What if you are completing a Pathway that is no longer available?

   In October 2025 Toastmasters made some changes to the Pathways program that "retired" certain pathways.  (Effective Coaching, Innovative Planning, Leadership Development, Strategic Relationships, and Team Collaboration ).    If you purchased these pathways before the closure date you can work on and receive credit when completed.   I personally have more than one of these in my Base camp and I am continuing to work through them. Nothing appears different when accessing via my computer. When these changes were made they did not update and are not mobile friendly for phone or pad users. The other pathways are,  so that may appear differently when accessing the website that way. 

  Completing and signing off of levels and ultimately the pathway itself will be accomplished on the website just like any other path. The completion notices will come to the VP of Education like normal. 

  If you have one of these pathways you will be able to access it after completion but will not be able to re-purchase it to do it another time as it is now in a legacy status. 

500 Lunches

   In the January Toastmasters magazine there was a short article about a man named Nick Bendel.    In 2019 he set out on a goal to have lunch with 500 strangers.  He wants to do this to 

As. Away to improve his social skills.     He has accomplished this and  is continuing on with more lunches. 

 For some reason I just really like this idea!.Since I have been in toastmasters I certainly believe that one of the things that has improved for sure is my social skills.  I suppose improving ones communication through speech giving and table topics etc will also help you with social skills that maybe you did not even think about before. 

  This obviously is quite an endeavor and Nicks suggestions for undertaking large goals like this are these:

1. Have enough time, money, and bandwidth to complete the goal.
2. Form new habits and new relationships.
3. Ignore self-doubt.
4. Make sure the goal aligns with your values.

  The link below is that brief article and there is an imbedded link in the article to the original one about his goal. 

https://www.toastmasters.org/magazine/magazine-issues/2026/january/500-more

More Tips for Toastmasters

I have given educational moments on "Tips for Toastmasters" before and will probably revisit this about once a month.  

I would like to cover these four this time:

Relax. Breathe and stretch before taking the stage. Pause for a few seconds, smile and count to three before speaking. 

 I can remember one of my first Speech contests that I went to the Area level and I was nervous before that speech. I have found that if you want to stir some excitement into your speaking go to another level. Speak before a different audience.   This tip absolutely is pertinent. Before you go into the speaking area breathe!   A few deep breathes is a great way to relax, even if it is just as small amount, it helps.   To take a pause before you begin is also a good idea it gives the audience and you time to calm down. 

Visualize your success. Imagine yourself giving your speech: your voice is loud, clear and confident. Imagine hearing the audience’s applause – it will boost your confidence.

  I will not overstate this or expand much on it. Visualization has been a tool for many different areas of life. I believe it is valid!   Visualize success!  Visualize what you want to happen. 

Trust your audience. The audience isn’t your enemy - they want you to be interesting, stimulating, informative and entertaining. They’re rooting for you.

  I think in Toastmasters this is something that became very apparent to me early on is that the audience in my club is on my side!  They understand what it is like to be the speaker and be nervous.  They are there cheering you on to success.   I have found that even outside of Toastmasters this is largely true as well. 

Don’t apologize. If you make a mistake, there’s no need to say you’re sorry. Pick up where you left off and keep going

  Yes!  Most of the time people will not even notice your mistake!  Just move forward. Don't give it any recognition during your time in front of your audience.  If they noticed or not really does not matter just move on. 

https://www.toastmasters.org/about/90th-anniversary/90-tips

Happy New Year Pioneer Toastmasters!!!

Happy New Year!  

This is the first educational Moment of 2026.  

  Is it going to be epic? Is it going to be life changing?…. Probably not.  :)

 

 I would like to just present a few reminders for this new year!  

1. If you have projects that you have completed and not signed off yet I would encourage you to go into The TI website and access those projects and sign them off.  Lets get this stuff Current and accurate.  
2. Don’t forget to update your roles that you have done!   I did an educational moment a while back and I posted it on the blog that shows you were to go and update this.   This is obviously easier if you enter them regularly.
3.   While you are in the website review your pathway or pathways and refresh yourself on where you’re at in your progress!   What do you wish to get done between now and the end of the fiscal year June 30th?  If you recently finished your pathway and don’t have another going, what do you want to focus on?   Choose a new path and let's get going!  :) 
4. Smile!   Enjoy the journey!   I am so glad you are a member of Pioneer Toastmasters!   Happy New Year! 

More Tips for Toasmtmasters

   Tips for Toastmasters 

•  Time Yourself 

  This one would seem to be obvious. When you re preparing a speech or presentation and you have a time limit you need to know how your preparation is going relative to the time limit you will be given.  Many times I have found that I am rushing a speech to try and fit in more content than I should.   This almost always leads to me going over time.

• Pace yourself   This goes hand in hand with timing yourself. Pacing is important in that you don't want too            minimize your speech by rushing through it. Also you need to keep it moving to keep the audience interest. Appropriate pauses add impact to your words. Leaving time for audience to comprehend and internalize what you have said. 

• Arrive Early

  This is a good practice to get into with your regular toastmasters meeting. Even though you may already be intimately familiar with the speaking area, the audience and the atmosphere you will be speaking in, it gives time for those preparations you need for you presentation.  When I was MC of a big event for work I arrived an hour early to get the lay of the room and speaking area to familiarize myself with peoples names that I would be introducing and so forth.   Remember as Vince Lombardi said: "If you're early, you're on time. If you're on time, you're late. If you're late, don't bother showing up,"

https://www.toastmasters.org/about/90th-anniversary/90-tips

Pathways Enhancements and where to Document the New Requirements.

There have been some enhancements to Pathways regarding level requirements.  All levels now have some requirements for the members to complete meeting roles. In levels 3, 4 and 5 there are additional presentation requirements from the "Successful Club Series" presentations and the "Better Speaker Series"

To document the meeting roles you have completed the following slides walk you through that on the Toastmasters International Website:

       Got to base camp and click on the upper right on your name and go to your profile!  Then go to the center of that page!    

  To see and record the requirements at each level (3, 4 and 5)  

The following graphic does a great job of showing what each level requires for completion. 

  We often talk about how to be a good evaluator in Toastmasters, I rarely have I heard the discussion about how to receive feedback. 

 An article in this months leader letter lead me to this thought and I would like to present to you a few points on how to receive feedback. This can of course apply to a speech in toastmasters but honestly this will apply to other areas of life as well. 

1.  I would start by referring to one of my favorite quotes by Maya Angelou

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

 This quote would be sound advice to evaluators but How does this apply to the one being evaluated? 

 Many think of evaluation as criticism which comes from the greek word for judgement which can be perceived with negative connotations. I would encourage us to reframe that and think about it as analysis. Which means to break things down into simple components. With this outlook on the feedback may help to be more open to it. 

2.  Evaluate the evaluator

   I remember one of my earliest times as an evaluator I was evaluating a speech by Patti Koop,  one of the more advanced members of the club.  I remember struggling for something constructive to give her to work on.  I said something that was very general and probably did not add much for her to improve with.  She was very gracious and accepting of what I said and I would guess she just took it in stride that I was a new toastmaster and would get better at evaluations. I think the idea here is we are all here to learn to be better. None of us has “arrived” and can always improve. 

3. Prepare!   How does prepare to receive evaluation?   I would say you need to evaluate your speech yourself. Use the techniques we have been taught like standing oil front of a mirror, using video or audio recordings and evaluate ourselves and our speeches through and evaluators eyes. I have done this and when my evaluator stated things I already had observed myself it just affirmed to me those were area I perhaps needed to work a little more on. 

 This discussion about receiving evaluations could go much deeper than my educational moment. I think the bottom line idea for me is my evaluator is there to encourage me and wishes me success. I know some have had bad experiences with this but myself I think this has been true in experience in Toastmasters.  We are a team and each of us in on the side of the speaker!  

  Which frankly is a beautiful thing!   

https://toastmasters.org/magazine/magazine-issues/2025/november/make-friends-with-feedback

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