Officer Roles: How can you help?

   It is almost the end of the Toastmasters year. Which means we need to select and vote on new officer positions for next year. (July 1st 2026 to June 30, 2027)  Some of you are very new to Toastmasters and our club and we are so grateful you are here. I would encourage you all no matter how new you are to consider serving as one of our club officers. It is a little bit of work as anything worthwhile is, but you would be serving your club and you would be learning new things For example how the club works and elements of leadership.

https://www.toastmasters.org/membership/leadership/club-officer-tools/club-officer-roles

This is what you see when you first log into Toastmasters International

If you scroll down just about to the middle of the page you will see this: See the " club officer roles block?"

Click on Club Officer Roles: it takes you to a page like below

We would really appreciate if you would consider running for one of the positions that we have a need to fill this last year due to circumstances we have people doubling up on officer roles, which is a lot to ask of anyone. Please, Please, Please consider throwing your hat into the ring into one of our officer positions that will be available for the coming year. We have members who have served in these officer positions and would be glad to mentor you in them and be there for any questions. 

 Even to our Newest members you c an do this and it would be a great opportunity for you and it would be a blessing to Pioneer Toastmasters. 

The link to Toastmaster International location footed officer roles is here:   

 https://www.toastmasters.org/membership/leadership/club-officer-tools/club-officer-roles

 An additional resource is The Club Leadership Handbook which covers all officer roles in great detail. 

 

https://www.toastmasters.org/1310

Employer Letters

  Did you know you can get a letter sent to your employer when you achieve Levels 3 , 4, and 5 in your pathways program?  This can be a nice way to show your employer that you're investing in yourself outside of your workplace. This can be a good recognition for you as well as just a notification to your supervisor of what you have going on in Toastmasters.

To officially notify your employer of your achievements, you can request an official Employer Letter directly from Toastmasters International. 

Rules for Requesting Employer Letters

• Eligibility: You can submit a request only when you complete Level 3, Level 4, or Level 5 of any educational learning path.
• The Process: These notifications are processed at the time your specific level completion is submitted and approved.

How to Complete the Request

The exact submission flow depends on whether your path is tracked digitally or via print materials:

• For Digital Base Camp Paths: When you finish the final project of Level 3, 4, or 5, you must launch the Level Completion task within Base Camp. During this electronic submission process, the system prompts you with the choice to notify your employer. You must input your supervisor's name, company name, and email address. 
• For Printed Paths: If you utilize printed materials, you must fill out the official Pathways Level Completion Form. Check "Yes" under the Employer Letter section on page 2, and fill out your manager's contact details before sending it to World Headquarters. [

Alternative: Manual Request & Sharing

If you missed the prompt during your level submission, or want to showcase alternative milestones:

1. Email World Headquarters: Send a direct request containing your member ID, level completed, and supervisor's email address to the Education Program team at educationprogram@toastmasters.org.
2. Social Media Sharing: You can also navigate to your Toastmasters Achievement Board or Base Camp profile to share your earned digital milestone badges directly to corporate networks like LinkedIn.

More Tips for Toastmasters

• Keep your notes in check

    It can be argued that the better speeches are when the speaker does have notes.  However, sometimes we will be speaking using notes.  Be subtle when using them and get to a point in you speaking where you will not ready your speech

• Test your Volume                                                                                                             Have a friend of colleague stand at the back of the room to see if your volume is good. 

• Enter Contests

  There are various speech contest throughout the year in toastmasters and it is a great way    to challenge yourself and grow as a public speaker. 

• Enjoy yourself

  This is important in my opinion.  For the newer members it may be hard to see right now but you will get over your fears  and then you can focus on the finer points and also you will be able to enjoy public speaking more. 

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

Paint a Picture in your Speech.

The best speakers I have heard have a way of "painting a picture" not just sharing of information.  I believe, that most of the time, the minds eye is much more powerful than even the clearest and most brilliant photos on a screen. 

   One of my earliest speeches in Toastmasters I shared about a sunset when I was deployed in the middle east with the Air Force.  For me, it was very easy  to picture that moment in my mind,  to almost feel the heat in the air and the smell of the dusty location.   The vivid colors that were present across the landscape as the sun rose and the almost dead silence of the moment.  

Some tips for painting the picture:

1. Show, Don't Tell 

This is the golden rule of vivid speaking. 

• The "Tell": "I was very nervous before my first speech."
• The "Show": "My palms were slick with sweat, and I could feel my heart drumming a frantic rhythm against my ribs."
• The Tip: Look for "emotion words" (sad, happy, scared) and replace them with physical descriptions of how that emotion felt in your body. 

2. The Five Senses Technique 

To truly paint a picture, incorporate the other four senses: 

• Sound: The screech of tires, the rhythmic thump-thump of a tail on the floor, or the deafening silence of an empty room.
• Smell/Taste: The sharp tang of chlorine at a pool or the comforting aroma of cinnamon and toasted sugar.
• Touch: The grit of sand between toes or the biting chill of a winter wind.
• Sight: Perhaps s for most the easier of the senses to describe what you saw. 

3. Use Specific Adjectives and Verbs 

        Specific words provide high definition. 

• Generic: "He walked across the room."
• Vivid: "He shuffled across the room" (implies age or exhaustion) or "He marched across the room" (implies confidence or anger).

  In conclusion I would challenge all of us to paint a picture when we are speaking. It adds a lot to the speech! 

The Original Speech Critique Sheet form 1933

 

   In Aprils Toastmasters magazine there is some information about the magazine itself and it was interesting to learn how it came to be what it is today,  a monthly digital publication published by Toastmasters International.  In this article about the magazine they talked about the very first issue published in April 1933, some 93 years ago.  

  In that first issue there was a "Critique sheet" the very first evaluation form.  I found it interesting to look at how this tool has changed and grown into what we have today for any given speech project.    

 The content of the critique sheet will look familiar. It is compelling to see how many things from 93 years ago are still present in today's evaluations and how some of the information has been polished for a more productive critique.   

https://toastmasters.org/magazine/magazine-issues/2026/april/spotlight-on-april-1933

Pioneer Toastmasterts Needs your Help? Club Officer Roles Clarified

 

  We are in the middle of April and the end of the toastmasters year (June 30th)  is fast approaching. This means many things,  one of those things is we need to prepare for officer elections.   I was looking at the leader letter for April and they had a link to a very nice resource regarding club officers!  I would ask all members to contemplate what they will serve as next year! We need your help. It would be amazing if we filled all the officer roles as we currently are doubling up on some of them, meaning one person is serving in two roles!    Even more compelling woul
d be be if we had more than one person helping with these roles. IE: Sergeant at Arms is a position that is helpful to have extra help.   PLEASE consider helping out by serving as an officer this coming year (Year is July 1st to June 30)

The most recent "Leader Letter" 

"Club Officer Roles, Clarified — Check out the club officer documents, featuring descriptions of each officer role, including a list of key responsibilities and transferable skills. Use the Role Summary documents to help inspire members to fill officer roles during election season."

This is a very nice resource to understand what the officers roles are.  This can be used of course for the current officer to review and clarify your roles and responsibilities.   It can also be used for a person considering serving in these roles so you know what is involved. This webpage has video tutorials and links to the actual written role summaries as well as the official job description documents on toastmasters international.   

https://www.toastmasters.org/membership/leadership/club-officer-tools/club-officer-roles

Begin with a Question.

Have you ever began a speech with a question? 

Some examples are:

"What is the one lie you tell yourself most often?”

"If your life were a book, what would you name the chapter you are living right now?”

"How different would your life look if you decided that failure was simply a data point, rather than a destination?”

"Is there anyone in your life you need to forgive—including yourself—to finally release the weight of the past?”

  

These type of Questions are thought provoking and will get your audiences attention….  

Open with the question and give a pause for it to be absorbed. Don’t walk on the question…

 You can develop your speech from the question. 

 

   You can make the question not only relatable to your life but to you audiences life.  Personalize this with a story orf your own. Chances are the members of the audience are probably, at one level or another,  going to relate.  What is the lesson in this story you have to share? 

  Tell how you dealt with the circumstances in the story!  What happened? How did it affect you or your life? How did it affect you emotionally? ETC. 

  How do you now view the story and the question? Has your view changed changed? 

 Come back to the question in your conclusion. 

 Perhaps in light of the lesson you learned you might ask the question again. Maybe as a gentle call to action. 

IE:   "So, I’ll ask you again: Who do you need to forgive? Because your future is waiting for you to let go of the past."