2023-2024 Event Submission Best Practices

As a District Leader, you will organize several events throughout the year such as contests, training and conferences. Posting your event to the District 57 Calendar makes it easier to:

  • Promote your event to maximize attendance
  • Find volunteers to make your event a success 
  • Track who has registered and where to focus your efforts

How to Post your Event:

Until we update to our new Website Interface, send new event requests – Eliott Rodgers, PR Manager, ejrodgers.toastmasters@gmail.com

Here are FAQs to refer when filling out a Calendar Submission:

Is this a club-level event? Is this a non-Toastmasters event?

  • We do not post club-level events on the District 57 calendar.  Only Toastmasters-related events will be posted (i.e. speech contests, conferences, trainings, etc.).  No exceptions.

Zoom meetings:

  • For District-wide events, the PR Team will provide a Zoom link. For smaller events, such as Area Contests, you can specify whether you want to use your own Zoom account or get a District issued Zoom link.

In-person meetings:

  • Provide the meeting address. Parking/driving directions would be helpful. 
  • Do you need volunteers to help the event?

Toastmaster brand guidelines/images:

  • Please visit Toastmasters International Brand Portal to learn the brand guidelines or to get Toastmasters logos or great professional images.
  • If you are including a picture with your event submission, make sure it is a JPG or PNG file, no more than 1MB. Make sure the photo is not blurry and is directly related to your event.

What are the Black Out Days on the District Calendar – UPDATE for 2023-24 coming soon

  • Black Out Days are holidays or events that may impact events attendance/participation.
2022-2023 D57 Blackout Dates  
Monday, July 04, 2022 US Independence Day
7/9/2022 – 7/10/2022 Eid-al-Adha (begins at sundown of prior day)
BLACKOUT: 7/8 & 7/10  
Saturday, July 30, 2022 Muharram/New Year (begins at sundown of prior day)
BLACKOUT: 7/29 & 7/30  
9/26/2022 – 9/27/2022  Rosh Hashana (begins at sundown of prior day)
BLACKOUT: 9/25 & 9/27  
Wednesday, October 05, 2022 Yom Kippur (begins at sundown of prior day)
BLACKOUT: 10/4 & 10/5  
Saturday, October 08, 2022 Prophet’s Birthday (begins at sundown of prior day)
BLACKOUT: 10/7 & 10/8  
Monday, October 31, 2022 Halloween
Tuesday, November 01, 2022 All Saints Day
Tuesday, November 08, 2022 US Election Day
Friday, November 11, 2022  US Veterans Day
Thursday, November 24, 2022  US Thanksgiving Day
Sunday, December 25, 2022  Christmas Day
Monday, December 26, 2022  Kwanzaa (until Jan 1)
Sunday, January 01, 2023  New Year’s Day
Monday, January 16, 2023  US Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Sunday, January 22, 2023  Lunar New Year
Tuesday, February 14, 2023  Valentine’s Day
Saturday, February 18, 2023  Isra and Mi’raj (begins at sundown of prior day)
BLACKOUT: 2/17 & 2/18  
Monday, February 20, 2023  US Presidents Day
Thursday, March 17, 2022  St Patrick’s Day
Thursday, March 23, 2023  Ramadan begins (begins at sundown of prior day)
BLACKOUT: 3/22 & 3/23  
4/5/2022 – 4/13/2023  First day of Passover (begins at sundown of prior day)
BLACKOUT: 4/4 & 4/13  
Friday, April 07, 2023  Good Friday
Sunday, April 09, 2023  Easter Sunday
Sunday, May 14, 2023  Mother’s Day
Monday, May 29, 2023  US Memorial Day
Sunday, June 18, 2023  Father’s Day
  • In general, do not schedule District events on these Black Out Dates.  The District PR Team will not post it on the District Events Calendar.
  • In cases of religious holidays that begin or end at sundown, please ensure the start and end times respect any participants’ needs.
  • If you are planning a virtual event with a global audience in mind, there could be a holiday overseas somewhere.
  • Black Out Dates were introduced in the early 2010s at a District Business Meeting.
    • A floor motion was seconded to add Black Out Dates on the District 57 calendar for other religious holidays, not just Christian ones.
    • A committee was formed and its recommendations were adopted during the Business Meeting that followed.

Have more questions?:

  • Contact us at PR Manager, Eliott Rodgers with any questions about your event and the process to post and promote your event across the district.

Event Submission Best Practices

As a District Leader, you will organize several events throughout the year such as contests, training and conferences. Posting your event to the District 57 Calendar makes it easier to:

  • Promote your event to maximize attendance
  • Find volunteers to make your event a success 
  • Track who has registered and where to focus your efforts

How to Post your Event:

Visit https://d57tm.org/eventform/ to post your event to the District 57 Calendar. Each submission is manually entered onto the calendar after a volunteer has reviewed it and determined that enough information has been provided. Events are posted to the calendar every Sunday. After submitting your event, you will receive a confirmation email with a link to your event for review and any revisions. 

In order to ensure your Calendar Submissions are posted in a timely manner, please provide AS MUCH information about your event as possible. Click here for an example of a well-detailed event submission.

Here are some questions to ask yourself when filling out a Calendar Submission:

Is this a club-level event? Is this a non-Toastmasters event?

  • We do not post club-level events on the District 57 calendar.  Only Toastmasters-related events will be posted (i.e. speech contests, conferences, trainings, etc.. No exceptions.

Parking/Driving Directions:

  • Is it tricky to find this location? Are there signs to help the guest find the venue? Will they need a parking permit? Will there be a gate to get in? Do they need a code to enter the building? Can people reach this venue via public transportation? If so, how? Etc.
  • If you can provide a photo of the venue (preferably one showing the front of the building), that would be a great way to assist people in locating it.

Food/Refreshments:

  • Will there be food/refreshments at the event? Is it potluck style or will it be provided? Are people allowed to bring food? Are there options for vegans/vegetarians, etc.?

Timing:

  • Do you need certain people at your event earlier than others to help set-up? Will everyone need to leave the venue by a specific time (i.e. the building closes)?  

Images:

Have more questions?:

  • Contact us at https://d57tm.org/contact-us/ with any questions about your event and the process to post and promote your event across the district.

Toastmasters Acronyms

CC, ACB, LDREXC, DCP, DTM… what? If you’ve ever felt confused or overwhelmed by the Toastmasters Alphabet Soup of Acronyms, then keep reading. This list is a recipe for Toastmasters acronym success!

Some acronyms have links – click to find out more about them. All links open in a new window.

Acronym: Description

AC: Advanced Communicator (ACB, ACS or ACG) — someone who has achieved at least an ACB (ATM-B).

ACB: Advanced Communicator Bronze (formerly ATM-B) — award given to an Individual who has achieved CC or CTM and has completed two Advanced Communication & Leadership Program manuals.

ACG: Advanced Communicator Gold (formerly ATM-G) — award given to an individual who has completed ACS or ATM-S, has completed two additional Advanced Communication & Leadership Program manuals, conducted a Success/Leadership Program, Success/Communication Program, or a Youth Leadership Program, and has coached a new member with the first three speech projects.

ACS: Advanced Communicator Silver (formerly ATM-S) — award given to an Individual who has achieved ACB or ATM-B, has completed two additional Advanced Communication & Leadership Program manuals, and who has conducted any two programs from the Better Speaker Series and/or the Successful Club Series.

AD: Area Director (formerly Area Governor)— Serves as a liaison between the district and its clubs via semiannual area club visits to understand how clubs are fulfilling member needs and how the district is supporting each club.

AL: Advanced Leader (ALB or ALS) — someone who has achieved at least an ALB (ATM-B).

ALB: Advanced Leader Bronze — award given to an individual who has achieved CL and CC or CTM, served at least 6 months as Club officer (and was trained as such during that period) and has conducted any two program modules from the Successful Club Series.

ALS: Advanced Leader Silver — award given to an individual who has achieved ALB, completed a term as a district officer, completed the High Performance Leadership Program, and served successfully as a Club Sponsor, Mentor, or Specialist.

AS, ASP: Accredited Speaker, Accredited Speaker Program — A program for Toasmasters who wish to become professional speakers.

ATM: Advanced Toastmaster or Able Toastmaster — award designation prior to 7/1/06.

ATM-B: Advanced Toastmaster Bronze — award designation prior to 7/1/06, replaced by ACB.

ATM-G: Advanced Toastmaster Gold — award designation prior to 7/1/06, replaced by ACG.

ATM-S: Advanced Toastmaster Silver — award designation prior to 7/1/06, replaced by ACS.

CC: Competent Communicator (formerly CTM) — award given to an individual who has complete the 10 speeches in the Competent Communicator’s Manual; the first award earned in the Communication Track.

CJ: Chief Judge — the individual who is in charge of ensuring that rules are followed at speech contests.

CGD: Club Growth Director [Formerly Lieutenant Governor of Marketing (District role, part of the Trio)] — third-in-command leadership position in a District. This role promotes club-building and membership-building efforts throughout the District, and oversees club coaches and mentors.

CL: Competent Leader — an individual who has achieved CTM or CC and has completed the Competent Leader’s Manual; the first award earned in the Leadership Track.

CTM: Competent Toastmaster — award designation prior to 7/1/06, replaced by CC.

DCP: Distinguished Club Program — a set of 10 goals each club strives to meet between July 1 — June 30 of the following year. A club’s ability to meet these goals is directly related to the overall health of the club.

DECM: District Executive Committee Meeting — monthly District event where all District officers meet, discuss progress towards District/Division/Area goals, and participate in training sessions.

DD: District Director (formerly District Governor) District Role, part of the Trio) — the top leadership position in a District. Toastmasters International has 90+ Districts worldwide, encompassing 14,000+ clubs in 120+ countries.

DivD: Division Director (formerly Division Governor) — top leadership role in a Division.

DPR: District Performance Report — a report that gives an overview of the progress a District is making in it’s leadership/training goals.

DTM: Distinguished Toastmaster — an individual who has achieved both ACG (ATM-G) and ALS (AL) distinctions; the top award earned in the Communication and Leadership Tracks.

DC: District Council a team of officers that work behind the scenes to help a club/District achieve goals and run smoothly.

GE: General Evaluator (meeting role) — evaluates a Toastmasters meeting and evaluates the Speech Evaluators, if any.

HPL: High Performance Leadership project/award — Featured in the Pathways learning experience or it’s own 5-project series. It offers instruction and practice in such vital leadership areas as developing a vision, goal-setting and planning, developing plans and strategies, and team-building. It also gives you feedback on your leadership skills. The program may be completed within your Toastmasters club, area or district, and even within your company or community. A requirement to achieve the ALS or a Pathways level.

ID: International Director (International role) — participates in International-level strategy creation and implementation, acknowledged at events as a dignitary.

IP: International President (International role) — acknowledged at events as a dignitary. The officers of Toastmasters International are the International President, International President-Elect, First Vice President, Second Vice President and Immediate Past International President (IPIP). These officers are members of the board of directors and constitute the Executive Committee, the Strategic Planning Committee and the Finance Committee.

IPDD: Immediate Past District Director (District role) — once a District Governor’s term is over, their role is to advise the incoming Trio and to head up the nominations committee for the next term and are acknowledged at events as a dignitary.

IPID: Immediate Past International Director (International role) — once a PID’s term is over they become an IPID, acknowledged at events as a dignitary.

IPIP: Immediate Past International President (International role) — once a PIP’s term is over they become an IPIP, acknowledged at events as a dignitary.

LDREXC: Leadership Excellence — educational award for completing an HPL.

OATM: Outstanding Achievement Toastmaster Award — an award based on a point system given once a year.

PDG: Past District Governor (or Past District Director, District designation) — once an IPDG’s term is over, they are thereafter acknowldedged at events as a dignitary.

PID: Past International Director (International role) — once a PID’s term is over, they become a PID and are acknowledged at events as a dignitary.

PIP: Past International President (International role) — once a PID’s term is over they become a PIP and are acknowledged at events as a dignitary.

Pres: President (club officer role) — responsible for providing the supportive club environment members need to fulfill their self-development goals, making sure that members benefit from the Toastmasters educational program, and helping the club recruit new members and retain current ones.

PQD: Program Quality Director [formerly LGET, Lieutenant Governor of Education and Training (District role, part of the Trio)] — second-in command leadership position in a District. This role spearheads education/training events such as Toastmasters Leadership Institute and other club officer trainings, and conferences, encourages educational award (CC, CL, Pathways learning experience) achievement throughout the District.

PRM: Public Relations Manager (District role) — responsible for all District public relations efforts and supporting the goals of the Trio.

PWCPS: Past World Champion of Public Speaking — designation for a person who won the WCPS at least one year previous to this.

RA: Region Advisor — Works with District leaders to build a stronger District. There are several Districts within each Region.

SAA: Sergeant at Arms (club officer, contest or District role) — responsible for maintaining club/District property, arranging the meeting room and welcoming members and guests at each meeting. At DECM, the District SAA also procures food/refreshments.

Sec: Secretary (club or District role) — keeps clear and accurate records of club/district business, including membership records, and corresponds with Toastmasters International’s World Headquarters and others on behalf of the club/District.

TI: Toastmasters International, aka WHQ.

TLI: Toastmasters Leadership Institute — a biannual club officer training event put on by the District, which may also include non-club offficer role elective workshops.

TM: Toastmaster (meeting, contest or other event role) — master/mistress of ceremonies who sets the tone and introduces speakers and others who have meeting roles.

TMT: Toastmasters Time Television — a specialty club in District 57 that tapes speakers and publishes them on YouTube.

Treas: Treasurer (club or District role) — keeps clear and accurate financial records of club/District business and for seeing that the club/District remains financially stable.

Trio: Top three District officers — DD, PQD and CGD.

TT: Table Topics (meeting activity) — a meeting feature in which a TTM picks TTS’s to speak for 1-2 minutes on assigned topics.

TTM: Table Topics Master (meeting role) — runs the TT portion of a meeting by creating topics and picking TTS to speak on them.

TTS: Table Topics Speaker (meeting role) — exercises impromptu speaking skills by speaking for 1-2 mintues on a topic, ideally incorporating the WOD, if any.

VPE: Vice President Education (club officer role) — in charge of a club’s educational program scheduling speakers and other meeting roles, promoting the Toastmasters educational program and reporting on members’ educational award progress.

VPM: Vice President Membership (club officer role) — responsible for building membership and ensuring a strong membership base by satisfying the needs of all members.

VPPR: Vice President Public Relations (club officer role) — coordinating an active public relations and publicity program that promotes the flow of guests and publicizes club and member achievements.

WCPS: World Champion of Public Speaking — an individual who won the annual speech competition at the International Convention.

WHQ: World Headquarters (of Toastmasters International).

WOD: Word of the Day (as selected by the Grammarian) — a word that all persons with speaking roles try to use in a meeting.

Toastmasters Reports

Finding Toastmaster Data – A Guide to Reports

Toastmasters publishes reports on club performance, member awards, and other data useful to club or district leaders.
Newer leaders: here’s where to find the data  you will need over the year.
Experienced leaders:  Almost every report has a new web address, grab the new URL’s here.

Distinguished Club Program (DCP)

Access to DCP data has changed completely for 2012-2013.  Get the details with some tips to help:

http://d57tm.org/distinguished-club-program-reports

DCP reports for 2011-2012 and earlier are still available in the “old” format at:
http://reports.toastmasters.org/historical/reports.cfm?d=57

The Essentials – the “Raw Data”

Other than DCP data, most reports are now found at this new address:

http://reports.toastmasters.org/reports/reports.cfm?d=57

What’s available under that page:

  • Educational awards, current and past years
  • Dues Renewal Status (October & April)
  • Club Officer List Submitted Status (July & January)
  • New clubs and Prospective club lists
  • Club Sponsors, Mentors and Coaches lists

Club and Membership Contest Winners

WHQ also keeps lists of winners of recent year international Club and Membership contests, including the Smedley award, Talk Up Toastmasters, Beat the Clock and Membership contests, like the Member Sponsor award.  Check them out here:

Summaries and Histories – Crunching the Data

DCP-Related Data

Another part of the Toastmasters reports pages provides very useful summaries and rollups, some with graphics to help spot patterns.
It is located at:
http://reports2.toastmasters.org/      (scroll down and click on District 57)

  • Annual reports (open the most recent) – has great chronological summaries of the past performance of divisions, areas and clubs. AGs, consult this report to see a very compact summary of the performance of any club in your area.
  • “Almost Distinguished” clubs – which clubs are close (and maybe need just a little help). Really useful in the last quarter of the Toastmaster year!
  • DCP Report, summarizing membership and DCP score for every club, by area and division, for the last four years – in one table.
  • Area to-do’s – a great summary of what you need to get your area to the next level!
  • Division Governor Dashboard – Every DCP score category summarized by area, in one easy-to-read table.
  • The Daily Report (listed by date) – a daily short wrap up on status of club dues, officer lists, educational awards. Very useful near deadline dates.
  • The Weekly Report (dates with * beside them) – a series of key metrics

Educational Award Searches

Sometimes you need to see all the past history on awards, not just the current year, or one specific past year. For that, go to www.marshalls.org/tmtools. There are currently four types of reports available (check back occasionally to see what’s new).
All have the option to import into a spreadsheet to support your custom analysis.

  • Club Education History – show all the awards by all members credited to a club since 2003.
  • Member Education History – show all the awards for a member, credited to any club.
    • Within the district
    • Across several districts
    • Worldwide
    • Award types – show all the awards of a given type, e.g., list all the DTM’s earned just this year, or since 2003
    • Same choices as for Member history
  • DPR Membership Analysis – the DCP by Area/Division with added columns summarizing membership and retention
  • Club URL List – Generate a spreadsheet with the URL of each club, to use to check their website

Even More Reports – Data sliced, diced and served fresh

Here’s a series of additional reports, written by Mike Raffety/PID in D30. These reports show additional trend line and analysis data that would be time-consuming to generate by hand.
www.mikeraffety.com (click on Reports, then District 57). There are several reports, check these first:

  • Clubs not recently distinguished – shows clubs that haven’t been distinguished in a long time, up to those that just haven’t managed it recently.
    In this report, click the club number to be taken to the club’s listing in the latest Annual Report, so you can view their history and think about what kind of help they might need.
  • Club Coach Report – lists Coaches currently serving, and a (much longer) list of clubs that are eligible for a coach.
  • Analysis of membership retention by division/area/club – the first table has links that are clickable for drill-down.

But Wait, There’s More: Maps !

The best district map available, IMHO, is at the Unofficial Toastmasters site, toastmasters.sysadmininc.com/. It’s great because it has links to click in to see just a division, or even just an area. Also, when you click on a club icon, it shows the club’s last three years of DCP results.

It also has reports of summary DCP data and is unique of all the reports listed here in that you can download an Excel spreadsheet with multiple worksheets, including one sheet per division.

Want to see where all the districts are? WHQ provides a map showing where all the regions and districts are. Check it out here:

http://www.toastmasters.org/regions

 


This collection of links was compiled by George Marshall, DTM, in District 57.
Send questions or suggestions to me at gdmarshall (at) gmail.com. 

Toastmasters Leadership Institute (TLI) on July 7, 2018

Save the Date! The Toastmasters Leadership Institute (TLI) for members, club and district officers is coming soon in Pleasant Hill.

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