I knew the North Division Governor, Rhonda Craven, far more than the other Division Governors that year because she was in Toastmasters the longest and I’ve worked with her in countless events.  Prior to the 2006 Fall North Division Contest, Rhonda was in need for help in various roles, one of which was the Target Speaker for the Evaluation Contest.  Since it was customary to have the North and Northwest Divisions to swap Target Speakers for their Evaluation contests, she wanted someone in the Northwest Division for that role.  And since I belong in that division I offered to find someone for her, which she greatly appreciated.

Since none of my Area clubs were strong and had very little interest in trekking outside of their clubs for any Toastmasters activity, I was looking at other clubs in the Northwest Division to find a Target Speaker.  One club that was increasingly involved in District 30 was the AT&T Chicagoland club that met at their Hoffman Estates campus.  Their Table Topics contestant last Spring won the District 30 contest with two dozen from that club cheering him on, their Club President made the trip to Washington, DC  for the 2006 International Convention and wrote her take on it in the October 2006 District 30 newsletter.  I keep hearing how the club was increasing and mentoring their membership and filling their agendas to the point where it could take months to get a speaking slot.  So this was by far the best club to supply a Target Speaker for the North Evaluation Contest and I called and left a message with the Club President asking for help.

Well AT&T was the home club of the Northwest Division Governor and a couple of days later during a phone conversation, I added that I gave the club president a call asking for a Target Speaker for the North Evaluation Contest.  What I heard from him was shocking – he ripped me for several reasons.  First he claimed that AT&T is a bad club to find a Target Speaker because they do not conform to Toastmasters International customs and rules, which he did not specify.  Second he claimed that I went behind his back and I should have talked to him or the Area Governor for that club (who was also an AT&T club member), implying that they both had authority over their club president on club matters.  He also mentioned that he heard many complaints about the way I did things in Toastmasters, which he also did not specify.

This was very demoralizing for me – I went out of my way to help many in District 30 succeed, attended many events because I knew my assistance was needed.  Plenty of people appreciated my help and leadership, one kept writing in her e-mail messages to me “thank you for all you’ve done in District 30″.  I never did this for my personal or political gain, I did it because I love Toastmasters and want to see everyone in the organization succeed.  It may have been one reason I was named the 2005 District 30 Toastmaster of the Year.  And now there seemed to be a backlash against me.  Or so this guy said…

I talked to the Area Governor for AT&T about this encounter with the Northwest Division Governor.  He mentioned that the Division Governor had problems with the club president and others.  The Area Governor did not find anything wrong with my actions.  It appeared the Division Governor just did not want the club to get any further credit for their accomplishments, apparently more for his personal issues than anything else.  Anyway, the Club President did find someone from the club to be the Target Speaker for the North Division Evaluation Contest.  Don’t remember if anyone credited me or thanked me for getting this done, if so I didn’t want to hear a word about it.

Whether what I did was noble or intrusive is up to you.  But I did it as a favor for a close Toastmaster friend, not for my own benefit.  I had no intention of undermining anyone or making a person look bad.  The Northwest Division Governor wanted to paint me the opposite.  I started asking myself what was the point of getting involved in Toastmasters if I had to deal with such crap.  It was one major reason why after this term as Area Governor ended, my involvement in District 30 “ceased to exist”.  It was the primary reason why I got into a big mess with this person as mentioned in a December 2008 blog entry.

I came to the conclusion that he just did not respect what I did as it did not match his view of the world.  And I was not alone.  The following year, my successor as Area Governor endured the same wrath due to the same club!  My successor was invited by the AT&T club to attend their club contest and was encouraged to let her own club know.  So she sent a broadcast e-mail to her club members about this.  The Northwest Division Governor, serving his second consecutive term, was at that time a member of her club as he was their club coach previously.  And he went on the same diatribe just like he had at me regarding how bad the AT&T club was and that she was going behind his and the AT&T Area Governor’s back.

That Northwest Division Governor is now the District 30 Lt. Governor of Education & Training.  As you may know he had his nomination for District 30 Governor rejected by the Nominating Committee.  While I am not a voting member of the District 30 Council, I saw the packet for the council members to be considered at the District 30 Council Meeting on May 22nd.  There was a letter mentioning why his nomination was rejected, among the reasons include  “Demonstrated disrespectful behavior to others in meetings, in person, or via phone.”  Not sure if he did something similar to what was mentioned above with both myself and my successor, but it wouldn’t surprise me if that was part of such reason.

Even though it is apparent that the LGET is not liked at all by many in District 30, he still has some friends and allies who would nominate him off the floor for District 30 Governor.  I’m not convinced he has learned from his past.  Therefore he needs to be stopped before more damage takes place that could turn more people off from Toastmasters.

Many in Toastmasters are willing to take their time and energy to help the organization, to help the clubs they belong to, to help those in the organization that they hold dearly.  Why?  Because they love Toastmasters, what it stands for and the people in the organization.  And each has their own way of helping, another way to embrace the diversity of this organization.  It should be a win-win situation for everyone involved, from the member to the District Governor to the rest of Toastmasters International.

But if you berate and criticize, telling those who help that they’re doing things they are not supposed to do, not because they violated some rule but because you simply don’t like what they do or who they help, people would think twice before getting further involved in Toastmasters.  They may no longer get involved in the local district.  They may not want to be a club officer or stop attending their club meetings.  They could even leave Toastmasters outright.  As a result, you could lose a future District officer, a future conference chair, a future TLI Dean.  You could miss all the new people those members could bring to Toastmasters, the new club opportunities they could come up with.  You want a Distinguished District/Division/Area/Club?  Forget it, some you offend may even go as far as sabotaging those efforts if that is all you are concerned with because you may be so hung up in your legacy and glory.  It can be a huge lose-lose situation!

District 30 cannot afford this type of leadership.  It is important for those who are eligible to vote to either be at the District 30 Council Meeting on May 22nd at the Elk Grove Village Holiday Inn starting at 9:30am, or find someone in the club who can go.  When I was a District 30 officer, I mentioned when it came to the Spring District Council Meeting that “the future of District 30 is in your hands!”  None more so than this one.

The District 30 Toastmasters Nominating Committee meeting is held today at the Bensenville Library. Be interested in finding out who is running and if there will be any contested races for the Top 3 (I hope, even for DG).

The reason for the last statement was that last year (see report) there were contested races for both Lt. Governor positions as well as nine candidates for the six Division Governor positions.  This time I was expecting all the top 3 positions to be contested as the current Lt. Governor of Education and Training continued to be very unpopular with many in the district, in fact he was the topic of some of my blog posts such as this and this.

Well this year’s Nominating Committee report did surprise me – not only I was wrong that they did not slate any contested races, but there were no candidates slated for either District Governor or Lt. Governor of Education and Training!  So supposedly the current LGET was the only candidate who filed for the District Governor nomination and the current Lt. Governor of Marketing was the only candidate who filed for the LGET nomination.  And both were REJECTED by the Nominating Committee, a group I did not think had the spine and courage to take some serious action like this!  In fact, I’m not a fan of the committee chair at all as I believe she has a tendency to sweep controversy under the rug as her way to keep District 30 “one big happy family”, rather than confront and address them.

For months I’ve heard some stuff from those who attend the District 30 Executive Committee meetings about the rift between the District Governor and the two Lt. Governors.  I’ve also heard some grumblings about the way the Lt. Governors, especially the LGET, handle their business.  Some examples include:

• Putting down others, including past District 30 Governors and International Directors, for not agreeing with them or doing something that doesn’t match their view of the world, even commenting them at DEC meetings.
• Reports at their DEC meetings include false or exaggerated information.
• Not available to sign any paperwork required for submission to Toastmasters International, claiming that “they are busy” – in spite of being part of several Toastmaster clubs, some of which they are mentoring or coaching.

One current Area Governor I talked to a few times this year dreaded attending DEC meetings, and it took only the first one to make that impression!  No wonder only 4 Area Governors are willing to step up and run for Division Governor this year, as opposed to 9 last year.

So what is the next step with no nominated candidates for DG or LGET?  Well anyone eligible for District Governor or Lt. Governor of Education and Training can run from the floor at the Spring Conference business meeting the morning of May 22nd.  And both rejected candidates are expected to run from floor, the current LGET is supposedly taking his campaign to “the masses” by attending as many Area Contests as possible (it is rare for Top 3 district officers to attend Area Contests other than those that include their home clubs).  As far as others who could run include both defeated LGET and LGM candidates from last year, as well as some past District 30 Governors, all of whom can do a better job and restore order to District 30.

It is no secret that I’ve had major problems with the current LGET, the guy I once referred to as “Blagojevich” for many reasons (including appearance and ethics), though this past year I’m somewhat in speaking terms with him, at least I’ll say hi and shake hands and not much else.  I do get along with the current LGM, but I knew all along that he was the LGET’s henchman since they belonged to the same club and worked closely together as successive Northwest Division Governors.  I mentioned to several people a couple of years ago in which if the current LGET tells the current LGM to jump off the cliff, he would do so without any hesitation!

So what do I think of this whole thing?  Well since Toastmasters is no longer a major part of my life, I no longer feel bothered if those two ever become District 30 Governors.  My gripes against them are my own and if 99 percent of District 30 disagree with me, so be it.  I was part of District 30′s past, they are supposed to be part of District 30′s present and regardless of what I think of them, I hoped that they eventually do their jobs for the good of District 30 and not necessarily for their own personal gain.

Of course if they were doing those things I was told, they are not fit to serve in a top District 30 role.  I remember the current LGET telling me a couple of years ago when I considered bolting District 30 that “the past is the past” when it came to his troublesome actions.  However it only means something if that person did anything to address those actions.  It appears that was not the case and a more appropriate quote would be the Dennis Green’s “they are who we thought they were”!

While I don’t feel vindicated despite having serious issues with the current LGET and LGM before most others realized who they are really like, it does give me pleasure that serious action is taken and I’m glad there is a “tea party” rebellion in District 30.  Perhaps there really is hope, we’ll see on May 22nd.

That is quite an unfair classification. You can’t say that anyone involved with the Catholic church is a nutjob just because some priests molested kids. Toastmasters is a great organization for bettering public speaking and leadership skills.
Now, having said that, from my time in the lower political ranks of the Chicagoland district of Toastmasters I have found that anyone that gets that far gets really crazy. They seem to think that holding an office in a volunteer organization is some major accomplishment. It’s both sad and funny at the same time to see people stabbing each other in the back for a power grab in a public speaking volunteer group that has no power whatsoever.
So in my opinion, Toastmasters clubs and Toastmaster members are great and no more or less normal than anyone else I’ve met. However, these people behind the scenes fighting over nothing are the whack-jobs.

My guess is that this person is currently a District 30 officer who has the misfortune of witnessing a lot of power struggles and backstabbing that supposedly has been taking place with the top District 30 officers this Toastmasters year.  That was why there were NO nominations listed for both District 30 Governor and Lt. Governor of Education and Training in last weekend’s Nominating Committee report.  There will be more about this here once I get more information on what was going on and what possibilities could take place around election time, but the whole thing appears to be fun and exciting!

Anyway what this person has mentioned are things I’ve seen myself during my time as a District 30 officer and I’m sure there were problems before I joined Toastmasters.  Even if a new set of leaders take over come this July, I won’t be surprised if there are still more politics and power struggles as it seems to be human nature for people with not much accomplishments in life to use Toastmasters as “some major accomplishment”.  And that is why my involvement in District 30 leadership continues to “cease to exist”.

I admit that part of what got me interested in this discussion is that the tactics Toastmasters International and its board used in promoting Proposal A reminded me of a set of tactics a past District 30 Governor and Lt. Governor of Education and Training have imposed on other District 30 officers in which there was no transparency, no input from the rank-and-file, and a possibility of a large schism between the leaders and the members.  I was going to write an entry about this as a reason to oppose Proposal A, but now I think I’m better off directly addressing the issues I have with this:

1. Best and worst case scenarios – While TI has mentioned what is great about implementing the proposed changes and claimed they used their own figures to justify them, there is always a possibility that things may not go well as planned.  As a software engineer, whenever I have to add new code or fix bugs, I have to look at not just the ideal or expected way to input and interface with the code but also look at how the code handles an error or an improper input so the program would not crash or cause problems.  TI has done very little in addressing what could go wrong with what they are proposing and whether the potential problems can keep the proposed system better than the current system.
2. Consolidating all District Top 3 training – In the past at least those who belong to a Region could attend a different Regional Conference if they are unable to attend their own Regional Conference for their training.  Now that it is all in one week in August, what would happen if a Top 3 officer is unable to attend?  I remember in 2006, the District 30 LGET couldn’t attend the International Convention in DC due to work demands, so it could happen very easily.
3. Costs – TI has not unveiled the costs of keeping the current Regional and International conventions vs. the new plan of consolidating speech contests and training to International – especially with paying all or some of the costs the speech contestants and the Top 3 District officers.  What if transportation costs, especially gasoline, skyrocket?  What if we have another 9/11 in which airline service can be suspended during the conventions?  Can the convention site adequately house all the 70+ contestants and the 200+ Top 3 officers along with thousands of other attendees, and are there neighboring hotels that can be used?
4. Interational Leadership Committee (ILC) candidate survey – This year, many considered the candidate survey to be a complete joke – one 3rd VP candidate, John Lau, received more than 70% of the survey vote and was not nominated for that position, while the 4th and 6th vote getter were.  Will the ILC take the candidate surveys seriously, or the scenario that apparently took place this year could happen again?
5. ILC candidate search – What if the ILC cannot find candidates?  Is it possible they can resort to “bullying” tactics if they were desperate to find someone?  That could be embarrassing to TI as the ILC was formed to find candidates to fill the officer roles, especially International Director.
6. ILC recommendations – Can the ILC set up recommendations or have any authority to make it easier for candidates to run?  What appears not to be addressed by TI is why there are so few candidates for each of the International Director spots and try to remove barriers that may prevent a potential candidate from running for office.
7. Region Advisor Marketing (RA) – If the RA conflicts with districts or the Board, what steps can be taken to resolve them?  TI can’t just assume that the RA can easily work with each of the Districts in a Region as each District and its leadership can be different.  Even neighboring districts can be radically different.
8. RA selection – Can the Districts in a Region have input on who should be selected as their RA?  It does not say in their FAQ.  Plus for the RAs to work well with their Districts, they should visit them at their conferences and other events prior to their selection, which can cost them plenty of money with no assurance that they will be selected.

I am not convinced that Proposal A can address the problems regarding costs of running their events, recruiting candidates for International office and serving the needs of the Districts as well as the members.  The way the Board of Directors unveiled this proposal is abysmal – they never publicize any sessions or any way for members to give input on how to fix what’s wrong, then when they unveiled this proposal they should have given more details as to why they came up with their decision.  They should have unveiled comparison of costs between the current system and the proposed changes as well as how the ILC is better at recruiting candidates than the current process, in an ideal situation and especially in some worst-case scenarios.  They also should have explained alternatives that they considered and why they were not used.  TI has done a poor job in addressing the complaints regarding Proposal A and have not given adequate examples of why this proposal can address these concerns.

With that I recommend a NO vote.

Susan Ellsworth, one of the loudest critics of the proposed changes, recently put in her website a letter from Jenny Pagano, a Past International Director, expressing her concerns and stated her opposition to many of the changes:  http://www.pequodsystems.com/toastmasters/pagano.pdf.

I already notified a few District 30 officers I’ve contacted on a regular basis and ask them to forward this link to others.  Unfortunately this is going to fall on deaf ears on the Top 3 and the Immediate Past District Governor as the letter mentioned her take on the nomination process for 3rd Vice President and may give an unfavorable view of Dietmar Wagenknecht as someone who benefited from what was considered a poorly handled process.  The Top 3 and the IPDG have had a tendency to avoid controversial and challenging issues and would rather not hear such concerns or anything that they consider unfavorable.  Too bad for them they cannot prevent District 30 members from accessing such information online.  I’d go as far as to say that Dietmar will be far more receptive to Jenny’s concerns than the current District 30 leadership as he’s been willing to listen and address many controversial and challenging issues over the years.

I have my own concerns regarding the proposed changes, which I may present later on before the International Convention.  I may not agree with everything that Jenny wrote but I think everyone in the leadership part of Toastmasters needs to know what is going on with Toastmasters International and hear all views and from all sides.

The reason I want to take on the PR position is that I have some ideas we should try to implement to get more guests to our meetings.  The position is usually very neglected not only with the Arlington Heights club but in many other clubs here in District 30, so I believe I can do something to change that.  Some of the ideas I want to try in my club include:

• Put together press releases whenever we have an event or a member accomplishment, something we never did during my 10 years as a member.  This may be difficult as we only have the Daily Herald to submit releases to.  We used to have the Pioneer Press papers such as the Arlington Heights Post and the Rolling Meadows Review, but they ceased printing the beginning of this year and is just a news website.
• Enhance the club website, both to increase the number of guests to our meetings and as the primary resource for the members.  To use it as a publicity tool, I’d like to start putting in pictures of our meetings and our members (with their permission as there are those who are sensitive to privacy), plus add a page detailing what goes on in a meeting.  For members, I’d like to upload templates of worksheets we use, plus links to other Toastmasters-related resources.
• Find local websites to put a link to our club website.  Usually the website is accessed through toastmasters.org, however what if there are those who either never heard of Toastmasters or never thought of finding it through Internet?  Perhaps putting our club link at appropriate local websites can get more people who may not initially thought of us to take a look and realize that Toastmasters can benefit them.
• Putting together regular printed advertising – we only have done this periodically, usually when we have an open house.  I plan to put together different flyers that members can use to post in places with bulletin boards, such as Panera Bread or Jimmy John’s.  Plus I’m thinking about reviving the club newsletter, which we haven’t had in the last 5 years.  Previously the newsletter was for the members especially before we used e-mail and the club website around the time I joined.  Instead I’m thinking we should use it as a publicity tool and design the articles around the benefits of Toastmasters as well as profiling our members as testimonials.
• Look at regularly advertising in the municipal TV channels in both Arlington Heights and Rolling Meadows as well as in their respective city/village halls.  We did try that for an open house two years ago, in fact it brought a guest to the event who not only became a member but will be our next Club President!
• Work with neighboring clubs on doing joint and group promotion of Toastmasters.  One club can’t do this alone, getting a team of PR officers can do plenty.  I plan to contact incoming VP PRs of the neighboring clubs to see if we can collaborate on publicity.  With a new Northwest Division Governor coming in who is not a member of a division club, it would allow me to revive my involvement with the Northwest Division after a 2-year absence.

I’m looking forward to taking on this role in July and work with not just the Arlington Heights club members, but members of other Northwest Division clubs to boost our presence in northwest Cook County.

But how about those who have “been there, done that”, whether it is taking on every meeting role, serving as a club officer (especially President) or a district office, or dealing with numerous situations with other members?  If it’s OK to try and try better again, how long should we be doing this until we either get it absolutely correct or give up?

As I mentioned in some of the previous entries, there are some things in Toastmasters that I’ve been involved in the past that I don’t want to do again, such as holding a District 30 office or a committee role or serving as a Club President.  As mentioned in the most recent entry, I’ve reacquainted myself with Marcus Buckingham and since that time I purchased his most recent book “Go Put Your Strengths to Work”.  Throughout the book, Marcus stressed that what we should be focusing is what we enjoy doing and if there is something that has drained or aggravate us, regardless of whether we are good at it, we should stop or at least try to avoid that.

This does contradict what we in Toastmasters are preaching to our guests and our newer members, however as a 10-year member who seemed to has seen everything and dealt with an enormous amount of situations, I tend to evaluate what in Toastmasters I enjoy doing and what has aggravated me.  One thing that has annoyed me recently in my primary club is that many of the other members seem to typecast me as someone who is still deeply involved in Toastmasters.  I skipped both April meetings as I had some conflicts and when I returned for the first May meeting, there were a few members that asked me if I left town last month, as if I don’t have anything else going on besides Toastmasters!

The book reinforced my current Toastmasters direction that I want to get involved in my own terms and focus on the work that gives me fun and enjoyment.  It doesn’t mean I’ll stop taking on new challenges, for instance I told my primary club that I want to serve as next year’s VP of Public Relations as I never held that position and have some ideas we could try, while I’m not interested in serving as Club Secretary again as I feel obligated to attend nearly every meeting and reinforce what other members think of me.  I will still encourage other Toastmasters to try something that they never done which they may find intimidating, in the hopes they will grow and find something that they can build on as a Toastmasters member and beyond.  If they went through that experience several times and not enjoy it, I’ll understand if they don’t want to go through it again.

As one of 4 Toastmaster Districts in Illinois (54 and 8 cover a significant portion of the state, 19 includes two Quad City clubs on the IL side), it is time for those who run District 30 to set an example for everyone in the Chicagoland area and beyond by being selfless leaders.  It is time they stop talking about being the ones leading D30 to the “promise land” and perform the action to get there, without worrying about their glory or their legacy.  It is time they need to develop a plan to build clubs in a way they could remain viable for many years to come, not to pump up the numbers to get Distinguished Disrict by the next June 30th.  It is time they need to view the members and club officers as those who want to learn communication and leadership skills at their pace and comfort level, not commodities to get Distinguished Club goals.  In general, it is time the leadership needs to look into building District 30 for the future more than for the current term.

Chicago and Illinois are starving for leaders who put their communities and their people far ahead of their personal goals and ambitions.  Wouldn’t it be great if District 30 leaders can set such an example by looking at District 30, its clubs and its members beyond what they could do during the current term?

One reason I think loading committee chairs and other volunteer positions with those currently serving a major role in a District is not a good thing is that any District role, be an officer or in a committee, requires plenty of time and energy for the person to perform well.  Having more than one responsibility could result in the person neglecting one of his or her responsibilities and perhaps dilute the person’s performance in all Toastmaster roles.  The results could be devastating for the District – the conferences and TLIs may not be conducted as well as they could have, those with multiple roles could get burned out and disillusioned with Toastmasters perhaps even before their terms as District officers expire (I’ve seen this with some people here in District 30), those on the outside that wanted to help but were not offered anything could feel neglected by their District and may no longer consider volunteering for a District role, resulting in a depleted pool of talent the District could use in recruiting future Area Governors, conference chairs, TLI Deans and many other roles.  The District may end up going back to square one and take more riskier chances in recruiting new talent.

I would urge anyone who is running an event such as a District Conference or a TLI to expand their pool of potential chairs and other volunteer roles by looking past those currently with a District role, ignoring them altogether if possible.  I think those who have served as Area or Division Governor the previous year or two and are not serving a District role to be better candidates as they could continue contributing to their District in a different capacity with a much shorter time commitment.  Those who never were involved beyond the club level but have shown a passion for Toastmasters are great candidates as they could learn more about the organization, perhaps motivating them to take more responsibilities in their own clubs and Districts.

In a volunteer organization like Toastmasters, the future can be as important or even more so than the present.  It is up to those running their Districts and their events to ensure that the ride can be easier later on than it is now by making talent development one of their top priorities.

During my final months as Northwest 4 Area Governor in 2007, I’ve focused less on my role as Area Governor and more on the Arlington Heights club as I was also their Club President and have been struggling to keep that club afloat. Early in that term, two key members left, one of which called on the club to fold or merge as he was unwilling to carry a challenge of improving the club. I’ve been carrying plenty of misgivings about serving as AG that year primarily due to that. So when May 2007 came around, my club was putting together an Open House to boost the sagging membership and I’ve all but completely focused my attention to that as I’ve carried the burden of keeping the club alive and prove others wrong that the Arlington Heights club is still viable.

Another reason I’ve had misgivings about serving as AG was the Northwest Division Governor, as there were times I wonder if that person respected my involvement. While I’ve been involved in TM longer than him, he at times yelled at me for saying or doing things that he did not want to hear or do not seem to match his view of the world. When I told him I regretted serving as Area Governor midway through the term due to problems with my club, he replied “why didn’t you come to me about this?” I replied “because you complained about me being so negative”. The guy thinks he could make a difference with everyone, but he’s not doing himself any favor by putting down or criticizing just because he didn’t find it favorable for him – when I was Division Governor myself I would rather work around someone else’s faults than confront them as I treated them like adults and look to them as partners rather than subordinates like how this person treated me.

I knew this guy would manipulate his numbers for Distinguished Division to get what he wants. When he was an Area Governor the previous year, his Area earned Select Distinguished easily as all his clubs did very well in the Distinguished Club Program. But he wanted more – he wanted President’s Distinguished Area and Area Governor of the Year. Unfortunately, there were no viable new club opportunities in the geographical area he had, which consists of Schaumburg and Hoffman Estates. However the top 3 in District 30, in particular the Lt. Governor of Education and Training, put forth an directive that if an Area Governor gets involved in building a club regardless of its location, as long as it is within District 30 boundaries, the club will go to the Area Governor’s Division and Area. The main intention was to allow someone belongs to a club at his or her work, who is also an AG for that club, to be able to earn President’s Distinguished Area by chartering a club near the person’s home location if that person lived elsewhere, then the following year it would be aligned geographically. In the LGET’s view as he came from a downtown Chicago club, it would allow an AG who lives in the suburbs but works downtown and serves that area to get a club chartered at his or her hometown. Well the NW Division Governor did not fit that mold as he lived not far from his Area, but to get what he wanted, he ended up seizing a club opportunity elsewhere that seemed out of the way for him by jumping on the opportunity to have a club chartered at the Motorola location in Libertyville, which is not even in the Northwest Division. Since the District 30 top 3 looked at only what AG was involved in this club, they gave that club to this guy’s Area, giving him President’s Distinguished Area and Northwest President’s Distinguished Division. In fact, this club remains in the NW Division to this day, whereas everyone who is NOT a District 30 officer knows that Libertyville belongs to the North Division – I told some people recently at a North Division contest about this and they seemed puzzled at this concept, especially since a recently chartered club very close to LibertyMoto is in the North Division. Perhaps I should have known before what type of person I was going to deal with when this person was passed over for Area Governor of the Year and mentioned to me his displeasure of being passed over right after the award was announced.

Well back to the main story, rather than get active in getting Northwest 4 Area Distinguished, I outlined to all the officers in the clubs in mid-May what is needed to get Distinguished Area, which is to reach the minimum Competent Communicator awards, and told them it’s up to them to achieve this and I would be assisting them if they need my help. That did not suit well for the Division Governor and at the beginning of June demanded that I get actively involved in getting the Area Distinguished, especially as that was needed for him to get President’s Distinguished Division as all the other Northwest Areas either have achieved it or have no chance of achieving. He noticed that I was close to getting a 3rd Competent Communicator award and pressed me to give the last two speeches for the award by the 30th. I told him I will not be able to put together two speeches in a short time. He replied that he will set up special speaking opportunities in other clubs to get that completed (does it remind you of this entry?) and even offered a meal for this. I replied very angrily that this in my opinion constitutes BRIBERY and I wanted no part of it!

What happened afterwards did not surprise me. He first recruited someone in his primary club, which is not located in Northwest 4, to help out a Northwest 4 club in June as it has been decimated by membership issues. This person gave one more speech to complete his CC and put it to that club, which I did not have a major issue with that as he was going to help the club the following year (he is now their Club President). The CC that got Northwest 4 Area Distinguished was the one that got me very upset. The Division Governor got the president of his primary club to not submit her CC award to their club but talked her into submitting it to a different club as their primary club had plenty of Competent Communicators achieved that year and another club can used it for their goals. So on June 29th, the Division Governor asked the Club President of one of the Northwest 4 Area clubs to process both the membership application AND the Competent Communicator application. The Club President told me this after I found out about this award in mid-July and was suspicious about how someone I knew was not in that club got an award for that club. The Division Governor later claimed that his Club President did want to seek a 2nd club membership, but that turned out to be false as she never was active in that club or any other club before or after the award was submitted.

I brought this up with the outgoing District Governor, he did check with World Headquarters and there was nothing that can be done to reverse what the Division Governor had done. So I got Distinguished Area which I knew we did not deserve at all (that is why I did NOT mention this in my About page) as most of the clubs I had were struggling throughout the year, while the Division Governor got what he wanted in getting President’s Distinguished Division, and even got Division Governor of the Year later on, both of which he seemed to strive for at all costs!

Since the Division Governor was serving a second term in that position the following year, I decided to disassociate myself with a corrupt Division Governor by transferring my membership in the XL club to a North Division club, which is why I’m now a member of the North Suburban club. I stayed with the Arlington Heights club as I wanted to be there for the new officers and leaving them would only let them down.

However on February 2008, the Division Governor was named the sole nominee to run for District 30 Lt. Governor of Marketing for the following year. That is when I started to consider leaving District 30 and seek up membership in District 54, where there is an Advanced club that meets only on one Saturday a month and I could make an easy trip there on most meeting days. My reasoning was that since this person has already manipulated numbers to get President’s Distinguished Area and Division, he could do the same to get his numbers for LGM, which includes membership payments and clubs paid. Since I belong to two clubs, that constitutes 4 membership payments – in past years District 30 failed to reach the membership payment goal, in some cases by such a small number! So leaving District 30 would make it harder for the LGM to manipulate his numbers to reach his goals and I was unwilling to see that person succeed due to his past reputation.

Yes there were other factors mentioned in a previous entry that also played a part in considering my departure from District 30 or Toastmasters in general. I decided to stay in District 30 in spite of that person getting elected LGM, in fact I’m still not in speaking terms with that person even though I started to attend District 30 events again this year. The incidents mentioned above changed my view of the Distinguished Club/Area/Division/District program probably more than anything else and made me think they are all overrated, especially if it is in the hands of people like this past Division Governor/current LGM who wanted to seek the glory at any cost. Even if this person changed his ways (and for the sake of District 30 I hope he does or will), I can never ignore what he did previously and will still be a factor in terms of my membership and future achievements if he is elevated to Lt. Governor of Education and Training and, god forbid, District 30 Governor.