Weeks go by, simply, day by day. My heart beats a little faster as each week comes and goes.
Excitement about the final product feels good to visualize and experience within.

I don't know what the rest of you will feel? I hope that you see the conference from the perspective of growth and culmination of actions. Conference is not an easy event to pull together.  There are several types of events that will take place throughout the weekend. Transitions will be integral to the seamless aspects of a well hosted event. The biggest challenge is accommodating the group while being away from outside forms of respite.

I feel inspired by the pathway projects that have presented themselves and helped me to take the need and combine it with a learning opportunity. Every day I have transactions with other members. These transactions are usually in the form of conversations. When you working within a volunteer organization, you are powerless in making the final decisions. The means of give and take are impacted by the ability to reward others for the gift of their free time. While working on Pathways, I get to experience the direct feedback from others that are directly impacting the conference efforts. Some will walk away from the current TM year, and will no longer serve the district. Some will step forward in leading clubs and areas to higher standards.

This last weekend I completed the "how to hold an online meeting" Level 4 pathway elective. I was nervous about trying to lead the group and keep track of the updates and information. I am grateful that Toastmasters is providing resources that are applicable to everyday use in my current work settings.  I can be proud of my membership with an organization that is helping me to be better at all opportunities.

I look forward to meeting you in May. 
Thank you for supporting my efforts to bring in a fun and informative conference.
Debbie

Already February 6th

Hmmmmmmmmm - there it is, a relaxing moment/ Is this something that you enjoy?

This week meditation has been on my heart every day.  I started listening to meditations by Joe Dispenza on a regular basis.

I am feeling a higher level of anxiety these days.  I am excited about the outcome.  I am FREAKing excited about the conference - AND - scared.

I have been making some strides that create a lot of positive restorative energy. This type of energy helps generate ideas. I get so excited  about working with a group of individuals.  This I CAN DO.

I started having conversations with friends around the district, asking for their assistance. This is a very difficult task, and yet very rewarding.  I say thank you to those of you that are stepping forward and helping out.  I really appreciate getting to work side by side with you.  If you are on this team, I bid my hat to you and say - so glad to have you in my life.

For these last few weeks  I have been working on generating content. These tasks made me aware of the abilities and knowledge that goes into graphic design.  The ability to see ideas and apply the wow factor.  I found it difficult when creating the marketing for the TLI's.  After I generated a word document, I had 50 printed in black and white. I prefer the 0.9 cents vs. .39 per page. I had the idea that I could travel to various TLI's and market the conference.  I delivered one presentation with Division C. No one else.  You see I just wasn't up for the crazy schedule, traveling our state.  I say my apologies for not making it to your TLI's - it was a good idea.  This is a crazy season, conducting TLI training's, planning a conference and marketing.  This process has certainly stretched my mental creativity. 

A word of advice, never serve as a president in two clubs, work full time, Immediate past Division director, and Contest Chair.  This is the mark ** I don't plan to be this busy again this time next year.

Once again,  marketing materials.  I created a PowerPoint and will get it converted into google slides. This document is for each person that is willing to support the D32 Toastmasters conference. I envisioned the presentation as talking points about the customer/audience that we are offering for them direct contact opportunities.  It is my hope that every person would present the materials and the sponsorship agreement to at least one business contact. I ask that you send the agreement and contact information to me right away. 
The PowerPoint is taken directly from the Toastmasters Marketing and branding materials.  Protect the Brand.  A motto that will be spoken during these upcoming  seasons.

It feels good to know that I made some progress.  In my heart, I appreciate every gesture and kindness that comes in my life.  Each of you are very much appreciated.  This is so much better with
friends by my side.

CALL TO ACTION - Download the marketing/sponsorship materials! Present to your employer or business friend. You are now on the marketing team.

Return completed sponsorship forms to TM.Debbie.Baker@gmail.com.

Burnout - Introverts need time to recover.

This weekend I experienced burnout. Too much activity. No down time.

I felt as if I was hanging on to each day trying to convince myself to keep producing one more item. The tanks were so low that I just wanted to crawl into a cave and pretend that I didn't exist.  A friend reached out and invited me to spend the day just being present. No agenda. 

As an introvert, I restore my energy tank in times of silence and nothingness.  Allowing my thoughts to process what all I am experiencing and to make some connections with the new information. This friend allowed me the time and space to be one with nature. 

This conference is really requiring me to stretch myself beyond my personal limits. 

In regards to conference, there is something EVERY day that pulls my attention. Finding the time to be alone and not be obsessing about what needs to be done, seems impossible. If I keep going and pushing myself to deliver the conference on my efforts, I will likely be done with Toastmasters.  

Having given so much of my own effort and finding that others aren't stepping out to offer assistance is frustrating. I understand that we are all busy. I too would likely not want to take on another task. I wonder... what could I have done or said that would have driven a different response from those that I asked ?

This struggle is familiar - consider the drive recruit new members.  How do we ask folks to join us in our meetings? How to convey the fun of Toastmasters when the meeting attendance is low enough that folks do multiple roles during the meeting?  How to be okay with someone saying NO.  

I am  okay with the answers that others give to me. I struggle to keep asking. I can see that I have an expectation that the energy I put forward would soon be matched in affirming responses as well as no responses.  It just doesn't seem to be working this way. 

I remember trying to market my business years ago.  I put out a lot of money to pay for various levels of marketing.  Each sales associate that got a meeting with me sold me on the value of their method of driving awareness to my business. With time I was able to see the ad's that were working. The best ad's did not best represent the needs of my business.  I struggled then as I do today, trying to understand what will reach my ideal audience. Determining what you, the reader would be willing to do in order to support my project and the district conference?  

I just don't know what I can do to get the turn about that I am hoping for.  There has to be a way - THERE IS ALWAYS A WAY!

I have big ideals when it comes to making the conference happen.  Ideas are flowing every day. Some ideas are simply to big. These ideas will be tabled for future conferences. In the beginning I had hoped to create a conference so spectacular that members would look forward to attending again in future years. However, I don't have an adequate plan that would drive the numbers. My efforts in networking and goal planning are not sufficient.

Here we are at 15 weeks out.

First of all, I must admit that I have not on boarded any new volunteers.  

I had hoped that the blog would be something that my fellow Toastmasters would  read.  I had hoped that my efforts of conveying the process of 'carving my path' to make the conference happen, would unite others to join in assisting the process. However, if no one reads the blog then how could this be an effective tool? It would appear that I must increase the effort for marketing to include the blog and conference.

Second, the sponsorship package is ready for review.  The next steps will be to get some feedback from folks in my circle and then to find a way for the document to be posted on the website.

Third, Education presenters are slowly getting recruited. Hopefully this effort will get some momentum and allow the marketing of the conference to propel the awareness and desire to join us.

Emotionally I am low. My energy needs to be restored. 
This week I will put my energy to work on creating the agenda for each of the events that will take place during the conference.  This information will be useful for me to better promote the conference by knowing what volunteers and effort will be useful throughout the weekend.

Pray for the conference, may things turn around and expand the momentum.
This is it for this week.

Division C TLI - Great Job Division C director and area directors!

First thing First: Division C Toastmasters Leadership Institute 

Great job Lucas, Anitha, Jaymes, Barbara, Karl, Cindy and Kim!  
The way that you pulled the event together was very well executed. Very good job reaching out plenty in advance.  The result felt like a comfortable, stress-free training event. The team was comfortable knowing that they had communicated well. Thank you for the variety of members from within various clubs that led officer training and sharing their experience as leaders.

Thank you to my Money Talks friends.  Each of you that offered potato toppings made the day so much easier. Those of you that were able to help out during the day -- YOU ARE THE CREAM TO MY COFFEE!

Conference Talk:

I experienced two large task projects colliding havoc on my schedule.

Whew - this year I am learning a BIG lesson about over-commitment.

This week I had the idea to generate marketing materials so that I could make the documents available on the conference website. 

The logic that came to mind - was that each and every member of District 32 can now be a member of the conference team, as they can now download the information and then present to local business owners and encourage the owner to support the Toastmasters conference.

As the idea continued to simmer, I soon came to see that I would need to produce a PowerPoint that will convey the 'What Is In It For Me (WIIFM).

I love that I came to see that I am able to access the largest number of TM members by utilizing this blog.  I am hopeful that many folks will join in with some conversations.  Giving feedback, words of encouragement and digital support.

I pieced together a simple marketing piece, nothing exciting, nothing fancy.  Last night, after having washed and wrapped 50 lbs of baking potatoes, I quickly put the document together. Initially the squares had color - then I remembered that printing in color cost is 39 cents per page. I sent the document to the printers and drove over to pick the stack up.

I shared a little from my heart with the process and plan of creating our District 32 conference. I look forward to seeing each of you at the 2020 conference.  

I missed the newsletter deadline for submitting something about conference for Tuesdays release.
I ask myself if I intentionally missed the date?

I don't believe that it was intentional.  I have a tendency to put things like this off, as I really don't feel inspired about what to write.  

So, I wait for inspiration. The inspiration just didn't come amid my marketing focused processing.

I find it odd, because I love writing - letters and words of appreciation.

This is a week that helps me to realize that I wont always be able to do ALL the ideas and action items that come to mind.

Life is amazing. The gifts: ideas and creativity are abundant.  I LOVE knowing that I will enjoy the Conference most, because I have worked diligently to take steps to reach the daily goals.

Thank you for visiting the blog. The visitor rate will ideally go up as a result of my TLI visits.  I certainly am looking forward to seeing what we will end up doing together.  Reach out.  Let me know that you are reading along.

If you would like to volunteer, please let me know. Below is a list of things that need to be completed this week. The goal is to have these things done by Friday, which is the next TLI 

ACTION ITEMS NEEDING TO BE COMPLETED:

• TICKET PRICES - KNOW THE ASKING PRICE
• SPONSORSHIP PACKAGES AND PRICES - KNOW THESE
• CHECK THE STATUS OF REGISTRATION
• EVENTBRITE - CHECK IT OUT
• REGISTRATION EMAIL - CHECK AND FORWARD DAILY
• DETERMINE THE PRIORITIES FOR THE UPCOMING WEEK.
• TALK WITH JOHN HANSMAN - OLYTECHGUYS - ABOUT COVERING CONFERENCE AUDIO FOR Division C CONTEST.
• DRAFT SPONSORSHIP AGREEMENT LETTER
• COMPLETE SPONSORSHIP POWER-POINT
• CAPTURE INFORMATION  
• GENERATE THANK YOU LETTER #1
• GENERATE THANK YOU LETTER #2 - PAYMENT RECEIVED
• ADD NEW DOCUMENTS TO THE WEBSITE SO THAT MEMBERS CAN DOWNLOAD THEM.
• UPDATE BLOG WITH  HYPERLINKS TO CONTENT RESOURCES
• REACH OUT TO UPCOMING AREA/DIVISION DIRECTOR TEAMS THAT ARE PLANNING AND COORDINATING THE TLI'S - ASK FOR OPPORTUNITY TO PROMOTE CONFERENCE.
• CAPTURE BRANDING MATERIALS SUCH AS LOGO FOR PROGRAM.
• SET UP PROCESS FOR REQUESTING BRANDING MATERIALS.

Marketing Audience Question?

I am working on a marketing package packet. Check back soon for the link to the marketing package details.

Why are we marketing?
Marketing is something that we face in every club. Every year we are trying to recruit new members. In reality we market everything. Market the value of you the Toastmaster to your employer. They market your value to the teams. Ultimately, we seek to get the best out of each other. 

Have you mentioned Toastmasters to another person this week?  

Marketing is to be utilized to promote to business sponsors the story that communicates the value that we / Toastmasters bring to a potential business.  

If I had endless amounts of time and energy - and removal of the sense of dread I feel in having to go market face to face.  

I sit here and face my obstacles by taking action. This is truly the "Carving your Path" kinda moment. I tell myself that I just need to take things one step at a time.  
Today - that is coming to determine a fair market asking price for the business to 'get to' market to each of us.  

So here is my determination of how I am going to present you as an audience:
* Adults interested in personal growth.
* Finding connections and telling stories.
* Folks that invest into their ability to create results.
* Dedicated team and lifetime members.
* Several are first time attendees
GOOD LIFE PEOPLE!

What do you think of my description?  

My goal in this task:
I want the brander to see that we are in a happy place and therefore we are more open to purchases and imprinting.  I convey that we are people that enjoy quality in our lives.  If they feel that they offer items or products that speak to the audience then they are welcome to join us with a sponsor package that is just right for both of us.

Give me your feedback.

Did I manage to sway you to consider putting an effort to recruit a business that would consider supporting you, and your fellow Toastmasters buddies?

Would you being to print out the Letter of Request and leave it with the business? 

Are you willing to do follow ups on this letter?

This is similar to the ask when you reach out someone to come check out Toastmasters.  How often do you touch back with the person? Have you considered other ways to invite others?  

Perhaps we should ask ourselves similar questions - similar to the Moments of Truth questions?
How can we make the club/district better?
How can we have more fun?

When each of us serves a role in the club and brings our best and most engaged selves, we bring the gift of our diversity. We present ideas and energy toward the new perspective.  This is the greatest gift you can give to a friend. It is with this dedication that we all get to become better.

How many weeks until conference?

17 weeks remaining .... 

A lot of things are in the works.

PP has made great progress with the catering company.

Registration is just about ready.

SP has done a tremendous job creating the Eventbrite Conference Event.  I am nervous about going live.  Oh MY.  Here we go....

can you feel my anxiety?  I feel like my heart is a thundering meditative drum.  Placing the go switch starts the count down clock.  Wow - 17 weeks out.  Oh .... how I hope that each of you will attend.  

Please attend.  My heart would be so grateful.

The process of determining what to provide is challenging when you are new to event planning. When I am in the high charged energy and fear-filled moments, I feel like making decisions closes down to a trickle.  So many things to focus upon and yet time is minimal. Not only am I working to make a decision, I'm also trying to find YOU - the team member that is hoping to join the team .... YOU - the one with zip and enthusiasm for promoting Toastmasters.

Drafted a ad marketing cost analysis.

Composed an ask from a division director, asking to help promote the conference.  I sent off my request to SK.

Researched finding Sponsors, these are the folks that help make the conference affordable.  Sponsors get to invest in the conference and gain a prospective new customer.  I need to draft a sponsor letter to help with the sales.  This will also allow the team to come along and utilize the information as promotional materials to canvas the states.

I am currently trying to work up the courage to approach some perspective vendors.  I haven't determined the vendor table projected cost, but assumed that I could give them a quality package. Perhaps one of you is experienced in this area?  I could really use assistance with this area.

Created a mock up website for a Fundraiser for Prison Clubs.  I can see the potential for marketing the men and their businesses, art work and craftsmanship. I need to determine if I am going to learn how to make a fundraiser page or find someone that already has the skill?

if you are interested in creating the fundraiser site, let me know at tm.Debbie.Baker@gmail.com

Sent out some requests for content that will be utilized to promote the prison clubs along with the Conference planning.  These folks are working as sponsors for Toastmasters living within our district.
I request your entry of a personal story, if anyone out there in out community that has first hand experience with Toastmasters behind bars,

Educated myself on how to draft a Sponsor letter? Outcome Goal: I would present our ask.
This is what works best for driving the conference costs.  I am trying to figure out how much to charge? The target audience are those of you that can promote the business' in the program. This event helps our community to bond and find wisdom of diverse paths.  Some of us will meet folks that will become friends of a life time. Everyone will get an opportunity to interact with our weekend long Scavenger Hunt.

The challenge for this area, is to determine the benefits for the branding. Taking in the perspective of the value for our specific target audience. I am not aware of statistics regarding the continual years and growth in Toastmasters... I imagine that those 'long term' members among our community would talk highly of the network.  We are an audience that enjoys "Making a Difference".  Mentors are everywhere in this crowd.  Every Toastmaster that has actively participated in regular meetings, has the skill of effective evaluations.  The evaluations lead to feedback that changes lives.  People in our rooms enjoy giving and listening to speeches.  This is content; now someone, ideally NOT ME, would take this information and draft a promotional toward business owners that seek similar values in their employees or serve clients such as ourselves.

Changed my approach to acquire team members.
If you have a skill that could fill any of the conference needs, I would love to have a conversation with you.  The more team members that assist with the conference, the more folks that will share information  and enthusiasm for the conference weekend into their communities.  Each of you team members not only help in the hands on actions you bless us twice by talking up the participation.  Thank you for your assistance.  Thank you to those of you that support D32Toastmasters conference.

If you see that I am not addressing an area that would benefit the conference, please offer to assist the conference in tending to that task.

This week I learned a few things about myself:

• I Fear Success.
• I believed that I must struggle in order to produce quality outcomes.
• I must do all the work in secret.  *
• Finding team members must be difficult, no one wants to volunteer.
• I have a high fear of approaching strangers. 
• I am extremely busy in our TM community.
• I love the fact that I get to utilize a TM project as my learning for TM Pathway. 
• I need to make time for the things I love. 

* Putting on a conference (Actually TWO) is certainly not a task that can wait for evenings and low energy moments within my daily life.

Positive notes to add into your self talk:
I commit to work as though my work makes a different in this world.  
I put my time into projects that bring value into our communities. 
I make excellent choices.

Please promote this conference to your fellow Toastmasters.  I look forward to seeing each of you at the conference.

19 Weeks to go

I am Debbie.

I am a Toastmaster working on a High Performance Leadership project aka District 32_2020 Conference.

A year ago a fellow Toastmaster approached me about challenging myself with taking on the challenge of pulling together a District Conference.  Thank you goes out to Joanna Tavera.

In my self reflection, I needed to take on something that would expand my ability to work with teams and pulling together toward a set end date.  Conferences require a lot of teamwork.  Tasks need to be broken down into categories, each multiplying into mini tasks that accumulate into the grand finale.

I am not a big fan of working within a team.  I find the group effort to be frustrating in trying to divide the tasks and come to group decisions.  Groups themselves require additional time.  Additional communication is a must in order to ensure that everyone is updated, ensuring that we remain on the same page.

This project has not gone as I had envisioned.

The team is slow to come together.

This is where the blog comes in... I decided to share "Carving Your Path" from my own personal perspective. 

• Sharing the actions I take each week.  
• Expressing the accomplishments of team members. 
• Celebrating successes. 
• Asking for team members and volunteers to come on board.

THEME : CARVING YOUR PATH

Every Toastmaster working the newest education known as a Pathway. Taking the action to work the Pathway program, is taking action to develop yourself.  In deciding upon this theme, I thought about how this is relate-able to each person. We - the collective WE, are each taking efforts to become better versions of ourselves.  Some days the pathway process is really difficult (examples: making time for it, preparation work prior to giving the next speech). Other days are simply a joy.  I like to consider the process that a sculpture takes when looking a the rough slab of rock or wood.  The vision is broader a initial glance. The final product will be further defined as you get into the detail work.

My project as a hiking path, similar to the graphics for conference. I set myself up for this journey over the year by making some decisions, such as where and when will we hold the conference. In Washington, this is similar to determining where I would like to take in a hike. We have several options around this wonderful state. I really like traveling along the coastal areas with a mix of open fields, big trees and a wonderful view of water now and then. 

On my journeys, I like to collect items that may be incorporated into a craft project. I especially like working with drift wood. I set out to find the the pieces of wood, these become the team.  Each piece of wood has it's contribution toward the final outcome.  

The path is filled with decisions.  Anything that might be a good fit are captured and brought along for future consideration.

When I am looking for the 'right' piece of wood, I pick it up feel the warmth and smoothness, turning it over in my hands. Assessing for unique characteristics and strong impressions.  This is similar to picking the team.  Each person that I have approached about helping out, has been selected based upon my impression of adding value.  Are they warm and friendly to interact with?  Do they desire to share some of the Toastmasters 'passion'?  Do they work well with long term or short term action items?  Finding the right piece and the best way to utilize it is critical. Note the importance of remaining fluid as the pieces comes together some other pieces will not remain involved. This process of team selection has been much harder than I anticipated. Several pieces simply weren't available. I wander the path on my own power and trust that another opportunity will present up ahead.

The project, The Conference, is slowly taking shape.  

Initially I formed my HPL guidance committee.  Held a couple of meetings and began formulating the vision, values and mission for the project.  This is similar to defining what it is that I will utilize to measure success.  Blue print in hand - I set out on the adventure to gather the resources.

The project will come together. These things take time. I look forward to experiencing the final outcome.

I will come away with lessons learned and the breadth of knowledge that presented itself along the journey.

Where are you in your Toastmasters journey?  

Have you looked at your pathway lately?  

What actions do you need to take to progress forward toward completing the next level?

This is week 19 in the count down to conference:

Phil Person is working on the catering.  He took actions and received a revised bid or two.  I really like working with Phil.  He is a man of action.  He takes his responsibilities and seriously and he delivers results.  Food and beverages are not an easy decision to make quickly.  Cost analysis and number of guests are critical to the success of remaining on budget. 

Shane Pettit is working on the emails to our members that are 'opted In'.  How do I reach those of you that aren't willing to receive marketing from Toastmasters?  At this time, the best approach to to ask those of you that are reading this - to share it with others.

Sandy Allnock is the graphic designer and D32 newsletter producer.  She is serious about her craft and is swift with responses.  Sandy cares deeply about the Toastmasters program and reaching a point of connection.  She is the person that pointed me to discovery about blogging.  

Joanna Tavera is the Educational Chair, she will be arranging the speakers for workshops and additional professional development.  We met on Friday and reviewed the venue spaces and the agenda of events.  There is limited spaces for multiple workshops.  Marketing for speakers will be hitting the in upcoming issues.  If you have material that you think would serve your fellow members, consider pitching the idea to Joanna.

Cynthia Sanderson is the registration chair.  Cynthia will be monitoring the registrations and managing issues related to registration. This area is a challenging one for myself.  Trying to select the best options for tickets. Considering things like Friday only, Saturday only, Contest only. The overall cost value must be factored in so that the conference doesn't loose money. I worked with Cynthia in the past and trust that she will be a delight to interact with during your check in process at the conference. 

Actions Taken:

Filming team: contact effort has been made to set up a meeting and review the rules and requirements in order to properly film the competitors that will advance to the regional competitions post conference.

Webmaster team: contact effort has been taken to initiate getting a landing page and banner page. The effort that Sandy took earlier on is being utilized as the URL for the conference page.  Next action is to create content. This area is where some additional support would be appreciated. As one person, this is more than I can do. If you are handy with creative writing and our website content, please through your hand into this project.  Lets work to create quality materials that inform and elicit excitement about the conference.

Sponsorship's: Email was sent to folks that have assisted with the fundraising tasks in the past. This is where it becomes the most difficult.  My relationships in Toastmasters have not exposed me to folks that are passionate and go-getters with promoting strong marketing and influencing club membership. 

Who out there works a business and knows the value in marketing?  

The conference offers great marketing opportunities for business's that could offer value to folks in both Washington and Alaska.  The marketing piece is critical toward allowing us to keep costs down. Without having a team formed, I am not able to project lower costs. I believe that there is value gain for a business to market at our event. We have options to be in the conference booklet, the agenda's and on overhead scrolling monitors throughout the weekend. Additional marketing can be added by sponsoring meals and contests.

If you have any interest in helping to bring in the conference, please reach out to me.  I will find tasks for every skill and level of assistance.

Debbie Baker - Conference Chair