District 57 Toastmasters

Where Leaders Are Made

Category: Top

2023 Spring Conference

03 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…

Read More

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

04 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…

Read More

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.

 

 

 

Programs & Resources

In an effort to offer improved opportunities to learn and grow, Toastmasters has several programs that challenge members to go above and beyond. Some of those opportunities include, but are not limited to:

  • High Performance Leadership (HPL): This five-project program offers instruction and practice in such vital leadership skills and activities as developing a mission and vision, goal-setting and planning, identifying values and building a team.
  • Outstanding Achievement Toastmaster Award (OATM): OATM is an award available to ALL members that go above and beyond; pushing themselves to go farther and be more active in the Toastmasters organization. You will be recognized at the D57 Spring Conference.
  • District Executive Council Meeting (DECM): The District Executive Council Meeting (DECM) is a monthly meeting in which District Officers and members of District committees discuss club, area, division and district goals as well as conduct other district business and obtain leadership training that can help them in their roles.

Questions? Contact the Program Quality Director at pqd@d57tm.org

Want to be a part of District 57 Leadership?

The district is always looking to add members to the leadership team! Toastmasters offers not only excellent public speaking opportunities, but we also provide you with a chance to grow as a leader. Why not step out of your comfort zone and apply for a role in the district? Now is your time.

Questions? Contact Immediate Past District Director at ipdd@d57tm.org

Club Growth

in-memory-of-dr-ralph-c-smedleyIn 1924, Dr. Ralph C. Smedley had a dream – to help people improve their communication and leadership skills in a friendly, non-threatening environment. That dream remains alive today throughout the world, as members of Toastmasters clubs everywhere are benefiting from the program. One constant that has been evident over the years is the need for clubs to operate continuously at “charter strength” – 20 or more members. Only then will the club reach its potential, and be most beneficial to its members. Because of attrition, each club must have a constant influx of new members. The need for Toastmasters’ service is everywhere. We all want to see more people served by the Toastmasters program. Most of us are eager to seize any chance we get to put the talents and techniques we are developing to use – but there are selfish reasons for wanting growth as well. With more members we gain: 

  • Better club programs; more variety, experiences, and resources to draw upon and enrich the entire program 
  • Depth of club leadership 
  • Greater representation of Toastmasters throughout your community or organization 
  • Greater financial resources for club programming and projects 
  • More people served and helped by Toastmasters’ programs 
  • More enthusiasm at club meetings

Growth Factors

growthIn the long run, the growth of your club depends on six factors:

  1. Effective club meetings that make Toastmasters worthwhile for new and veteran members alike
  2. Continuous promotion of Toastmasters throughout your community or organization
  3. Use of proven “sales” techniques to develop guests from prospects and members from guests
  4. Retention of current members
  5. Competition within the club, area, division, and district
  6. Recognition of those Toastmasters who go out of their way to sponsor new members and make other contributions to the club’s overall strength

Take all these factors into account when preparing for membership growth. Clubs from all over the world have given the ideas on which this manual is based. Not all of them, of course, will apply to your situation. You will, however, find plenty to choose from.

Helpful Resources

Download a comprehensive list of tips to build and retain membership
Want to become a club coach? Watch this webinar to learn why to get involved and how to help a club soar.
For more information on Membership Growth, read this Toastmasters Manual.

Questions? Contact the Club Growth Director at julie@d57tm.org.