This is a blog about the Distinguished Club progress our Divison B clubs are making. To learn more about your club’s performance, visit dashboards.toastmastersclubs.org. Leading off the blog, a few items from last Saturday’s TLI makeup training.
This past Saturday, Earlybirds Toastmasters Tina Kramer and Jing Humphreys presented “Tips and Tricks to Make Your Online Meetings Rock!” at the makeup TLI. They educated the group on the hybrid and online meeting best practices and various Zoom tips, including: how to pin a Timer, spotlight a speaker, share your screen and create and manage breakout rooms. I had the pleasure of attending their session at December’s Club Officer Training. Their presentation and tips can be found on the District 13 website here: https://d13tm.com/events/tli/.
Cranberry High Noon members Rahul Bagal and Amit Grover deserve a shootout for their exceptional work leading the District 13 Toastmasters VPPR training during the club officer makeup training on Saturday. in addition to being a member of Cranberry High Noon, Amit also serves as President of Aspinwall Toastmasters. Rahul and Amit’s full presentation and training materials can be found on the District 13 Toastmasters website: https://d13tm.com/events/tli/.
The Distinguished Club Program (DCP) was established by Toastmasters International as a general measure of club success. Each year the Distinguished Club Program recognizes club achievements in education, membership growth, club leadership and club communication. This measure is not the whole of what makes a club successful, but it does reflect the activities that required for success.
To help members achieve their personal goals, clubs are encouraged to define a mission statement and create a Club Success Plan, which for many clubs will be based on the targets outlined in the Distinguished Club Program. The Distinguished Club Program, therefore, has the duel benefit of helping both the club and its members.
Distinguished Club Program Goals
In the Distinguished Club Program, there are ten goals that serve as targets to help a club become a stronger organization.
| Education Goals: Up to six of the Pathways Level goals below | |
| 1. | Four members complete Level 1 |
| 2. | Two members complete Level 2 |
| 3. | Two more members complate Level 2 |
| 4. | Two members complete Level 3 |
| 5. | One member completes Level 4, Level 5 or DTM |
| 6. | One more member completes Level 4, Level 5 or DTM |
| Membership Goals | |
| 7. | Add four new members |
| 8. | Add four more new members |
| Officer Training Goal | |
| 9. | Have a minimum of four officers trained during each of the two Club Officer Training periods |
| Administration Goal | |
| 10. | Submit one membership dues renewal report and one club officer list to Toastmasters International before the deadline |
By achieving a certain number of the targets in this program, a club can earn one of three levels of recognition:
| Achieve five of ten goals | = | Distinguished Club |
| Achieve seven of ten goals | = | Select Distinguished Club |
| Achieve nine of ten goals | = | President’s Distinguished Club |
In Division B and District 13, our community and corporate clubs are here to help our members become better speakers and leaders. Cranberry High Noon leads the way with 30 members and nine goals. This shows signs of a healthy club and one area where CHN really excels is in membership. They have gained ten new members in the new Toastmasters year and for the eighth year in a row, will achieve Presidents’ Distinguished honors. Cranberry Area and Promasters are in the running as well but will need to grow membership and gain achievement to be eligible for the DCP.
Other clubs in Division B that have done well are North Hills and Aspinwall. North Hills is a healthy club with 31 members and on their way to Presidents’ while Aspinwall is on their way to Select. Eriez is a possible candidate for Select Distinguished but will need to grow membership. Earlybirds won Presidents’ A year ago but will need to get to 20 or grow by a few more to be eligible. Clubs that are struggling are eligible for a club coach.
Membership Requirement
To be eligible for recognition under the Distinguished Club Program, a club must end the Toastmasters year on June 30 with twenty or more members OR with a net increase of at least five members since beginning of the Toastmasters year July 1.
Repeating from earlier, any club member can track how his or her club is doing in the Distinguished Club Program by visiting the Dashboard on the Toastmasters International website.
Next DCP blog (for Division B and other District 13 clubs) will be up in April.
Stylish 🍒 