It is because of Doreen’s love and encouragement that I am here today, a humbled man about to serve you, the members of District 53 as your servant leader.
Thank you District Governor Rich Couture for leading me through the entire Toastmasters Program, for being a great friend and mentor. Your guidance and automation of communications within our District has changed it forever.
Thank you to my first cousin, big brother and my personal hero, Jeff Young, 1980 Toastmasters World Champion Speaker. He spoke during the International Speech contest about Standing Before Kings and lived to realize his dreams and inspire mine.
Special thanks go to our Lt Governor Marketing; John Lynch for teaching our team that there really is more on this year’s exciting bus ride around the district.
The progress that new members make after joining my own One State Street Toastmasters Club is amazing. Please do not ever forget the basic fundamental principle that our program really helps people find their voice and then changes their world. Gandalf the Grey said that all we have to do in life is decide what to do with the time that is given us. Our Toastmasters Organization is truly a good investment of our time.
Ladies and Gentlemen the chairlift that you see outside the building can take you to the top of the mountain while you enjoy the landscape along the ride. However, there is no chair lift to get you to the top in life.
Eighty years ago, Ralph Smedley created Toastmasters to assist people in developing their communications and leadership skills to get them to the top. You must work for personal and professional success; no one will offer you a free chairlift ride to the top.
The Toastmasters Leadership Opportunities both inside and outside the club are a wonderful experience, you can be a Club Officer, Area Governor or even a District Public Relations officer. Please appreciate the dedication and effort that any Area, Division or Lt Governor in Toastmasters gives to the District. Personally, I am especially proud of helping to form the US Coast Guard Academy Toasties and the Lenox Toastmasters Clubs during my year as LGM. The Lt Governor Education and Training experience teaches volumes about helping to organize conferences, contests and educational sessions in our District. The work is very, very rewarding and I encourage you to raise your hand and become a district officer in the future. Jiminy Cricket said “When your heart is in your dream, no request is too extreme”
Many other experienced toastmasters helped me get to this lectern. Frank Kane, Val Albert, Arnie Grot and Don Logie and too many others to mention here have assisted me in my leadership development. I did not have to re-learn things that they had experienced already. Thank you all, it is because of you that I have the courage to be a District Governor.
Fifty Years ago on July 1, 1955 ten clubs with a total of 260 members in Connecticut, that were part of District 31, were granted permission by the Toastmaster’s International Board of Directors to operate as a provisional district.
The provisional District Governor was Louis Fifer of the Nutmeg Club in New Haven, Connecticut. One year later on July 1, 1956, District 53 was recognized as a District. Happy provisional Birthday everyone!
We are now a District of 120 clubs with over two thousand members and are successful in many ways and still challenged in many ways. Our duty is to carry the banner that Mr. Fifer created to new heights during the coming years by following the mission of our District.
Our opportunity is to enhance the performance and extend the network of clubs within our District by helping to rejuvenate clubs with low membership and focusing on factors that are critical to our success. Low membership, lack of chemistry, need of PR, call it what you may, but as Sir Winston Churchill once said, “Never, never, never give up”.
Our club rescue team will soon be at work in an area near you, rebuilding our Clubs and our District so our membership will be able to find their voices and achieve their goals. The attention to where we are, where we want to be and how we are going to get there is going to be our mission this year.
Across the Atlantic in London, they have a modern underground subway system called the Tube. When exiting the rail cars onto the platform at Westminster Station you can hear a recorded voice cautioning you to “Mind The Gap”. Ladies and Gentlemen as part of our mission this year, our District’s theme will be Mind The Gap, ever reminding us to focus on the smallest details which will help us continually aim high for our goals.
This year we will be focusing on the High Performance Leadership Program as we help our district officers become better leaders through the program, and help our members achieve their personal success goals. We will learn about leadership by identifying where our skills are at the start of the year through a self-assessment, then with the help of a guidance committee create a vision, mission and core values. We will steadily work our way, together, realizing our goals by focusing on what we need to do to get there.
Churchill also said that “The price of greatness is responsibility”. I ask you all to accept responsibility and focus on the health of our clubs by becoming a club officer or by simply being actively involved in membership building. Make it your mission to have successful meetings where members give manual speeches and receive evaluations for their personal growth. As a result, you and your club will be distinguished.
The Distinguished Club program was created as a measure of club health and is a great tool to ensure that our clubs and members are actively working toward the goals and personal achievements that Toastmasters brings. We will Mind The Gap on Distinguished Club Program achievement this year as part of our High Performance Leadership goals.
There is exciting news about the Leadership track in Toastmasters this year. Toastmasters International is introducing a new leadership manual that will be part of the new member kit and will also be available to existing members. There will be a new educational award for those completing that manual. The leadership track is also being expanded to include more levels of achievement. By focusing on leadership development and membership building, our district will live long and prosper.
Toastmasters and guests, when you return home from this mountain remember what you have experienced here. Share the knowledge with your fellow club members so they too will be inspired to attain lofty personal or club goals. The joy in life is in the struggle itself onward and forever upward. And joy is, after all, the goal in life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means and what life is for.
Understand where you are
Then develop an understanding of where you want to be and
MIND THE GAP |
