District 65 – A Year In Review – 2016-2017

By Sam Mehta, DTM, PDG

Every new year is an opportunity to strive for improvement. The best way to do this is to take a look at the year that has just finished and review at all the great accomplishments.

Your District 65 Trio and the entire district council are reviewing these reports to assess the district’s strengths and weaknesses. They will then develop a strategic action plan to make improvements for our members, clubs and the district.

Below is a summary report on how individual members, respective Clubs, Areas, Divisions, and the District performed during the year 2016-2017 ending June 30, 2017. These detail analysis are based on the basic information provided by TI as of year-end.

MEMBERS:

• 680 new members joined the various clubs in the district.
• 49 charter members were inducted in the district.
• 36 members earned the ‘Triple Crown’ award [2%].
• The district ended the year with approximately 1,670+ members.
• Some 432 individual educational awards were earned by members.
• There were 183 CC; 104 CL; 40 ALB; 7 ALS; 43 ACB; 27 ACS; 12 ACG; 10 LDREXC; and 6 DTM.

The 6 Toastmasters who achieved their DTM are as follows: Melvie Hall-Bellinger of Frederick Douglass TM Club; Kelly L. Saucke Roland of Postprandial TM Club; Gerri Sullivan of Orange Orators; John McCormick Daybreakers Club; Rachelle Cohen of Mohawk Valley TM Club; Lillian Marie Knight Faison of Lyceum Club.

There were 16 ‘Club Coaches’ active during the year and 9 were awarded their completion certificates and 7 are pending.

Four New Club Sponsors and Mentors were active during the year to support building of two new clubs.

It is estimated that the district lost approx. 50% of its membership base [i.e. 970+ members] during the course of the year. The membership retention rate therefore was approx. 50%.

CLUBS:

Two new Clubs were chartered during the year. ‘Lawley Lingo’ in Rochester and ‘Toast the Grid’ in Syracuse.

Two Clubs [FLCoE in Cortland and Port City in Oswego] have not renewed their membership dues in April 2017.

Three Clubs [Olean, Crown City, and Geneseo] have not met their minimum requirement of 8 members on the club’s roster.

The new TM year begins with 6 ATO’s [Application To Organize] in process.

A total of 32 Clubs became Distinguished Clubs or better as follows: 19 Clubs became Presidents Distinguished; 6 Clubs became SELECT Distinguished; and 7 Clubs became Distinguished.

Some 65 Clubs did not achieve Distinguished Club status.

Some 32% of the clubs [1/3rd of the clubs in the district] have 20 or more members and operate at charter strength; 54% have less than 20 members; and 14% of the clubs have less than 10 members. Therefore 2/3rd of the clubs continue to function below charter strength, as has been the case for the past several years.

The first club officers training had 353 officers [50%] trained and the second club officers training had 283 [40%] club officers trained. This average out to 45% of club officers trained during the two training sessions. Not a single club had all seven of their club officers trained at both training sessions.

The following 7 Clubs were suspended during the year:

Positively Speaking and Simon TM Club in division ‘C’; Speech Petrol and Twin Tiers in division ‘D’; Verbal Spartan, Savvy Speakers and Devil’s Advocate in division ‘E’

The year was ended with 97 “paid” clubs.

The following 11 Clubs achieved 10 or more educational awards as follows:

• Good Morning Syracuse – 14 educational awards
• Empire Statesmen – 13 educational awards
• AM Lockport – 13 educational awards
• Rhetorical Roar – 13 educational awards
• Lawley Lingo -12 educational awards
• Assured Communicators – 11 educational awards
• Downtown TM; Utica National; Simon; Blues Expression; GCC Multi-Cultural Communications Club

The following six clubs recruited the highest amount of new members:

• University at Buffalo – 21 new members
• Downtown Toastmaster – 20 new members
• Master Toast – 18 new members
• Cayuga – 15 new members
• Empire Statesmen – 13 new members
• Larkin Leaders – 13 new members

AREAS:

Only two Areas out of a total of 23 Areas became Distinguished Areas. Area 15 [Area Director, Saundra Loffredo] in Buffalo; and Area 51 [Area Director, Celia Beaucage] in Syracuse.

There are FOUR Areas that have over 100 members. Area 15 with 129 members; Area 11 with 126 members; Area 24 with 106 member; and Area 51 with 101 members.

DIVISION:

Only one Division out of 5 Divisions became a SELECT Division. Division “B” lead by Division Director, Corey Wilson.

Division ‘A’ is the largest division with 479 members; followed by Division ‘E’ with 384 members; followed by Division ‘B’ with 351 members; followed by Division ‘C’ with 262 members and Division ‘D’ with 197 members.

Division ‘A’ and Division ‘E’ has largest number of clubs with 25 clubs each. Division ‘B’ has 19 clubs; Division ‘C’ has 16 clubs; and Division ‘D’ is 15 clubs.

DISTRICT:

The district fell short by 425 members to achieve the Distinguished District “Member Payment” goal of 4,114 payments.

The district fell short by 15 Clubs to achieve the Distinguished District “Paid Clubs” goal of 112 Clubs

The district fell short by 12 Clubs to achieve the “Distinguished Clubs” goal of 44 Distinguished Clubs.

Congratulations to all members, club and district officers for your contributions and efforts during the year.

Sam Mehta, DTM, PDG