Cartwright, Haataia and Dingman(s) Serve as Guidance Committee to TLI Chair

Dr. Lorraine Haataia served as TLI Chairman for Toastmasters Leadership Institute (TLI) on February 6, 2010. Her High Performance Leadership (HPL) guidance committee members included Shari Cartwright, Bob Haataia and Lenny Dingman. Here's what Lorraine appreciated about her guidance committee members:

Distinguished Toastmaster, Shari Cartwright, had a lot of great advice to offer me, but the most notable was one memorable email she sent me. When I was in the middle of rushing to answer the many emails that were going back and forth among the chairmen the few days preceding TLI, I received this advice from Shari. It stopped me in my tracks and made me think:

You are doing a great job! One suggestion on your email below – the first sentence feels harsh so for the future, I suggest you try to “soften” it a little. For example, I saw this as something you would handle and I apologize if I failed to inform you. If you don’t have time before tomorrow, please ask someone on your team to help out.”

One thing I learned from a past, great manager I had, if someone doesn’t know they were supposed to do something then it is your fault for not telling them. That’s why that statement with the apology. Even if you know you told them, then the apology would be something like “I apologize if I was not clear…”.

Shari reminded me of a universal truth--that regardless of how busy we get, we need to take the time to be considerate of, and thankful for, our leaders. And as a leader, we need to remember that the ultimate success of any project is a reflection of our own communication and leadership skills. Great leaders become great one activity at a time, repeatedly done well.

One other good piece of advice from Shari was to "cut the bananas in half."

When I first read this short email that Shari passed on to the Food & Hospitality Chairman, it struck me as funny. After I thought about it a while, however, I realized that we all have good ideas and prior experience that we bring to large events like this and this one little piece of advice can help to reduce food waste and cut the banana budget in half!

Thank you Shari!

Distinguished Toastmaster Bob Haataia served as Area 11 Governor last year and led the last TLI held in summer 2009. From July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009, I had the opportunity to see him carry out not only his duties as an area governor, but also take on the additional role as TLI Chairman.

Sitting in on his guidance committee meetings gave me a good preview of the many details involved in running TLI. Since it was still fairly fresh on his mind, he was a likely candidate to serve as one of my HPL guidance committee members.

Toastmasters is a fabulous organization, in part because it attracts people who are on a personal growth mission, people who are willing to humble themselves through feedback from peers, and people who are willing to laugh at and learn from their mistakes. And Toastmasters is even more fun if you have the privilege of sharing the experience with your spouse, when you have the opportunity to share the Toastmasters mission and credo to "have fun doing it!"

Not only did Bob serve as a daily sounding board for me as I planned the most recent TLI, he also conducted a TLI session on Social Networking.

Thank you Bob!

Area 11 Governor, Lenny Dingman, is always willing to roll up his sleeves and help out however he can. That's exactly what he did once again. Not only did he serve as one of my guidance committee members, he also served as the Greeters & Photographers Chairman, and as one of the TLI presenters. And if you know Lenny, you know that he did it all with a smile!

What strikes me most about Lenny is his willingness to serve fellow Toastmasters. His wife, Division A Governor, and Distinguished Toastmaster Stacey Dingman, is just the same. Between the two of them, they will do whatever it takes to get the job done. You can count on it!

Lenny, Bob and Stacey were all instrumental in carrying out the last TLI and were equally helpful in making sure that everything went well with this TLI. In fact, I got a two-for-one deal with Lenny on my guidance committee because I got just as much help and guidance from Stacey in the process. And because this event was held at UF Shands, Stacey also went the extra mile to make sure everything related to our site went over well from start to finish.

What do I remember most about Lenny? Well, I think it's the funny tie he wore with blue scrubs when he showed up at one of our Baywood Toastmasters meetings for his area governor visits in September. He reminded all the guys about the importance of dressing for success!

Seriously though, what I think of most when I think of Lenny, is that regardless of what we choose to do, we need to remember to "have fun doing it!"

Thank you Lenny, and thank you Stacey!

Last Chance Training 2.22.10

If you missed out on the TLI trainings in January and on February 6th, then we have ONE LAST CHANCE FOR YOU to get TRAINED.

The Division A Last Chance Training will take place on:

Monday, February 22nd

6:30-8:30PM

Jacksonville Aviation Authority Admin Bldg.

14201 Pecan Park Rd.

DO NOT MISS YOUR CHANCE to learn about your officer position and help your Club as the same time.

RSVP with your Area Governor TODAY!!!

Lenny Dingman Serves as TLI Greeters & Photographers Chairman

Greeters & Photographers Chairman
Lenny Dingman (Area 11 Governor)

The purpose of this position is to lead a group of smiling, informed greeters who welcome everyone, and to oversee the head photographer to ensure that we have plenty of photos available after the event. Key responsibilities for the position include:

• Recruit greeters to welcome participants and answer their questions. Communicate with them well in advance of the event so that they know when and where to show up for the volunteer briefing.
• Recruit a lead photographer to communicate with volunteer photographers so that they understand their role well in advance of the event.
• Conduct a greeter volunteer briefing at least 30 minutes prior to the event start time so that volunteers can answer just about any question from “where’s the bathroom” to “do we have sweet & lo” to “what sessions should I attend?” Encourage greeters to help troubleshoot for chairmen, volunteers, or participants as needed. Ask greeter volunteers to encourage people to look at the raffle table and buy raffle tickets.
• Lead a group of smiling, informed greeters who answer participant questions and help everyone feel welcome.
• Ensure that your lead photographer conducts a briefing for the volunteers at least 30 minutes prior to the start of the event, including providing them with instructions on where to upload the photos within 48 hours after the close of the event.
• Follow up with lead photographer to confirm that s/he compiled all the photos in one location in a format on the web that’s simple for everyone to access such as Facebook, Picassa or any other similar tool. Email the link to the TLI Chairmen and to the Division and Area Governors, encouraging them to pass photos on to club Public Relations VPs so they can post photos to their websites and social media sites.

Gail Antoine Serves as TLI Facilitators Chairman

Facilitators Chairman
Gail Antoine (Area 61 Governor)

The purpose of this position is ensure that each presenter begins their session on time with a proper introduction and ends with enough time for participants to complete their presentation evaluation forms. Key responsibilities for the position include:

• Recruit volunteers to print the facilitator’s packets and ensure that they’re there well in advance of the facilitator briefing session on the day of the training. If possible, recruit volunteers who can also donate the printing. These include sign-in sheets, evaluation forms, thank you certificates for the speakers and so on. It’s helpful if you have at least one person with prior experience so they can explain it to any new volunteers. It’s critical that officers sign-in for the training session pertaining to their current officer role in order for their club to receive credit. For facilitators who currently hold an office in their club, ask them to review the schedule in advance to be sure that they aren’t facilitating during a time when they need to be in the session for their officer session.
• Recruit facilitators who will ensure that each training session begins with the proper introduction of the presenter and ends with adequate time for participants to complete a presenter evaluation form. Facilitators should also remind presenters that they need to use the entire time allotted for the training session.
• Coordinate with Scheduling Chairman to ensure that we have at least one facilitator for each training session, and include a few extra in case they’re needed.
• Schedule a facilitators briefing session with your volunteers and communicate with them well in advance of the training so that they know when and where to go for the briefing.
• Conduct a facilitator briefing session at least 30 minutes prior to the start of the event. Ensure that facilitators are given facilitators packets and fully briefed on their responsibilities.
• Recruit volunteers to 1) tally the “overall rating” on each presenter, 2) scan/review the presentation feedback forms making notes on any extremely positive or negative feedback for the Facilitators Chairman, 3) then pass the feedback forms on to the presenters in the closing session before they leave that day.
• Recruit a volunteer to compile a summary of the overall ratings & number of attendees for presenters & email to all the chairmen and division governors within 48 hours of the close of the event.

Sheema Shaik Serves as TLI Registration & Volunteer Recruitment Chairman

Registration & Volunteer Recruitment Chairman
Sheema Shaik (Area 60 Governor)

The purpose of this position is to coordinate registration and volunteer recruitment. Key responsibilities for the position include:

• Provide a means for people to begin registering and volunteering to assist with this event several weeks prior to TLI, such as SurveyMonkey.
• Send regular updates to fellow chairmen so they can contact people who volunteered to help in their area of responsibility.
• Share a draft of the registration form with fellow chairmen to review prior to its distribution.
• Post a large “REGISTRATION” sign above the registration table so that people can easily see it when they first enter.
• Recruit volunteers to collect registration money and to arrive 30-45 minutes in advance of the start time to ensure that all registration moneys are collected as volunteers and participants begin to arrive.
• Brief the registration table volunteers prior to the start of the event so that they’ll be able to answer simple questions, such as “where are the volunteer briefings?” or “where is the bathroom?”
• It’s easiest to run the event on a “cash only” basis, but it’s important to coordinate with the Finance Chairman in advance of the event so that volunteers know how to handle questions such as “Can I use my MasterCard?” or “Can I write one check to cover all the officers in my club?”

Linton Mcclain Serves as TLI Food & Hospitality Chairman

Food & Hospitality Chairman
Linton Mcclain (Baywood Club President)

The purpose of this position is to coordinate the purchasing and set up a variety of food and drinks so that all participants can enjoy refreshments throughout the event. Key responsibilities for the position include:

• Coordinate with the Finance Chairman to prepare a budget for the food.
• Coordinate with Registration Chairman throughout the registration to know the number of people registered and plan adequate food accordingly.
• Recruit volunteers to purchase food and to deliver the food at least 45-60 minutes in advance of the event start time.
• Recruit volunteers to set up the tables at least 30-45 minutes in advance of the event start time.
• Recruit volunteers to brew and set up coffee well in advance (60-90 minutes depending on type of brewers) of the event start time. Be sure to read instructions on coffee pots to ensure adequate brewing time. Coffee is generally expected for events in the morning, but optional for afternoon or evening events. Bring long extension cords in case they’re needed.
• Coordinate with Arrangements Chairman to understand how many tables will be available, and any other logistics such as understanding the size of tablecloths (if needed) and when the facilities will be open.
• Recruit volunteers to oversee the buffet tables throughout the event until all of the food is consumed or stored for transport.
• Recruit volunteers to assist with food/buffet cleanup and to take out garbage if required.

Judith Chapple Serves as TLI Arrangements Chairman

Arrangements Chairman
Judith Chapple (Area 63 Governor)

The purpose of this position is to coordinate and meet with site location personnel well in advance of the event to gain a complete understanding of all the details about the use of the meeting space(s). Key responsibilities for the position include:

• Recruit volunteers to help set up rooms at least 30 minutes prior to the start of the event and to troubleshoot as needed during the sessions. The number of volunteers should be equal to or greater than the number of rooms being used for the event.
• Coordinate with site location personnel and conduct an on-site walk-through meeting well in advance of the event to get a complete understanding of which rooms we’ll be using, when we can unlock and lock them, and other details such as use of dry/erase markers, equipment, what to do with garbage, how lights work, security, and so on.
• Coordinate with the Food/Hospitality Chairman to understand how many tables will be available, and any other logistics such as understanding the size of tablecloths (if needed) and when the facilities will be open.
• Communicate site location details to your volunteers well in advance of the event and in the volunteer briefing that takes place about 30 minutes prior to the start of the event.
• Recruit volunteers to post directional signs and restroom signs at least 30 minutes prior to participants’ arrival.
• Coordinate with Training Chairman well in advance of the event to ensure that session signs are printed for breakout rooms so people can easily find their way around the facility. Recruit volunteers to post signs at least 30 minutes prior to participants’ arrival.
• Schedule a volunteer briefing for your volunteers and coordinate with them well in advance of the event to ensure that they know the time and location of the arrangements briefing which needs to take place at least 30 minutes prior to the start of the event.
• Recruit volunteers to help clean up rooms after the sessions are over. Inform them of any time requirements so that rooms are cleaned up according to facility time requirements and constraints.

Stacey Dingman Serves as TLI Scheduling Chairman

Scheduling Chairman
Stacey Dingman (Division A Governor)

The purpose of this position is to prepare an Agenda and a Training Schedule for a successful TLI. Key responsibilities include:

• Recruit experienced and reliable volunteers to deliver training sessions and conduct the opening and closing sessions. Remind presenters to refer to the officer manual for officer training. Inform presenters that they need to begin and end their presentation on time and that they need to use all the time allotted for their presentation. Recruit a few (experienced) backup presenters in case we have any last minute cancellations and encourage co-presenters or panel discussions to help minimize the number of possible interruptions due to last minute cancellations.
• Coordinate with the area governors and any district officers or local distinguished Toastmasters attending to have time on the agenda during the opening and/or closing session or for a full training session.
• Share the schedule and agenda with and seek feedback from fellow chairmen as you’re putting them together well in advance of the event.
• Include sessions recommended by Toastmasters from the Successful Club Series, the Better Speaker Series, or the Leadership Excellence Series, or sessions such as Achieving Success as a Club Officer (Item 1311A), Attracting New Members (Item 1311B), Charting a Course for Club Success (Item 1311C), Motivating Achievement (Item 1311D), Serving as an Area/Division/District Officer, and other similar leadership topics. This provides a great venue for people working on long speeches.
• Experiment with one or two new ideas such as “What it takes to be an area governor” or “What it takes to be a district officer.”
• Coordinate with Facilitators Chairman to ensure that we have at least one facilitator for each training session.
• Coordinate with Arrangements Chairman to ensure that session signs are posted on breakout rooms as needed to people can easily find their way around the facility. Recruit volunteers to post signs at least 30 minutes prior to participants’ arrival.
• Recruit two volunteers to bring and run timing lights during the opening and closing sessions. Their purpose is to keep us on schedule. Ask two volunteers to be sure we have a backup.
• Coordinate with the Promotions & Feedback Chairman to ensure that TLI Evaluation forms are distributed to participants along with the Agenda/Training Schedule prior to the opening session. Recruit volunteers to distribute agenda/schedules prior to the start of the event.

Andrea Siracusa Serves as TLI Promotions & Feedback Chairman

Promotions & Feedback Chairman
Andrea Siracusa (Area 12 Governor)

The purpose of this position is to promote and evaluate this event from start to finish, including collecting feedback from the participants. Key responsibilities include:

• Prepare a promotional flyer. Include a link to the registration in the flyer and start distributing the flyers to the area governors as soon as we’re given the go-ahead from division governors.
• Prepare a TLI overall feedback form for all participants to complete. Share the draft of the document with all chairmen for their review prior to making copies. Survey should be short so that it can be completed in less than 3 minutes. Survey should ask people to rate the quality (on a scale of 1-10 for example) of the event on high level qualities such as: facility, registration, event promotion, presenters, session topics, food/hospitality, facilitators, greeters, and TLI overall. Survey should also include two open-ended questions: 1) What did you like most about this TLI event? 2) What is the one thing you’d like to recommend to improve the next TLI? Note on the feedback form a reminder for people to turn in the form at the closing session to be entered into the raffle drawing.
• Coordinate with the Scheduling Chairman to ensure that TLI Evaluation forms are distributed along with the Agenda/Training Schedule prior to the start of the event. Recruit volunteers to distribute TLI Evaluation forms prior to and during the opening session and also at the closing session as needed. Be sure to print evaluation forms several days in advance of the event and to arrange a backup plan to be sure that forms are at the event on time. Participant feedback is vital for improvement and for the success of future TLIs.
• Recruit volunteers to collect TLI feedback forms in the closing session and to let participants know that their form will be used in a drawing for a prize.
• Recruit volunteer(s) to compile, calculate ratings and type all the feedback/comments into one document and to distribute it to the district governors and all the chairmen within 48 hours after the end of the event.

Melissa Brown Serves as TLI Finance Chairman

Finance Chairman
Melissa Brown (Area 10 Governor)

The purpose of this position is to oversee all the income and expenses and to ensure that the event ends with a positive cash balance. Key responsibilities for the position include:

• Review sample budgets from prior TLI events and set up a budget for current event.
• Contact Toastmasters governors and officers asking them to bring donations for the raffle. Let them know that there will be no reimbursement for their items, but they can get recognition for the person/company donating the items by including a business card or flyer with their donated item.
• Coordinate with Promotions & Feedback Chairman and Facilitators Chairman to determine if funds will be needed for forms.
• Brainstorm with chairmen on creative ways to save cost.
• Coordinate with division governors to purchase Toastmasters materials for rewards, such as an award to a club that has all seven officers present, for example.
• Recruit volunteers to collect donated items as they come in that day and to keep an eye on the table throughout the event until the raffle is complete.
• Set up table displaying all the donated raffle items to encourage people to buy raffle tickets.
• It’s easiest to run the event on a “cash only” basis, but it’s important to coordinate with the Registration & Volunteer Recruitment Chairman in advance of the event so that registration table volunteers know how to handle questions such as “Do you accept checks?” or “Can I use my MasterCard?”
• Recruit 3-4 volunteers to sell 50/50 tickets and count the money. They need to be outgoing people and not afraid to ask people to buy tickets. This is one of the primary ways we collect funds for this event. It’s also generally the largest prize given out during the raffle.
• Communicate the budget to all the chairmen so that they all understand any income and expenses that affect their chair position.
• Coordinate with the Registration Chairman to collect and count the registration money.
• Coordinate finance volunteers to collect the receipts from the Food/Hospitality volunteers and prepare cash reimbursements for them before they leave.
• Compile (or recruit a volunteer to compile) a final accounting of all moneys collected and paid out. Distribute this to the chairman and district governors within 48 hours after the close of the event.

Dr. Lorraine Haataia Serves as TLI Chairman

Dr. Lorraine Haataia, Immediate Past President of Baywood Toastmasters, led Toastmasters Leadership Institute (TLI) for Division A & F on Saturday, February 6, 2010. She coordinated the event using Toastmasters Training Club Leaders manual and Toastmasters High Performance Leadership (HPL) manual.

If you're familiar with the HPL project, you know that one of the first requirements is to recruit a guidance committee and to define the project vision, mission and values.

In addition, the project chairman is also responsible for defining her own duties as well as the duties of other leaders who will be involved in the project. Here are the duties that Lorraine outlined for the TLI Chairman:

TLI Chairman

The purpose of this position is to ensure the overall success of Toastmasters Leadership Training. Key responsibilities for the position include:

• Review and follow guidelines provided in Toastmasters Club Officer Training Program http://www.toastmasters.org/217_training.aspx
• Recruit a guidance committee consisting of a minimum of three people with prior experience leading a Toastmasters Leadership Institute event.
• Recruit chairman team to oversee all the major areas of the event.
• Prepare and distribute a chairman contact sheet including all phone numbers, emails and photos.
• Work with the guidance committee to develop the vision, mission, values, goals, project plan, and timetables for the event. Share with the chairmen and ask for feedback.
• Set up and conduct guidance committee meetings in all five stages of the event from planning through presentation of the results.
• Define the roles & responsibilities of all the chairmen positions and communicate with all chairmen to make adjustments as needed.
• Hold periodic progress review meetings with chairmen as needed.
• Handle obstacles, setbacks and problems as they arise.
• Recognize and thank chairmen and guidance committee at the TLI event.
• Prepare “lessons learned” from this event to pass on to the next TLI event chairman.
• Give two presentations to Toastmasters club: the first on the vision during the event planning & preparation stage, and a second to present the results of the event.
• Share results and documents with next TLI Chairman to ensure continuous improvement of this event.

Following is a list of eight additional chairmen who led this event. Click on any of the titles below for a complete description of position responsibilities:

• Finance Chairman
• Promotions & Feedback Chairman
• Scheduling Chairman
• Arrangements Chairman
• Food & Hospitality Chairman
• Registration & Volunteer Recruitment Chairman
• Facilitators Chairman
• Greeters & Photographers Chairman

As Toastmasters, we are committed to seeking feedback so that we can continue to improve our communication skills and grow our leadership skills. From Lorraine's perspective, she believes that TLI had the following positive outcomes:

• The majority of the area governors voluntarily took on a great deal of responsibility, as chairman and as presenters, to make TLI a successful event for their club leaders.
• About 132 club officers attended the training and many of them served in some type of volunteer role as well.
• All of the major activities necessary for pulling off an event this large happened on time and within budget.

And here are a few suggestions from Lorraine to improve future TLI events:

• The area governors who served as chairman and presenters had too much responsibility for one day. Lorraine recommends that they serve as a chairman or as a presenter, but not both on the same day. This is a great opportunity for area governors to practice delegation by recruiting leaders from their clubs to serve as presenters or chairmen.
  
• Only about a third of the participants stayed until the end. Asking people to dedicate five or six hours to this event on a Saturday is too long, especially for the volunteers and for those who have a longer commute. That's probably why so many people cut out early. We started at 8 AM and ended at 12:30 PM. To improve attendance in the future, Lorraine suggests running only two simultaneous training sessions instead of three. That will shorten the event by an hour and still allow plenty of choices for elective sessions.
• Hold only one officer session for each position so that all the officers in the areas are in the room together and can share all their ideas. Instead of having only one speaker for an entire hour, have a facilitator monitor panel discussions where 3-5 people can give their perspective on the officer positions. The officers can still come prepared to give a brief overview highlighting what they believe are the most important elements of the position.
• Division A & F each have four area governors, each of which have about 4-5 clubs in their areas, and each club has seven officers. That means that we have about 225+ club officers at any given time in our combined NE Florida divisions. Let's challenge our next TLI chair and division governors to increase our officer attendance from from 60% to closer to 70%!