Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to episode 44. This week, I'm going to talk about my experience as an area director, three months into the role. In episode 32, I gave an overview of what this role entails, but today I'd like to get into the nitty gritty of what I've been up to for the last three months, look at some themes I've observed, and then look at what the next few months is going to look like for me. Before we begin, though, I'd like to say that if you're not yet a Toastmaster, or are relatively new to Toastmasters, the first 30 episodes of this podcast are going to give you a deep dive into what you can expect from visiting a club, the benefits of joining Toastmasters, what actually happens at meetings and what each of the speaking roles you may see on the club's agenda involve. In those episodes, you'll also learn about how club meetings can help you to develop confidence in prepared and impromptu speeches, and what opportunities are available to help you to develop initial. In those episodes, you'll also learn about how club meetings can help you to develop confidence in both prepared and impromptu speeches, and what opportunities are available to help you to develop additional skills through taking on club leadership roles or going down the contest path. My many guests have illustrated these points with inspirational stories of their own, and definitely worth checking them out Now. If you're currently a club executive or are considering putting yourself forward to be an area director next year or at any point in your Toastmasters journey, this episode will give you, hopefully, a bit of a glimpse into the role. And so, just to recap, the purpose of an area director is to ensure that each club fulfills its responsibilities to its members, and I'll talk a little bit more about that throughout this episode. As was explained to us in the district leader training I attended in June, an area director is a direct link between the clubs and the division and district levels, so it's really an interface between the local clubs and the higher levels of the Toastmasters organisation.

Speaker 1: 2:31

So let's dive in and look at what my first three months has looked like, and I've got to say it's been busy. And, like anything, you can throw yourself into any role with as much or a little enthusiasm as you like, and I chose to go down the enthusiasm path, and even though we need to do two official visits, we only need to do two official visits to each club in the entire year. I wanted to get out early to the five clubs in my area and do an official club visit sorry, an unofficial club visit to meet everyone and just introduce myself and get a feel for the clubs. So I did that very quickly, got that pretty much done in July and that gave me a bit of an overview of the vibe of each club, looking at where generally each club was at, potentially identifying some challenges or opportunities for growth that each of those clubs have. But it really was a way just to get to know the clubs and to start to meet some of the other Toastmasters in these clubs. It's also given me a really great perspective of seeing the range of speaking experience in our area and the way people are evaluating each other and just seeing what's on each club's agenda. So that has been very rewarding. I've really enjoyed getting out to the clubs and in various interviews with other people who have been area directors, they do say that the club visits are their favourite part of this role and I can see why the club visits are their favourite part of this role and I can see why it's definitely, you know, one of the fun parts of this role.

Speaker 1: 4:31

Now there's the unofficial visits and then there's the official visits, and when, as an area director, you attend a club as or in an official visiting capacity, you're looking at the end to complete a report that's sent back to both the club executive and Toastmasters International, and this is really to give the district leadership and Toastmasters International a gauge on how that club is doing in terms of meeting its obligations to its members. And we're given a report template and it's based on another document called the Moments of Truth, and Moments of Truth this is not a new concept to Toastmasters I've seen it in organisations as well but the moments of truth are when impressions are formed, when a new person attending a club meeting for the first time has an interaction with the club, be it through, say, social media or through the website or whatever it happens to be their experience of that is a moment of truth. Will there be a response? Will there be a prompt and helpful response? Will there be an invitation to come to the meeting, et cetera. So the Toastmasters official kind of visit report highlights a whole bunch of, I guess, criteria that we're looking for and that we can provide feedback to clubs about if they either are doing these things well or they're not doing these things well and they could improve, and I think from what I've seen, certainly in all the clubs in my area, you know, the experiences can vary between who is in the role and just the different levels of experience of of each member, and so it's important and I'll get on to the training aspect in a minute but it's definitely important for each member in the club to understand, you know, how some of these processes work and what each of the club executive roles do.

Speaker 1: 6:52

So in the official club visit reports we look at things like, you know, the first impressions, and that is what does a guest experience when they come into the meeting room, you know, are they made to feel welcome? Are they given a name tag? Is the meeting room set up and looking professional? We also look at, you know, is the meeting room easy to find and can guests actually access the room? Because our clubs meet in in, you know, all over the state and all over the country in various venues. Some meet at hotels or pubs, some meet at libraries, some meet in restaurants. So having potential guests being able to find your club is really important. Then we look at things like membership orientation and, you know, talk with the executive about whether new people that are coming into the club so new members are formally onboarded, whether they're given a mentor, how the Pathways program is explained to them, you know, and how the new members are continuously made to feel welcome and a part of the club. Onboarding new members is a really important part of the process, especially if they've taken that first step to visiting a club. You then want them to keep coming along so they can get the value out of Toastmasters. Keep coming along so they can get the value out of Toastmasters.

Speaker 1: 8:25

One of the other elements in these reports is looking at the club's fellowship, variety and communication and this is again, you know, looking at does the club socialise before or after the meeting or does it have other social events? Or does it have other social events, you know, does the club promote attending other clubs or area, division or district events, like some of the contests that are coming up, and we'll talk about that a little bit more. You know, are the meetings interesting and varied and is everyone getting a chance to speak at some point in the agenda and allocated some type of role and that sort of overlaps with another element, which is program planning and meeting organization and really the meetings that we have at Toastmasters are the product. This is what new members are buying into. This is how they can expect to have the Toastmasters promise delivered to them. So an interesting meeting just keeps members engaged and wanting to come back for more. And when there's a good mix of really experienced speakers and new speakers, and when there's a good mix of really experienced speakers and new speakers, new members can certainly see the scope of what's possible for them and they can see that they're going to get support and be supported in their growth along the way. So, yeah, as an area director, we look at all of these things.

Speaker 1: 10:03

We also look at membership strength. So you know how, how big is the club? But again, what is that mix of new and experienced members? Because it's been really interesting looking at the clubs that have, say, a lot of new members in comparison to more experienced members, and those clubs have different challenges. The challenges there seem to be around getting everyone on board, understanding what the different roles are, how to fulfil those roles, and whereas clubs who have, you know, a higher percentage of experienced members to newer members can get very stuck in their ways and can, you know, be more resistant at times to changing some of their processes, perhaps changing things up, and it's again, it's just an interesting challenge. Each club has their own strengths and you know, opportunities for improvement. And, yeah, it's really going there as a visitor, as a, as an outsider, but a supportive outsider, and looking for potential ways that you know each club can improve.

Speaker 1: 11:18

And then one of the other criteria that we need to look at is achievement recognition. So this is whether the club actively, you know, celebrates the achievements of its members, its progress through the Pathways Program, their progress through the Pathways program, their progress through the Pathways program, the club's progress through the Distinguished Club program, and just really looking at members being acknowledged, because we all know that, you know, the power of recognition of things we've done makes people warm and fuzzy, it makes them feel you know good about themselves. But it's also that positive reinforcement which is very much the Toastmasters way. So we look at through these reports whether the clubs are doing all of those things. And then there's a whole bunch of other questions that we speak with the executive team about, you know, about their club success plan, whether they have particular goals, whether they're looking to run, say, speech craft programs, which are short, sharp, six-week programs aimed at really running a short speech program, but it normally encourages new people to join, whether they're looking at joining at starting or running an open house event again to get more people in or to, you know, really run as run as an exhibition of what they do, or whether they're looking at running any other events. And so the report is submitted.

Speaker 1: 12:58

So once I've done my official visit, I'll have a chat with the executive team, give them my feedback and then submit the report, which, you know, as I said, goes through to the district leadership and Toastmasters International. So that's part of what I'm required to do as my role. And then it's really a matter of helping the clubs on each of their specific challenges or identifying the main focus that you know this club needs support in this space, whereas this club needs support in another area, and so a lot of what I do after the visits is to share useful resources, and you know, one of the resources I shared and discussed the episode before last was around the club up Project resources website, which is fantastic, and more and more I'm directing, you know, my club presidents there or the VPEs or the VPMs, to that website, just because it has such practical information. So club visits have been a big part of the last three months. I've done, as I said, unofficial visits to all my clubs and at least you know another visit and starting to work my way through the official visits. I really wanted to get out to the clubs and often ask me to either give a speech about the upcoming area conference or some sort of motivational or educational speech, which means I'm doing a number of speaking engagements beyond my normal two clubs and just getting in front of different audiences, which again that's what I signed up to Toastmasters for, and I'm getting plenty of experience in speaking in other rooms and filling in last minute for other roles on their agenda. So whether that's being the general evaluator or the table topics master or an evaluator or giving an educational or an evaluator or giving an educational so it's from my own personal development it's fun, you know, it's great. I'm getting lots of different experience. So club visits is a big element.

Speaker 1: 15:29

We've also had one area council meeting and this was to get all the clubs together, either the presidents or a representative from each club, just to get on a Zoom call and have a chat about the upcoming area conference, because all the club contests feed up into the area conference that I'll be running in November. So that's a big piece of work for the next month or so. As you know, the clubs run their contests and then I gear up to run the area version of that and from the area council meeting a subcommittee is formed and we then get into the very detailed planning elements of the area contest and I'll talk a bit more about contests in a moment. And also there's been area sorry division and district council meetings, which I've sat in on as well, and that's just really hearing about the business of the district, and there's been a few elements that we've had to vote in, like budgets and marketing and communications plans, and all of this is circulated in advance and then we as district leaders get to vote on all of that. So it just provides a really interesting view of the behind the scenes running of district 69.

Speaker 1: 17:01

Now some of the key themes I've observed in the last three months is that. And so some of the key themes I've observed in the last three months is that the first quarter of the Toastmasters year is very heavily focused on training and there's been two rounds of district leader training for area and division directors. So I've sat in on both of those. One was an entire weekend and the most recent one was sort of a half a day online, and this was really to ensure that we were okay with the various things we have to do. We talked about any challenges with clubs in our areas and really, again, the focus being on the upcoming contest season. Then we, yeah, so training. So there's a district leader training, but then also the club officer training and, you know, on the 30th or 1st of July each year, the new executive for each club takes over and we then need to get all of those executive teams trained up through club officer training just to ensure that they know what's going on with their roles, what's expected of them. And so, yeah, I presented the VP of Public Relations club officer training segments at both Eastern and Morton divisions here in Brisbane and this gave me extra opportunities to practice some of my training skills and taking questions and answers and just again hearing the challenges or opportunities for different clubs. So training is a big focus on this first quarter.

Speaker 1: 18:46

The other big focus is club contests. So each of the clubs in the area is gearing up. Either they've done their contests or they are in the process of running them and 30,000 Toastmasters globally start the contest journey each year and there is a phenomenal amount of work that goes into organising these contests. I think because there are so many rules and so much officialness, official stuff that needs to happen for each contest even the club contests for, say, the humorous and the international, and the table topics and the evaluation contests every contest needs to have judges and a tiebreaker judge and ballot counters and timers and sergeant at arms and all of these roles. And, yeah, the VPEs do a fantastic job organizing these, these contests. And yeah, ultimately the objective for each club is to pop out four winners, ideally, you know so, a winner for each of the four contests. This doesn't always happen. Some clubs will only run a certain number of contests, but, yeah, the objective is for each club to pop out a winner in each of the four contests and then all of those winners roll up to the area contests and then from there go to the division and district and beyond.

Speaker 1: 20:22

So, yeah, part of that, part of my support in this capacity has been to either act as a judge for other clubs contests or help them to provide, say, a test speaker for their evaluation contest or provide advice on how contests run, and, yeah, it's given me a lot of insight into contests. I've only really competed in contests in the last three and a half years, so I haven't done much at all in the way of behind the scenes activity. So it's been quite interesting. I was a contest chair at my Mount Gravatt clubs contests on last week and, yeah, just getting all the paperwork ready for that evening was an eye-opener. So this is happening in every club all around the world about this time Then, yeah, so I would say training and club contests have been the biggest focus, and really getting out to the clubs to visit members. I mean, at the heart of all of this is still people giving speeches and developing the skills to improve their confidence and leadership skills. It all comes back to that. There's a lot of activity and not distraction. I love contests, for sure, but there is a lot of activity around contests and then there's still people getting on with speeches. So I think both are massively valuable. I've competed, you know, for the last three years and I can't compete this year, so, yeah, it's just interesting to watch the amount of activity that goes on to support the people who are competing Then, in terms of the next three months.

Speaker 1: 22:15

So what's coming up? The first thing is the area conference in November. So our Area 26 conference is in November and, from my perspective, I organize the venue, I organize all the logistics, I make sure all the clubs are able to provide a contest chair for each of the contests that will run that day. There's catering involved and so it's a bit of event planning, which I've done a lot of in my day job so over the years. So the event itself isn't a drama. It's literally here's the venue, get a room, make sure the AV works, but it is slightly different in terms of having to have the right number of judges and where they can come from and making sure everyone's got their eligibility forms submitted and their speaker profiles and that we have the capacity to run for contests. So that, for me, is going to be my focus in the next month as we ramp up to that conference in November. Also, I need to be completing my next couple of official club visits and finalising those reports. So again, the area directors are you know, it's a KPI, I suppose a key performance indicator for each area director to submit their club reports for each club and that's all monitored on a dashboard so you can see exactly who is doing the work and who is not.

Speaker 1: 23:53

And yeah, when it's on display like that it's it's a case of right. Let's get it done. And then I'm also gearing up to support other areas. So there's four areas in the eastern division and I will be supporting my fellow area directors in one way or another, whether it's helping out at their contests or just being there in in whatever capacity I can support them, as they will with me. And this is again part of the Toastmasters way. At an area director level we all have very similar challenges and are very much looking to support each other. And then we all gear up to support the division contest in March and then we all gear up to support the division contest in March. So there's a bit of a break between when the frenetic activity of the area contests happens and then the next level contest, which is in March.

Speaker 1: 24:55

So yeah, it's a busy time. Definitely. We were told in district leader training that the first three months was really the baptism of fire and to the trainers that said that absolutely that was correct. But definitely very, it's definitely a very rewarding and varied role. You know you're dealing with different personalities of presidents and different members of the executive and even members, and you know a member might raise something about I don't know an idea and and then it's a matter of getting that back to the right people and at least floating the idea and, you know, ensuring that member feels heard. So it's very rewarding, um, very busy.

Speaker 1: 25:48

I'm getting a lot of different, I suppose, experience in terms of speaking and also just troubleshooting, just working out what resources there are and how I can best get them out to the people who need them, and and looking at the different challenges of each club and and the opportunities you know, for clubs very strong and has strong membership that has a different, you know that club has a different focus than, say, a club who needs to gain more members and needs to get more members participating and completing speeches. So, yeah, it's really looking at each club and the club's culture and saying, ok, what could make this club even better? So I think that's where many years of providing evaluations and receiving evaluations for speeches helps to position, you know, area directors to be able to give feedback. Whether the clubs take it on it's up to the clubs, but we visit through the lens of, you know, supportive cheerleader, I suppose and we just want to do what we can to help the clubs succeed. So that's me for the next three months.

Speaker 1: 27:08

It's going to be busy, busy lead up to Christmas and, yes, we get a bit of a break in January before it all kicks off again. So I look forward to what the next three months of this role entails and I'm definitely looking forward to getting the Area 26 conference done and dusted. So stay tuned because I'll no doubt do a episode about that or at least mention it in an upcoming episode in an upcoming episode. Hope that gives you a bit of an idea of what the area director role looks like in a really practical way. And if you are interested in becoming an area director at some point, reach out to your club president or your existing area director if you happen to know them. If you don't happen to know them, your president will, your club president and secretary, and BPM and VPE should be aware of who your area director is. So if it's a role that appeals to you or that you're interested in, definitely put out the feelers and start to investigate what else is involved. Have a great week.