2023 Spring Conference

7 months ago7 months ago03 mins

Theme: “Being a Toastmaster Now!“ Saturday, May 20, 2023 Keynote Speaker – Diane Dodge, Executive Director of the Tiba Foundation Come see our dynamic Keynote Speaker Diane Dodge, celebrate this year’s accomplishments and learn lots from the breakout speakers at the D57 Spring Conference. Virtual only – Whova Link https://whova.com/portal/registration/dtsc_202305/ See why you should attend a…

Open House Kick-off Meeting Workshop 2022/10/06

1 year ago1 year ago04 mins

District 57 Open House Kick-off Meeting Workshop Date: Thursday, October 6, 2022 Time: 7:00 pm Pacific Time Please register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYkcu2spjsjGN0fPtF_R0Zvaw7n0u9wrkrx Who should attend: all club officers, especially club VPPR, President, VPM, and Treasurer, club coaches and ambassadors From the Desk of Maureen Filler District 57 Open House Chair I am the District Open House…

Meet The District Leadership Trio

The Toastmasters District “Trio” includes the District Director (DD), Program Quality Director (PQD) and Club Growth Director (CGD). They work together to ensure that

The District, Clubs, and Members continue to grow
Club officers are trained and supported in their roles
Members and Clubs meet their goals, and
District leaders receive the resources needed to properly lead and succeed

District Director

Ed Cullen

The district director is responsible for administration and overseeing the district’s day-to-day operations, finances, and human resources. The district director does this with the help of a strong team of more than 70 District leaders. As a team, the District leadership works toward the district mission, to build new clubs and help more than 150 clubs and their 3000+ members achieve excellence, while supporting each other in their leadership development.

Ed Cullen has been a Toastmaster since April 2011. During that time, he held six of the seven club offices, in various clubs, some offices as many as six times. Ed became an Area Governor in the 2013-2014 Toastmasters year, Division Governor in the 2014-2015 year, Public Relations Manager in 2015-2016 and 2020-2021 years. Some of his greatest personal growth and opportunities to be of service have been in District roles like TLI Dean, Speechcraft Chair, Club Extension Chair, Club Coach, Pathways Guide/Ambassador. Ed’s roles as Club Growth Director in 2021-2022 and Program Quality Director have been extremely rewarding in terms of team building and given him a new vantage point.

Program Quality Director

Sally Philbin

The Program Quality Director (PQD) is responsible for training events such as club officer training, additional educational programs, the annual conference and contests in the district. The PQD is part of the district leadership team, working closely with the district director and the club growth director.

Sally J Gibbons Philbin was a member of Berkeley Speakeasy before moving to Oakland with University of CA, Office of the President (UCOP) in 1989. She helped found Lakeside Speakeasy by taking over the charter of a one year old club that was not able to continue.

She has been President & Vice President of Education of Lakeside Speakeasy and is a past Area D26 Governor/A2 Director & Division D Director. In 2014 she earned her Legacy DTM (Distinguished Toastmaster). She has held several District Chairs. She is now D57 Program Quality Director.

Sally has been a guest speaker at the Mayflower Society and at the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) and won the Dist 57 Eval Contest once.

She loves horses and genealogy (Thank-you Cousin-Roger Howland)

She is now retired from the University of California, but not from Toastmasters!

Club Growth Director

Linda Patten

As the Club Growth Director (CGD), I am responsible for all aspects of marketing, club-building, and club-retention efforts within the District. This includes creating a Team that allows more Toastmasters to become involved in the District’s efforts to charter new clubs and build all existing clubs to Excellence. We have been working to reinforce the outreach efforts of our District Members and to encourage all members to see the value in maintaining their membership in Toastmasters.

Linda Patten, a Leadership Trainer and Mentor, joined Toastmasters in December of 2019. Since then, she has skyrocketed into speaking and leadership. She has completed the Triple Crown and been awarded the OATM (Outstanding Award Toastmaster) every year since, 4 in total, and was awarded her DTM (Distinguished Toastmaster) on July 1, 2021. She was also named the Toastmaster of the Year 2021 for District 57.

Linda has held roles at all levels including: Secretary and now President of Heart2Heart Toastmasters, the club she joined in 2019, Treasurer for Leaders Worldwide, a club she helped charter in October, 2020 and to mentor. She has co-led 4 Speechcraft programs, one of which, Leaders Worldwide, chartered with 50 members. Linda has been a club mentor and coach.

At the District level, she was the District Finance Officer for 2020-2021, was the D30 Area Director 2021-2022 and was the Division Director for Division G along with being 2 of the 3 Area Directors as well.

Linda was the Education Speaker for 2021 D103 Annual Toastmasters Conference April 24, 2021 titled Zoom Etiquette and Beyond. She has given speeches in clubs around the District, the country and the world thanks to the magic of Zoom.

In her life outside Toastmasters, Linda has presented her highly regarded SUE Talk, Awaken the Leader and is the founder of Dare2Lead with Linda. She is an international speaker and best-selling author of No One Stood Up When I Entered the Room: One Woman’s Journey from Command to True Leadership, The Art of Herding Cats: Leading Teams of Leaders, Thoughts on Leadership: Reflections from Experience and 6 other complications.

This woman knows how to lead with her heart and her head.

Leadership

Our District

resize-1280x910_daily_independent_journal_sat__apr_28__1956_ — CLICK TO EXPAND. The Daily Independent Journal from San Rafael, CA. Page 22. Saturday, April 28, 1956.

Toastmasters International is a world leader in communication and leadership development. Our organization has more than 345,000 memberships. Members improve their speaking and leadership skills by attending one of the 15,900 clubs in 142 countries that make up our global network of meeting locations.

The world needs leaders. Leaders head families, coach teams, run businesses and mentor others. These leaders must not only accomplish, they must communicate. By regularly giving speeches, gaining feedback, leading teams and guiding others to achieve their goals in a supportive atmosphere, leaders emerge from the Toastmasters program. Every Toastmasters journey begins with a single speech. During their journey, they learn to tell their stories. They listen and answer. They plan and lead. They give feedback—and accept it. Through our community of learners, they find their path to leadership.

Our District’s History

The first Toastmasters club was founded by Dr. Ralph Smedley, in Santa Ana, California in 1924. There were already more than 1,500 Toastmasters clubs before District 57 (D57) came into existence. The oldest club in our District is still around today! San Leandro Toastmasters, club #452, chartered in 1947 while they were still part of District 4. A full list of clubs in our District in order of charter date can be found here.

Our first District Governor (now District Director) was the late Lothar Salin who served from 1957-1958. He went on to serve as President of Toastmasters International from 1967-1968. Michael Notaro, District Governor from 2003-2004, followed in the same foot steps, serving as President of Toastmasters International from 2011-2012. Our District first achieved Distinguished status under the leadership of the late Don Orput from 1969-1970. Women were not admitted to Toastmasters membership until 1973 – 53 years after women got the right to vote. However, women soon made their presence felt! The first time our District achieved Select Distinguished was when it was led by a woman, Anna Frazier Holden, from 1982-1983. Our District achieved Presidents Distinguished status for the first time, led by the late Ginger Kane from 1986-1987. D-57 next achieved Presidents Distinguished status in 2000-2001 when it was the 6th best club in the world, under the leadership of District Governor Cassandra Cockrill DTM. You can learn more about today’s leadership here.

In 60 years, we have gone from a fledgling District to having more than 140 clubs. District 57 Toastmasters, the Redwood Empire, covers the Northern California region, from the East Bay to the North Bay, wine country and stretching up the northern California coast to almost the Oregon border. We had the honor of being the first District to initiate the new Toastmasters International educational program.

What’s in our future? That’s up to you. Find a Toastmasters near you and get started on your journey.