Lt. Governor Education & Training

Aundrae Romeo, DTM

District 56

2011-2012

Dear Fellow Toastmasters of District 56:

Spring Into Action. 

What’s Going On:

We completed our Club Officer Training or TLI Season. There is a reward. The Officer can complete a few other requirements and submit the paperwork for an Advanced Leader Bronze. The clubs benefited by meeting their Distinguished Club Program Goal #9 for at least 4 Officers to be trained at 2 TLI sessions every year. Below is the overall statistics on our Winter TLIs.

Thank you for attending and for implementing the lessons learned in our clubs. Kindly check your club report at http://reports.toastmasters.org/reports_new/dcp.cfm . If there are any errors or discrepancies about the number of Officers Trained, please contact our TLI Coordinator, Patricia Cotton, DTM at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.   . Begin to prepare now for our Main Summer TLI to be held at University of Houston Farish Hall on Sat June 2^nd with 2005 World Champion of Public Speaking, Jim Key as our Keynote Speaker.  

We are in the middle of Speech Contest Season. This is our time to step on stage and speak up in our Tall Tales and International Speech Contests. I remember my first speech contest. I was a nervous wreck. My fellow club members encouraged me to participate. They said, “you’ll have fun, you’ll improve, you’ll be great”. I spent an entire night composing and practicing the Fly on the Wall speech. They were right. It was a whole lot of fun. I’ve seen improvement in many in District 56 as they practice their speeches at the Club, Area, Division, District and the World levels. We can’t explain it, but when you get on that stage and speak and make eye contact with your Toastmasters family in the room, you make a connection and you develop superhero powers. I think it is called confidence. Whatever it is, you immediately begin to grow as a speaker. You’ll meet new friends from other clubs all across the District. These new friends will help you develop whether you are a contestant or a functionary. So, prepare and practice for the Tall Tales and the International Speech Contests today and let’s hear you speak and see you grow.

We have a DTM 55 by 55 Program in progress. You can be one of 55 DTMs by our 55^th Anniversary as a District. That Anniversary will be celebrated in May 2013. We began this program in June 2011. Thus far, 10 DTMs have been submitted. This is your chance to increase your strengths as a leader and a speaker. You can get on board the 55 by 55 DTM Bus by contacting our DTM Mentors, Jody White, DTM and Sheryl Smith, DTM at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.   .  

We also have our standard EMC2 program, which encourages each member to complete a CC every year. This helps us all to enhance our communication skills. Further, we have a CL-Don’t leave home without it program to improve our members’ leadership skills and gain recognition with a Competent Leader award.

Looking back:

We have had a great year thus far, with

• Almost 1,500 Club Officers trained in the Summer and Winter TLIs,
• 104 Clubs had at least 4 Officers Trained in both Summer and Winter TLIs.
• 98% of Area Governors trained in District Officer Training on June 18^th
• 199 Competent Communicator awards submitted by our members as they improve their Communication Skills,
• 83 Advanced Communicator Awards submitted by members who stepped beyond the basic manual.
• These are all part of over 400 Educational Awards submitted by the members who stood up and spoke and stepped up and led and thereby improved as communicators and leaders and were recognized and rewarded.    
• Excellent Speech Contests in the Fall which produced great Table Topics and Humorous Speech contestants
• Great training sessions for Contestants, Judges and Functionaries.
• An exciting Fall Conference on Nov 11^th with First Vice President, George Yen, DTM as our Keynote Speaker addressing more than 190 conference attendees with the theme “Toastmasters Treasures”.
• Wonderful Workshops and Superb Seminars during the Fall Conference
• D56Mailbox.com set-up for important LGET-related information to clubs and area governors.
• Dynamic Winter TLI Training Kick-off Session on Dec 10^th with 2007 World Champion of Public Speaking, Vikas Jhingran as our Keynote Speaker addressing more than 200 officers and members.
• 22 Clubs met our District Governor’s challenge to achieve 5 or more DCP Goals by the Fall Conference
• Beyond the Basics Advanced Training on Feb 4^th
• Excellent Speech Contests in progress for the Spring are producing great Tall Tales and International Speech contestants

Looking forward:

We have a clear path ahead with:

• Many more CCs, ACs and other Leadership awards before the end on the Toastmasters Year on June 30^th
• Many of our 180 Clubs to be Distinguished or better thus showing themselves as strong vibrant clubs which new members would be excited to join.
• High Quality Speech Contests in Tall Tales and International Speeches at the Division and District Levels
• An exciting Spring Conference on May 18^th and 19^th with 2008 World Champion of Public Speaking, LsShunda Rundles as our Keynote Speaker. Please register NOW and SAVE at http://www.d56springconference.com . You will also be able to sign-up for your Workshops and Seminars soon. Book your Hotel Room also from the above website. 
• Creative Presentations at the Spring Conference with the theme “Key to Success”.  
• Powerful Summer TLI Training Kick-off Session on June 2^nd with 2003 World Champion of Public Speaking, Jim Key as our Keynote Speaker.
• After Five Post-TLI Event with 2 World Champions of Public Speaking, Jim Key and Vikas Jhingran

Besides those mentioned above please remember to also thank the following LGET Team-members for excellent service and results:

• our Fall Conference Co-Chairs Laurie Jimenez and Patricia Carr This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.   
• our Quality Contest Chair, Richard Kummins  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• our DCP Co-Chairs, Pamela McCown This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and
  Doyle Peake This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  
• our Spring Conference Co-Chairs, Stella Sakowski and Sheryl Smith This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Someone told me once, “If you want to hit the moon, shoot for the stars”.

So, let’s Spring into not just Distinguished, but President’s Distinguished Status. Together we can do it.

Be A HERO,

Aundrae Romeo, DTM
Lieutenant Governor of Education & Training
2011-2012

Contact me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  or by phone at (713) 775-8397.