Clubs are currently completing elections for the new year,  or in the case of weekly clubs for the first six months. The Toastmasters Leadership Institute in WA is offering training for all the incoming officers. There are two sessions in Perth.

Saturday afternoon, July 9th, at the Bob Daniels Community Centre, Beaufort St, Inglewood  1 PM  for 1 30 P.M. start to 5 PM.

Thursday Evening July 14 at the South Perths Community Centre, South Terrace, South Perth, From 5:30 PM for 6 PM starts to 9:30 PM.

The two programs will cover the same material with specific training for each officer role as well as more general club training.  There will be more detailed information in the near future.

The Distinguished Club Training Goal

Attendance at Club Officer Training by at least 4 Officers at both the July and February training sessions is required for Goal 9 of the Distinguished Club Program.  Make certain your club has at least 4 Officers at training in July.

David Nicholas DTM
ToastmastersWA Webmaster

This historic council meeting is very important for Toastmasters in Western Australia. It will be the last time we meet to conduct business in District 73. The next council meeting in November this year will be a District 17 council meeting, when Toastmasters in Western Australia will be fully in charge of our own destiny. At the council meeting this Saturday afternoon, May 21, we complete important business to set up the new district, as well as some normal District 73 business.

Make sure your club is represented at the Council Meeting

The Council  meets from 2 to 5 PM on Saturday afternoon, May 21.  Each club has two votes at the Council. Initially they go to the President and the Vice President Education.  if only one is present he or she automatically gets the vote of the other. If neither can be present they can proxy their vote to any other club member. Download the Proxy Form and bring the signed form to the  Credentials Desk from Saturday morning to midday.

The new division/area/club alignment structure

There is a proposal to rename our divisions and to make slight changes to areas. Have a look at the Proposed Structure

Elections

We will elect the first district leadership team. The nomination committee has presented its report. Other members may stand from the floor when elections are held, but these are the nominations for the key positions:

District Governor Mark Richards
Lt Governor Education & Training Ross Wilkinson
Lt Governor Marketing Pascale Amberville-Colby
Public Relations Officer Robyn Richards

Central Division Governor Robyn Lloyd
Northern Division Governor Nola Haddrill
Southern Division Governor Vicky Post

Procedures

We will be considering a proposed set of procedures to handle administrative matters in the new district. Check out the proposals at the District 17 Procedures Manual.

More information on the business procedures for this council.

I will be happy to give you any more information and answer any queries.

Posted by David Nicholas DTM
District 73 Parliamentarian
WA Webmaster
0401 011 212

In July this year Toastmasters WA (our members and clubs in WA) will become a District in our own right – District 17.  Elections for our District leaders will be held on Saturday afternoon, May 21st, at the Parmelia Hotel in Perth.  The elections will be held at the District Council Meeting during the District 73 Convention..

All clubs have two votes.  These are held by the President and the Vice President Education.  If they can’t attend they can sign a proxy to any other club member.  A minimum number of votes is required to reach a quorum, so it is very important that we have a strong attendance from our WA clubs.

Nominations for the elections

This is the report from the Nomination Committee.  At the elections other Toastmasters may stand from the floor and contest the positions.

There are several groups working on planning for the new District 17 which will come into being on July 1 this year.

The Alignment Committee

This committee has prepared a report on the setup of Divisions and Areas in our West Australian District.  I am a member of the committee, so I am supporting its recommendations.  But I have a nostalgic pang that the new District 17 will have no Western Division.  When I joined Toastmasters in 1995 I was in Western Division because that was the only one.  Over the years Western has divided twice – first to set up Perth Division and then Innercity Division.

But now the recommendation is for three Divisions – Central, Northern and Southern.  So, farewell Western Division.

Look at the Committee’s recommended setup

You can find the recommendations at

Club Alignments 2011/12

There are some explanatory notes there, and there will be more supplied by the Committee Chair, Ross Wilkinson DTM.

I hope to get a comment from the very first Western Division Governor, Murray Jorgensen DTM, still very active in Toastmasters.  And another one from the soon to be the very last Western Division Governor, Robyn Richards DTM.

How do you feel about the disappearance of Western Division?

You can add a reminiscence or discuss the alignment proposal in comments box below.

David Nicholas DTM
WA Webmaster
and former Western Division Governor

You can see all the registrations on the Distinguished Club Page

http://toastmasterswa.net/dcp/dcp-1011/

Western Division has done well

With 21 Clubs Western Division has 87 Registrations – an average of 4.1 Officers per club.

However Innercity has only 45 Registrations from 18 Clubs with an average of 2.5 Officers per club.

Perth has 49 Registrations from 17 Clubs with an average of 2.9 Officers per club.  5 of those Registrations were from a club with only 6 members.

This is a wake-up call for District 17

On July 1, 2011 Toastmasters in WA move into our own District 17.  During July there will be Club Officer Training.  Our incoming leadership group will be elected at the final District 73 Council Meeting on May 21.  The likely officeholders need to analyse very carefully this latest debacle and work on plans to lift the level of club awareness so that there is a much higher standard of leadership next year.  The Distinguished Club Program results so far show that the Officer Training situation is reflected in club success.  We have a problem to resolve.

Posted by David Nicholas
TMWA Webmaster

Toastmasters International has released new contest judging rules commencing January 2011.

Ian Pickens conducted a workshop on January 29, 2011 to discuss the new rules and train judges who can help at contest level as early as possible.  Ian does believe it is most ideal to conduct frequent training sessions at club level.  However as a first step he facilitated this workshop.

The opening review

The workshop commenced with a review of the judges form, looking at Content, Delivery, Language and how this criteria, affects a judge. The responsibilities, qualities, accountability and barriers, were the focus of this session, followed by analysing the new rules in detail.

Key changes

Rule 3B deals with the District options to allow two contestants from each club etc progressing to the next level something for District 17 to consider. It is not be a new rule but becomes relevant in D17.

Rule 5A deals with the specified number of judges and officials required at contests and rule 5B with judges eligibility. These rules will pose the greatest challenge to clubs and areas to comply with. Add the changes to the role of the chief judge, and tie break judges (Rule 5F) we have a need to ensure we have a ready pool of volunteers to judge.

Rule 5N confirms that 1st and 2nd place are announced at all contests, also for contests with 5 or more a third place will be announced. The words (if wanted) have been removed from previous years rule books.
Timing of speeches and disqualifications have not been changed and this rounds out the 7 contest rules.]

Check Lists

The separate Contest details and contest check list which were previously a separate document have been included into this manual and provides comprehensive check lists and procedures to be followed. I have found the check lists already being used from various D73 websites remain very suitable and require very little change.

A practice run

The workshop concluded with a practice run through, judging two speeches from the Creswick convention. This allowed John Palmer to see on the big screen, his performance on the District stage. It was the first time he had seen the video.

One big question arose “does the chief Judge have to judge or are they an advisor and co-ordinator?”. I am sure the answer is subject to debate but the general feel is the they do.

These manuals (item 1171) are available from Toastmaster International or from each President who has been delivered copies.

I urge leaders, contestants, and judges to read the rules, and ensure all contest chairs and chief judges are familiar with the rules of the contest prior to the club event.

Thanks to Ian Pickens for this report and the photo.

Right now we belong to District 73, along with Toastmasters from Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. That is about to change. From July on we will be our own District – District 17 – with our own District Officers.

Our elections will be held in Perth on Saturday, May 21

This will be part of the last Council Meeting we take part in District 73.

Nominations are called for the following positions.

Elected at the Council Meeting by our WA delegates

District Governor
Lieutenant Governor Education & Training
Lt Governor Marketing
District Public Relations Officer
Division Governor Innercity
Division Governor Perth
Division Governor Western

Elected by Area Councils before the District Council

Area Governors

Appointed by the new District Governor

District Secretary
District Treasurer

To be nominated or elected, a person must

be a member in good standing of a Toastmaster club in good standing
meet the qualifications of the position
consent to being nominated
must sign the Officer Agreement and Release Form

You may submit more than one person’s name (including your own) for each position.  The Nominating Committee will consider all candidates received by the deadline, Monday 28 March 2011

Mail or Email to:  Judith Allen DTM   c.j8@bigpond.com
Chairman, Nominating Committee
12 Gypsy Rise
Swan View, WA 6056

Download the Officer Nomination form Officer Nomination form

Download the Officer Agreement form Officer Agreement & Release form

Details of District Officer qualifications are available on  District Officer Qualifications

David Nicholas DTM
District WA Webmaster
0401 011 212

Club, Area and Division Contests will be held in the next three months, leading up to the District Contests at Perth in May.

There is always a scramble to find enough Judges for the Area Contests from outside the particular Area, and often for the Division Contests as well.  It is a great help to all concerned to have accurate information about the dates of other Area and Division finals.

Email me your Contest Date

As soon as you have consulted with your Clubs for Area finals or Area Governors for Division finals, send me the details so I can enter them on the Calendar.  Please send me these details:

Title (like Area W16, or Western Division)
Date
Location (like Bullcreek Community Centre, Crn Hassell & Leichhardt Sts)
Start time
End time

Thank you to Western Division Governor Robyn Richards for her Division and Area Contest details and to P30 Area Governor Lynne Brighton for her Contest details.

Club Contest details are not displayed

Sorry about that. There isn’t enough space to display the 56 Clubs as well as our 21 Areas and 3 Divisions.

Area and Division Governors – please send me your Contest details in the very near future.  Best is to email them to David – davidnic@iinet.net.au – or you can phone me.

David Nicholas DTM
WA Webmaster
0401 011 212

We should have done this some time ago, but at last it is here.  From now on we will be posting links to videos prepared by local Toastmasters.

We have a club which has been working on the technical side of this process.  Have a look at Netmasters.

Last Sunday afternoon Mark Richards and David Nicholas recorded on video their joint projects from the Communication on Television Advanced Manual

Have a look at New Toastmaster Clubs in WA

You can add comments on the YouTube site or on this post.

David Nicholas
Webmaster
0401 011 212