Page 39 - january 2022

Toastmasters Leadership Institute

Bob Hall, EC2

They rescued the session and put out the fire.
who gave up on technology when manual
Her exemplary leadership set the tone for the
typewriters were replaced with electrics,
Zoom team of over two dozen Zoom Masters
Barbie nevertheless tackled the challenge of
and Timers who took double shifts, from before
mastering Excel spreadsheets to manage the
the opening bell until after the last participant
communication process.
left. They welcomed guests, recorded the
The event was well attended. Thank you
proceedings, controlled breakout rooms, polls,
District 7 members! Over 70 percent of the clubs
and slide show presentations, and provided tech
in the District were represented. Over 25 percent
support for the attendees, among other things.
of the 139 active clubs, in the District, received
Many of the volunteers faced fears and
Distinguished Club Program credit for getting
insecurities, stepping into roles on a much larger
four or more club officers trained. Well done
scale than they had ever dared, much larger than
and thank you!
a club open house with a handful of guests. TLI
We added an Awards and Recognition section
this year trained 307 club officers from District 7
to the program this year which was spearheaded
and some from several other Districts, including
by Lakeitha Ruffin. Lakeitha recognized eleven
some from outside the U.S. It took place over two
District members receiving their Distinguished
days, for a combined 428 hours on Friday and
Toastmaster Awards (DTM is the highest
354 hours on Saturday.
achievement in Toastmasters). She recognized
One of our key volunteers, our Room Host
13 additional Toastmasters who completed three
Lead, Barbie Klein, embraced the challenge.
levels or more in Pathways (Triple Crowns) since
She assembled a team of Room Hosts for 31
the last public announcement was made, 14 clubs
speakers, coordinated the communications
who completed a Moments of Truth, and 16 clubs
between speakers, Zoom leads, and room hosts.
completed a Club Success Plan. There is a high
She collated the unique speaker requirements,
correlation between these activities and how a
ensured the room hosts had an appropriate
club fares in the face of adversity (like Covid). It
introduction for each speaker, and were trained
helps members find their voice and builds them
in chat monitoring and other interactions with
into better leaders.
the speakers. Self-described as a technophobe
A couple of survey respondents indicated this

VOICES! | JANUARY 2022 39