Congratulations on stepping up to this vital leadership role. You have an exciting journey ahead of you. It will be one in which you’ll learn a lot and contribute a great deal to transforming people’s lives. There are many that say that the Area Director is the most important role in Toastmasters International. You will make a difference by serving your clubs and your fellow Toastmasters.

What to do in June

Essential activities

1. Introduce yourself to the clubs in your Area
   1. If you do not already the contact details for the club, then you can find their details using the Find A Club feature on the toastmasters.org.  You can send them a message through this system
2. Ensure that all clubs in your Area have submitted their club officer list
   1. All clubs are expected to hold their club officer elections in early May. Refer to the Club Leadership Handbook for more information
   2. A timely submission of the club officer list is essential in order to for them to participate in training activities
   3. The officer list must be submitted on Club Central. To be valid, the club needs a President, Secretary and at least one Vice-President (VP Education, VP Membership, VP PR)
   4. You can see the list of clubs that have submitted their officer list on the daily report dashboard
3. Introduce yourself to your incoming Division Director
   1. You can find their details here
4. Conduct an effective handover with the current Area Director
   1. If you do not already have the contact details for your current Area Director, you can find them on the District 71 website
   2. Use this Area Director handover template.  It will help you make sure you have everything you need. You might find that the current Area Director does not have all these details, but it should help with the conversation. Use it to help you think through the information you will need for the year
   3. Use the Toastmasters Dashboards to obtain information about the clubs in your Area. If you are unfamiliar with the dashboards, this video gives guidance on how you can use these when preparing for conversations and visits to your clubs
5. If you have not already done so, send your signed District Leader Agreement and Release Statement to the Administration Manager
6. Register to attend the District Leader Kick-Off meeting on 30 June from 7:30 to 8:30pm

Recommended activities

1. Arrange a call or meeting with the incoming President of each club to discuss how you can support them
2. We like to feature our District Leaders on our website to make it easier for you to build connections with members and your peers.  You can find your profile here. You can use your profile to share your photo, preferred pronouns (such as she/her), a short biography and links to your social media profiles (LinkedIn and Facebook). If you would like to update the information on your page, please send the details to Gearoid Murphy
3. Complete the District Leader Badge Information form. This will allow us to order an official badge for you

What not to do (yet)

1. You do not need to start planning club officer training (COT) events yet. An enhanced COT programme is being developed and more news will be shared soon
2. Do not start planning Area speech contests yet. Each year the District Executive Committee (of which you will be a part) makes decisions about speech contest types and dates. Wait until these decisions have been made before planning your contests

Plan to attend training