January 2025 Leader Letter

Achieve Distinguished Club Program Goals — Review the Distinguished Performance Reports and to stay on track for Distinguished status.

Get Ready for District Contests — District contests are around the corner. To prepare, post your contest dates to your website and be on the lookout for communications about video recording for quarterfinals from quarterfinals@toastmasters.org later this month. For more information, view the Quarterfinals web page.

International Candidates at District Events — Are you having an International Officer or Director candidate visit your District or make a presentation at one of your District events? Please review Policy 9.1: International Campaigns and Elections, Sections 7.H and 9.B, for guidelines and restrictions. Contact candidates@toastmasters.org with any questions.

Prepare for District Elections — The District Leadership Committee should be seeking District leader candidates for the 2025-2026 program year. To ensure the District election is well-managed and successful, review the Elections Toolkit and Protocol 9.0: District Campaigns and Elections in the Governing Documents. The District call for candidates is due on January 15.

Recognize Your Corporate Sponsors! — If your District is scheduled for an official International Officer or International Director District Visit this spring, consider nominating up to two corporate sponsors for the Corporate Recognition Award. Nominations are due 6-8 weeks prior to your event. To learn more, access marketing materials, and submit the nomination form, visit the Corporate Recognition Award program page. The final date to submit a nomination is April 15.

Help Your Clubs Grow — A recent survey of prospective members uncovered that 76% of all respondents never visited a club for one reason: they had filled out the Find a Club form and never heard back from a club representative! There are now two exciting new features in Club Central to help clubs easily manage/respond to prospective members and help them join more efficiently: the Prospective Member Management page and the online Member Application. This step-by-step video shows how club officers can make the most of these tools. If you have more questions, please see the Prospective Member Management FAQ page.

Why Some People Can’t Stop Talking – And What to Do About It — As a leader, you know the importance of keeping meetings on track and on time. These tips will help you curb members’ – and your own – over speaking tendencies.

New Year, New Goals! — Gain strategies for setting actual goals, not aspirational ones. Then uncover what’s holding you back from reaching your goals, and how to develop a tracking system that works.

Meet Toastmasters’ Newest Accredited Speakers! — Lauren Parsons, DTM, and Maureen Zappala, DTM, are the most recent recipients of the prestigious Accredited Speaker recognition. Read how both women reached the final stage and learn more about their specialty topics.

Prepare for Mid-year Training — District Directors, Program Quality Directors, and Club Growth Directors: schedule ample time to complete the Pre-work prior to training. The more prepared you are, the more you will benefit from the experience.

Learn About International Director Candidates — The Toastmasters International Leadership Committee has nominated International Director candidates for the 2025-2026 Board of Directors. Voting will take place at the Annual Business Meeting in August 2025. Find out more about the candidates on the International Candidates webpage.