District Director's Message
The Dawn of a new century
Greetings Toastmasters! Glad to connect with you on a high note!
The Toastmasters Year at the Dawn of the New Century has bloomed with many opportunities and at every instance, we have put our best foot forward. It is heartening to see many of our Toastmasters accomplish roles in their clubs and look forward to contribute to the Toastmasters world beyond. Our past District Leaders also continue to support the District team. What’s more to expect?
Let’s start from basics. Every member joins not the Area, Division, District or even Toastmasters International, but their club. Their home club is their first go-to place to experiment, learn, evaluate, contest, host events and even practice contest judging. But it's not all serious stuff. It is the best place to have fun! Hence, we need every club to reach out to all their members for greater engagement and create a welcoming club climate. To strengthen our clubs would be our first mantra.
Engage more within clubs. Engage more with your club members.
Every club is led by its leaders, the Club Officers. We believe our Club Officers can serve more effectively when they are aware of the tools and resources they have at hand. This empowerment which starts at the club level will propagate beyond. The delegation of responsibility helps identify greater potential within the team and thereby, discover leadership skills.
By empowerment, do not tell what to do, but communicate the vision and give the freedom to come up with ideas, plans and roadmap to reach the goals, gently guiding as necessary.
Empower leaders to do their job. Empower to plan, decide and execute.
Toastmasters is not restricted to a particular age group, profession or an ideology. It is common to everyone. Any individual should be able to know what is happening in the forum, analyse how it would be good for them and give a try. It may be your friends & family members who would have thought that they may not be suited to Toastmasters. But given a chance, they will show you that they can embrace the benefits of Toastmasters in a manner totally different to everyone's expectations! So, do let your inner circles know the features, benefits and values in Toastmasters.
Extend the mind beyond barriers. Extend the benefits of Toastmasters beyond yourself!
Like always, this year would also have its goals. While we continue to travel in that direction, it is more important to enjoy the journey, relish the experiences and travel together. That way we don’t leave a trail but a legacy to follow.
Let’s engage clubs, empower leaders and extend thoughts for an enterprising year ahead!
PD Parthasarathy, DTM
District Director | District 120
