At least three other candidates are running for 2nd VP next year, as Mike mentioned in his Saturday lunchtime entry during the convention.  Whether you plan on supporting Mike or not (I’m not supporting or endorsing anyone yet), his website will provide very useful information for anyone who wants to learn more about how Toastmasters International works.

• For the first time in my 11 years in Toastmasters I don’t have any formal responsibilities as I’m no longer a club officer.  As mentioned in Twitter on the morning of July 1: “Free at last!  Free at last! Thank God Almighty, I’m free at last!”
• For the first time in my 11 years with the Arlington Heights Toastmasters Club, we were Presidents Distinguished!  North Suburban did achieve Distinguished Club as they did get some later renewals as a few joining the last couple of months.
• As far as District 30 events go, I may be less willing to attend them, less because the person I did not want to see District Governor got elected (his challenger went on attack mode and that turned off those who voted that were not involved in District 30 politics), but more due to being very disappointed with the last conference, the Winter TLI and some of the contests I attended.  It was the reason I did not attend the Summer TLI last month even though I was unable to golf since the beginning of June due to injury.
• I will however attend a roast next Saturday at the White Eagle in Niles, honoring the North, Northwest and Central North Division Governors.  Primarily for two reasons – 1) I want to support the organizer, past North Division Governor Steve Cerve, and Ted Przybylo, past North Suburban Club President whose family owns the facility; and 2) would like to see in particular how one of the Division Governors gets “roasted” as many knew who he was prior to joining Toastmasters.

So does that mean that I’ll be writing less frequently in my blog?  Hopefully not – I’ll still be an active member of two clubs, will be keeping an eye on how Toastmasters and District 30 is doing through LinkedIn, Facebook and directly from my contacts, and perhaps finally giving some speeches which I failed to do even though it was a goal of mine this year.  With a new District 30 Governor who has credibility problems, this Toastmasters year should be really exciting, if not enjoyable!

• Location – Probably the most important issue TI needs to look at.  This year’s location at Foxwoods is not near a major city or an airport, in fact attendees had to choose between flying to and from Hartford, Providence, Boston, New York or Newark.  The convention site is not within walking distance and has no public transportation to allow attendees to visit other places to go sightseeing, to eat or to stay over in another hotel (for those who were unable to reserve a room at the site or want to find a cheaper alternative).  I hope TI doesn’t bring the convention back to Foxwoods or other remote locations where the attendees are basically stuck at and make sure future conventions are at places where public transportation as well as alternative accommodations and places to go are easily accessible.
• Venue and fees – TI wants to place their conventions at a five-star hotel to show others what a world-class organization it is.  But is that what the average member wants?  Having the convention in a five-star venue cost lots of money that is passed on to the attendees resulting in exorbitant fees that many can’t afford.  Only 13 from District 30 attended this year’s convention, far less than the average.  And I’m sure most in D30 who would’ve loved to attend this year’s convention couldn’t because they either couldn’t afford it or was not worth the convention, lodging and transportation fees to go.  Many districts however are finding ways to cut costs at their conferences and are willing to hold them at places that are beneath the quality of a hotel, such as a college, in return for more attendance due to the lower price to attend.  Perhaps TI should look at what the member values at an International Convention and ask them how much they are willing to afford to go to one and what venue standards they are willing to accept.
• Voting at the Annual Business Meeting – In the aftermath of the vote on Proposal A, many are calling for electronic voting to at least be an option for Club Presidents to directly vote on such proposals and candidates for International Office, especially as most can’t attend a convention for reasons above or may not trust their District Governor with their vote.  Many organizations such as IEEE and just about every public company allows the member/shareholder that option.  For LinkedIn users, there is a great discussion on electronic voting in The Official Toastmasters International Members Group.  Hopefully there will be a solution soon that would both enable the Club Presidents to directly have a say on the issues and candidates while continue the tradition of allowing the candidates for face-to-face presentation and discussion that showcases their Toastmaster skills.

If Toastmasters International thinks the hard work is done by the passage of Proposal A, they should think again.  It’s only the beginning and they have a long way to go to make the proposal a success, especially as they’re giving the International Convention much more importance than ever.

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.

My initial plans at the conference was seeing both the Table Topics and International Speech contests and being at the DTM ceremony where we had five people who received their ribbons.  I really wanted to be there for two of the five, Ron Lorsch and Keri Silk, both who I’ve known very well over the years.  I did not have any intention to do much at the conference, say hi to some old friends and meet some newer folks and stay in the sidelines as my days of having any role in a conference are long over.  Sherry Jost, one of my Area Governors who was an unsuccessful candidate for Division Governor, along with current District 30 Governor Pat Martin, mentioned about having me be part of the District 30 Wall of Fame as the 2005 D30 Toastmaster of the Year.  I replied “that was 4 years ago, I’m irrelevant in District 30 these days and I’d like to keep it that way!”

Well not long after I showed up at the Saturday night portion of the conference, Past D30 Governor Hugh Dunbar, who was the Chief Judge for the International Speech Contest, asked me to be a judge for the contest.  Having served as the Chief Judge for that contest two years ago, be one of the judges the year before that, and the Tiebreaking Judge even several years ago, I wouldn’t mind seeing different people getting the experience of serving as a judge for the most prestigious contest we have.  Hugh was someone who helped me out when I was Southwest Division Governor years ago as it was his home Division, and has encouraged me to stay involved in District 30 the last couple of years in spite of my problems with the people running D30 and their priorities.  So I accepted serving as a contest judge, which made me somewhat relevant in District 30, at least for that night.

But what made my comment that I was irrelevant to District 30 more contradicting was that I spent plenty of time at the conference discussing Toastmasters with many of the attendees, whether it is old friends that I haven’t seen or talked often or those who I only met last weekend.  I planned to leave the hotel both nights right after the contests, however I ended up staying longer because I still was talking with different people.  Saturday night’s contest ended just before 10pm, I left the hotel just after midnight!

When I talked with those who are currently serving as an Area or a Division Governor, I asked them how they liked their job and mentioned some of my stories from my days in those positions that may relate to theirs.  For those who I’ve known for years, we discussed about District 30 and Toastmaster International issues as well as what we’ve done since we last met and what our future plans are.  Many of them, even a few who barely know me were asking me questions such as:

• When will you ever become District Governor?
• When are you going to be involved in District 30 again?
• How come we don’t see you much anymore?  We used to see you around a lot!

I even had a couple of suggestions to run off the floor against the current Lt. Governor of Education and Training for District 30 Governor as I’ve heard many people having concerns about his work (or lack thereof) in his current and previous Top 3 positions.  Well my replies to all of that appear in previous blog entries.

I realized after I left the conference that I do spend more time than I planned to when going to events outside of my clubs, and most of it had to do with talking with others.  There is always something I could learn from them, while I can make some contribution in return.  At the North Division winter officer training a couple of months ago, I was there in case I was needed to train officers.  Since my services were not needed, I planned to leave when training started and after finishing my pizza that was provided there.  Well I ended up leaving an hour later after discussing Toastmaster issues with the District 30 Secretary who is an employee of the facility where the training took place!

I’m still irrelevant in District 30 in terms of having a formal role, but I get the impression that many who know me would disagree with that in general.  It’s hard for me to turn down engaging others in a one-on-one or a small group discussion about Toastmasters, or taking a role in a contest or a conference if it was offered by someone who I greatly respect.  Regardless of whatever problems I have in Toastmasters, there is always something for me in that organization to deal with and that is why it seems impossible for me to ever leave.

While many of my entries in this blog reflect someone who is disillusioned with the organization, whether in the club, District or International level, I admit even within the last couple of years I:

• check the TI website nearly every day to find out who in D30 achieved an award, what club was chartered recently, what clubs paid or haven’t paid their dues, etc.
• browse the various Toastmaster-related blogs and discussion groups often
• talked and e-mailed to several TM friends about a variety of Toastmaster issues

With one of the District 30 Area Governors this year from one of my clubs, I talked to her often about what’s going on with her role and with D30.  Now she’s running for Division Governor, one of nine candidates for six spots.  So I ended up talking to her about how her campaign is going and how she’s stacked up against the others in the race.

In addition, District 30 has contested races for Lt. Governor of Education and Training (which I mentioned previously) as well as Lt. Governor of Marketing, both which have a candidate I have a strong preference (and a candidate which I have an intense dislike).  In the International level, Dietmar Wagenknecht, past District 30 Governor and International Director, is running for 3rd Vice President.  Right after I found out he was nominated, I asked a couple of past D30 Governors if there was someone in D30 that ran for such a position (no one had ever made a serious run, though there was Russell Puzey, 1953-54 TI President who lived in the Chicagoland area but was more involved prior to District 30′s creation in 1950).   While Dietmar has an opponent in Ralph Wallace from New Mexico, there was talk in the ToastmastersPrime group of drafting a 3rd candidate from the floor due to their concerns about the proposed TI changes including eliminating the Regional Conferences.

Why am I still paying attention to such issues, instead of focusing more on my non-Toastmaster (or post-Toastmaster) activities?  Shouldn’t I be saying “I don’t give a s–t about what’s going on in District 30 or in Toastmasters International”?

I guess the primary reason for this is that I still truly care about Toastmasters and am concern about the direction the leadership is taking, be in District 30 or International.  I still think about ideas that we can develop to make District 30 much better than it is now.  I’m concerned about the members in my clubs, the friends I made through Toastmasters throughout the years and even those I just met at recent events as many represent the future of this organization.

I get that impression from other TM-bloggers such as Bill Bishop and Sara Marks, as well as discussion group participants like Rich Hopkins.  We write about TM because we care.  If we didn’t care, we wouldn’t be spending the time complaining and ranting about any TM issue that is bothering us at this time.  Those in power want to shut us up, I get that impression from those at the top in District 30 the last few years.  Instead of putting up with those who think what we do or believe don’t match their view of the world, we are using the Internet and other “grass roots” methods to advocate what we believe in, for the good of the organization and not in our own interests.

Well I just found out today that he is going to have an opponent in the race for Lt. Governor of Education and Training.  District 30 had their Nominating Committee meeting last Saturday and they slated a current Division Governor to run against the current LGM for that race.   This is the first time in the 10 years I’ve been in Toastmasters that there is a contested race for LGET.  I know a little about the Division Governor and met her once, she seems to be a nice person who is willing to do her job properly from my past conversation with her, but all I can say is she’s got to be a much better person than the LGM.

I’m hoping that this will be a real race and that we have someone completely new for the LGET role.  I’m hoping that this will lead to change in District 30 that even I can believe in.  I’m hoping that this will make me be proud to be a District 30 Toastmaster.  Perhaps instead of looking to be like Rush Limbaugh, I could think about getting involved in District 30 again!

This question was something that I was asking myself in recent months.  After over 9 years in this organization, I’ve accomplished a whole lot more than I envisioned when I first started in 1999.  When I first joined TM I never thought I would get to be a club officer, then I never thought to be a Club President, then an Area and Division Governor.  Through my role as a District officer as well as other roles in District 30, I got to know plenty of people from all parts of the district, making many friends and learning a whole lot of how our organization works.  Getting District 30 Toastmaster of the Year was something I didn’t think I would ever reach as out of over 3000 members in the district, there had to be someone that accomplished more than I did in 2005.  And it was only around 2004 that I felt I could achieve my DTM and accomplished that two years later.  I felt I reached the pinnacle in Toastmasters to the point where I wasn’t sure there was anything else for me to do.

A lot of people over the years suggested that I should run for top 3 in District 30.  However in the last couple of years I was not happy with some of the people running District 30 and the direction they’re going to the point I vowed never to get involved with them again.  I also was not happy with the Arlington Heights club, single-handedly keeping the club alive two years ago and felt the pressure from other members to continue carrying the weight even though I was no longer the Club President or a VP.  It got to the point where I seriously considered dropping out of Toastmasters after this past June 30th, something that would shock many who knew me throughout the years.

After struggling with this choice I decided to remain involved. I felt I need to continue working on my speaking and leadership skills, taking advantage of attending my club meetings more to enhance my skills rather than to simply fill in the open spots.  I also realized that while I’ve had some major issues with some of the people running District 30, there are a lot more in the district that I like and would like to continue helping out.  Being someone who was deeply involved in District 30 over the years, I felt it was my duty to share plenty of knowledge and experience I learned over the years, with this blog being one way to express them.

However that would require me to continue changing what I can do and cannot do for Toastmasters, something that I already started at this time last year after finishing a 2nd term as Area Governor.  I already stopped attending District 30 events such as the conferences and the most recent Summer TLI, partly because there are people involved in these events I didn’t want to be associated with, but also having attended them throughout the years I was no longer willing to “go through the motions” and dealing with the same things over and over again.  The only way I could see myself attending these events is if someone in my clubs or who I hold dearly is competing in the contests or is getting an award such as their DTM ribbon.  I also want to set limits as to what I could do to help my two clubs as I’ll be willing to assist and mentor others but in a way in which the current club members don’t depend on me to pick up their slack or waiting for me to do something for them – which was a problem I saw at the Arlington Heights club this past year.  Instead of focusing on making sure everyone is doing their job and fixing their ways, something that I’ve been known to do, I want them to learn from their own doings.

For me to remain in Toastmasters, I had to change the way I’ve been doing things over the years otherwise not only I’d go past the end of the road, I’d be going over the cliff!  I felt that at this point in my Toastmasters journey I could still be involved in the organization, but only in the way that I want to, not have to.