

She has mentored Toastmasters members within and outside District 33 in achieving their Distinguished Toastmasters honor.

Flora is an experienced mother and nurse by profession. She enjoys reading

Facebook and Instagram regarding Toastmasters, and other district’s social media.

Flora served as District 33 Director in 2019/2020. During her tenure as District 33 Director, she sparked invaluable change that structured and positioned the legacy brand for future success in a rapidly evolving district. Flora became the first District 33 Director following the Toastmasters reorganization of Districts and the development of District

115.

Then, in March 2020, the pandemic shut the world down, and Toastmasters

members went from meeting in person to virtual learning. Flora worked side by side with her leadership team to ensure the transition from in person to online learning was a remarkable success.

By Darnell Evans, DTM

Good leaders are made not born. If you have the desire and willpower, you can

become an effective leader.

Good Leaders develop through a never-ending process of self-study, education, training, and experience. The skills of leadership do not come naturally but are acquired through continual work and study. The best leaders are continually working and studying to improve their leadership skills.

Leadership is a complex process by which a person influences others to accomplish a mission, task, or objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. A person carries out this process by applying toastmasters and leadership core values (Integrity, Respect, Service and Excellence).

Although your position as a chapter, Area, Division or District officer gives you the authority to accomplish certain tasks and objectives in the organization, this power does not make you a leader.

Leaders make people want to achieve high goals and objectives. This year’s second round Officer Leadership Training (OLT) provided the club and district officers the information to run an effective club. The training build on previous Officer Leadership Training provided by the district.

Since her appointment in 2022, Flora expanded the Toastmasters brand well beyond the framework of other self-help organizations, into the multi-platform public relations outlet that it is today with the launches of WestWord Newsletter, Canva, Meet-Up and Social media platforms. As Public Relation Manager, Flora enlisted members from clubs

in District 33 to serve on her team. By bringing future and past Toastmasters leaders into the fold, Flora revived the WestWord newsletter that members have not seen in a while.

Under Flora’s leadership as Public Relations Manager, WestWord newsletter has reached new heights with continued success and profound cultural impact during a period of social change. Flora has been instrumental in the expansion of the Toastmaster brand as the premier destination for individuals looking to improve their speaking, communication, and leadership skills. Toastmasters is a source of inspiration internationally, and Flora is excited for District 33’s strong future ahead with our future leaders at the helm.

Flora Turner, as Public Relations Manager, Toastmasters will continue to build upon its legacy of being the first-choice provider of dynamic, high value, experiential communication, and leadership skills development.

The purpose of the training remains

the same – to train club officers on the philosophy, goals, objectives, policies, mission, programs and core values of Toastmasters.

The training took place on a Saturday morning. Core topic included:

District leadership also provided training for first time officers. This allowed well needed training for new club officers on the following topics:

The Officer Leadership Training oversight was being conducted by the Program Quality Director, Tan Pham and implemented under the planning committee.

“The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.”

-Bob Marley

By Nandita Das, DTM

On this upcoming holiday, let us pay homage to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., this great unifier and reflect on his greatness, his world view that encompassed all that were poor, and were victims of injustice. He was a Baptist minister who organized the Civil Rights movement from the mid-1950s until his assassination in 1968. King fought for equality and human rights for “All” through peaceful protest. He led the movement to end segregation in the United States.

His expansive world view opened the doors for the poor and socially victimized people from all over the world.

Dr. King was born on January 15, 1929. He was a brilliant student who was born to a

Baptist minister in Atlanta, Georgia. He was the driving force behind watershed events

such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the 1963 March on Washington D.C., which

helped to bring about the legislation of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. In

1964, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the

most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in

1968. Dr. King, inspired by his Christian beliefs and the nonviolent activism of Mahatma

Gandhi, led targeted, nonviolent resistance against Jim Crow laws and other forms

of discrimination. As president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference

(SCLC), Dr. King was one of the leaders of the 1963 March on Washington, where he

delivered his I Have a Dream speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

The civil rights movement achieved pivotal legislative gains in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. The legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr as a leader for social change cannot be denied. Among the prominent legacies of his ability to organize and energize the movement for equality are the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. His birthday has become a national holiday, when government offices and many private businesses close to honor his memory. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr eloquent words live on, inspiring others who see injustices and seek to change them.

He had a dream, in which, someday will become a reality. In his lifetime, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, wrote five books and delivered the most memorable speeches that touched the national consciousness. As Dr. King said, and I am paraphrasing here, I follow Jesus Christ and execute the methods of Mahatma Gandhi and Bayard Rustin’s organized nonviolent resistance. “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, “What are you doing for others?”

A member of an assembly is a person entitled to full participation in its proceedings, that is, the right to attend meetings, to make motions, to speak in debate, and to vote. No member can be individually deprived of these basic rights of membership—or of any basic rights concomitant to them, such as the right to make nominations or to give previous notice of a motion—except through disciplinary proceedings. Some organized societies {i.e. Toastmasters} define additional classes of “membership” that do not entail all of these rights.

“The Toastmasters journey begins with the first speech.” It is a journey that

has much joy and many relationships, lots of pit stops, twists, and turns. The

Distinguished Toastmaster award (DTM) is the highest individual honor you can achieve in the Pathways learning experience. You can earn your DTM when you fulfill the following requirements:

(Members are required to create and implement a project of their own design, in which they demonstrate the skills and expertise they have gained.) Members can receive access to the DTM project on Base Camp once they have completed one path and

Levels 1, 2, and 3 in a second, unique path.

To receive this project, email educationprogram@toastmasters.org.

Enjoy the scenery during the journey.

By Carolyn Moore

We realize that the two most important factors in Toastmasters is Mentoring and

Evaluation.

There is no doubt that if these two are done well and there is a good Mentoring program, your club will be filled with spark plugs ready to fire upon request. Mentoring and evaluations create enthusiasm, and once you light that fire the only thing it needs is some kindling.

1. Creed—From Old English “creda”, from Latin “credo”

Meaning- It’s a noun- a set of beliefs or principles, especially religious ones.

2. Persistence- noun, persist-verb – Latin ‘per’ through, steadfastly, Latin-‘ sistere’

to stand. Latin- persistere—persist, it’s mid-16 th century. Meaning- To continue

to do something, even though it is difficult or other people do not like it.

3. Rhetoric- From ancient Greek, Aristotle in his “Rhetoric” defined rhetorical

discourse as the art of “discovering all the available means of persuasion in any

given case.”