Saturday Education Sessions at the District 55 2022 Conference
District 55’s First Hybrid Conference
First Breakout Session (8:30 - 9:25 AM)
Delivery Method: In-Person
Venue: San Jose room
“Guided by Five Gurus”
Lisa Traugott
DESCRIPTION: What makes a winning speech? To find out, Lisa Traugott studied with five World Champions of Public Speaking: Mark Brown, Darren LaCroix, Ed Tate, Pres Vasilev, and Michael Carr. She applied their lessons to her own storytelling in last year’s International Speech Competition to become one of the 12 semifinalists OUT OF 27,000 competitors. Through fun exercises, she will teach you how to apply these tips to your speeches.
Venue: San Jose room
“Guided by Five Gurus”
Lisa Traugott
DESCRIPTION: What makes a winning speech? To find out, Lisa Traugott studied with five World Champions of Public Speaking: Mark Brown, Darren LaCroix, Ed Tate, Pres Vasilev, and Michael Carr. She applied their lessons to her own storytelling in last year’s International Speech Competition to become one of the 12 semifinalists OUT OF 27,000 competitors. Through fun exercises, she will teach you how to apply these tips to your speeches.
Delivery Method: In-Person
Venue: Concepción room
”Advertising Toastmasters Club Events Using Eventbrite and LinkedIn”
John Knotts
DESCRIPTION: Demonstrate how to leverage LinkedIn Events and Eventbrite to successfully advertise meetings and special events
Venue: Concepción room
”Advertising Toastmasters Club Events Using Eventbrite and LinkedIn”
John Knotts
DESCRIPTION: Demonstrate how to leverage LinkedIn Events and Eventbrite to successfully advertise meetings and special events
Delivery Method: Hybrid
Venue: Espada Room
“District 55 Started a Podcast…So Can You!”
Kyle Mitchell, DTM will lead a group of panelists
DESCRIPTION: District 55’s first-ever Podcast Manager (AKA “Podmaster”), Distinguished Toastmaster Kyle Mitchell, will share his experience starting the Official District 55 Toastmasters Podcast and give a live demonstration of how an episode is made. In this session, attendees will meet the D55 Podcast team and hear each member’s contributions. They will also answer questions from the audience for anyone considering the Create a Podcast project as a Level 4 elective in Pathways.
Venue: Espada Room
“District 55 Started a Podcast…So Can You!”
Kyle Mitchell, DTM will lead a group of panelists
DESCRIPTION: District 55’s first-ever Podcast Manager (AKA “Podmaster”), Distinguished Toastmaster Kyle Mitchell, will share his experience starting the Official District 55 Toastmasters Podcast and give a live demonstration of how an episode is made. In this session, attendees will meet the D55 Podcast team and hear each member’s contributions. They will also answer questions from the audience for anyone considering the Create a Podcast project as a Level 4 elective in Pathways.
Delivery Method: Zoom only
“The Secrets of Personal Productivity (They Really Aren’t Secrets)”
Chuck Hinkle, ATM
DESCRIPTION:Even as teenagers, our calendar and to-do lists often become our masters, and they get more crowded as we age. Discover how to regain control of your time and build more productive, satisfying days.
“The Secrets of Personal Productivity (They Really Aren’t Secrets)”
Chuck Hinkle, ATM
DESCRIPTION:Even as teenagers, our calendar and to-do lists often become our masters, and they get more crowded as we age. Discover how to regain control of your time and build more productive, satisfying days.
Second Breakout Session (9:40 - 10:30 AM)
Delivery Method: In-Person
Venue: San Jose Room
“Effective Evaluations”
Jean Ramsey, DTM
DESCRIPTION: Participants will get some tips on effective evaluations, which can be used to improve individual evaluation skills, or can be shared with their clubs to improve the quality of evaluations in their clubs. This will be an interactive session, everyone will have an opportunity to contribute to the "construction" of an evaluation, and 3 people will have the chance to deliver an evaluation.
Venue: San Jose Room
“Effective Evaluations”
Jean Ramsey, DTM
DESCRIPTION: Participants will get some tips on effective evaluations, which can be used to improve individual evaluation skills, or can be shared with their clubs to improve the quality of evaluations in their clubs. This will be an interactive session, everyone will have an opportunity to contribute to the "construction" of an evaluation, and 3 people will have the chance to deliver an evaluation.
Delivery Method: In-Person
Venue: Concepción room
“Confidence is a Choice”
Theo Bill
DESCRIPTION: For anyone who experiences anxiety, analysis paralysis, “perfection syndrome”, or inability to move forward because they lack confidence. The lack of confidence robs many people of having the life they want and deserve. It isn’t necessarily the result of hard work, experience, or a random chance, confidence is actually a result of a combination of our internal processing - which means we can become confident by choice.
Venue: Concepción room
“Confidence is a Choice”
Theo Bill
DESCRIPTION: For anyone who experiences anxiety, analysis paralysis, “perfection syndrome”, or inability to move forward because they lack confidence. The lack of confidence robs many people of having the life they want and deserve. It isn’t necessarily the result of hard work, experience, or a random chance, confidence is actually a result of a combination of our internal processing - which means we can become confident by choice.
Delivery Method: Hybrid
Venue: Espada room
“Diversity & Inclusion in Our Clubs: Examining Our Biases & Mitigating Them”
Scott Hopkins
DESCRIPTION: Learn how to help ALL your members feel valued as a member or guest at your club, regardless of culture, race, religion, age, orientation or gender. Provide your club with the tools to build habits to accept, label, and mitigate unconscious bias in the moment by using The SEEDS Model.
Venue: Espada room
“Diversity & Inclusion in Our Clubs: Examining Our Biases & Mitigating Them”
Scott Hopkins
DESCRIPTION: Learn how to help ALL your members feel valued as a member or guest at your club, regardless of culture, race, religion, age, orientation or gender. Provide your club with the tools to build habits to accept, label, and mitigate unconscious bias in the moment by using The SEEDS Model.
Delivery Method: Zoom only
”Infusing Humor into Your Meetings”
Panel with moderator Brian Thrasher, Richard Bassemir, Luisa Montalvo, & special guest
DESCRIPTION: Humor entertains, heals and improves the reception of almost any performance. A panel presentation of top district humorists will offer tips and techniques on how to enhance your impact and increase engagement and fun into every meeting role. Also learn to avoid the pitfalls when an attempt at humor goes awry. Join multiple champion speaker Luisa Montalvo, Richard Bassemir, president of Laughing Matters and others offer their expertise, and help you improve meeting quality and tickle more funny-bones.
”Infusing Humor into Your Meetings”
Panel with moderator Brian Thrasher, Richard Bassemir, Luisa Montalvo, & special guest
DESCRIPTION: Humor entertains, heals and improves the reception of almost any performance. A panel presentation of top district humorists will offer tips and techniques on how to enhance your impact and increase engagement and fun into every meeting role. Also learn to avoid the pitfalls when an attempt at humor goes awry. Join multiple champion speaker Luisa Montalvo, Richard Bassemir, president of Laughing Matters and others offer their expertise, and help you improve meeting quality and tickle more funny-bones.
Third Breakout Session (1:30 - 2:20 PM)
Delivery Method: In-Person
Venue: San Jose
“Building Membership Through Corporate Partnership”
Cora Lonning, DTM
DESCRIPTION: This presentation will answer the question of why corporations need Toastmasters. It will include the pain points that drive the need, why Toastmasters is so relevant right now to the learning function, who to reach out to, and how. We’ll also brainstorm the process of drafting a club plan and review resources available and how the district supports this process to engage corporations in our membership and club-building.
Venue: San Jose
“Building Membership Through Corporate Partnership”
Cora Lonning, DTM
DESCRIPTION: This presentation will answer the question of why corporations need Toastmasters. It will include the pain points that drive the need, why Toastmasters is so relevant right now to the learning function, who to reach out to, and how. We’ll also brainstorm the process of drafting a club plan and review resources available and how the district supports this process to engage corporations in our membership and club-building.
Delivery Method: In-Person
Venue: Concepción room
“Where Are You in the Stages of Team Development?”
Kevin Clark, DTM
DESCRIPTION: One of the most valuable things to know about teams is that they progress through stages. Recognizing which stage your team is in—whether it’s a club, a committee or some other team— will give you a much better idea of how to become a far more effective team member, improve your team, and move it towards success.
Venue: Concepción room
“Where Are You in the Stages of Team Development?”
Kevin Clark, DTM
DESCRIPTION: One of the most valuable things to know about teams is that they progress through stages. Recognizing which stage your team is in—whether it’s a club, a committee or some other team— will give you a much better idea of how to become a far more effective team member, improve your team, and move it towards success.
Delivery Method: Hybrid
Venue: Espada room
“Coping with Anxiet & Stress”
Harry Croft, Scott Hopkins, & Bart Loeser
DESCRIPTION: Through a panel discussion, 3 speakers will address different approaches to managing stress and anxiety.
1. Dr. Harry Croft will address the physiological part of anxiety, especially a common but ill-known condition called Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD). It causes severe anxiety in social situations leading them to avoid social situations or speak up. We’ll focus on how to help those with the condition cope, and how support systems like Toastmasters can benefit them.
2. Scott Hopkins will discuss how to develop real-time resilience and shut down counter-productive thinking while enabling greater concentration and confidence.
3. Bart Loeser, DTM will address the emotional impact of unaddressed fears for Toastmasters and will present various techniques and resources for calming the mind and reducing stress and improving confidence.
Venue: Espada room
“Coping with Anxiet & Stress”
Harry Croft, Scott Hopkins, & Bart Loeser
DESCRIPTION: Through a panel discussion, 3 speakers will address different approaches to managing stress and anxiety.
1. Dr. Harry Croft will address the physiological part of anxiety, especially a common but ill-known condition called Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD). It causes severe anxiety in social situations leading them to avoid social situations or speak up. We’ll focus on how to help those with the condition cope, and how support systems like Toastmasters can benefit them.
2. Scott Hopkins will discuss how to develop real-time resilience and shut down counter-productive thinking while enabling greater concentration and confidence.
3. Bart Loeser, DTM will address the emotional impact of unaddressed fears for Toastmasters and will present various techniques and resources for calming the mind and reducing stress and improving confidence.
Delivery Method: Zoom only
“Toastmasters meets 21st Century Technology”
Melanie Stark, Ph.D.
DESCRIPTION: From the beginning, Ralph Smedley was one of the most forward-thinking and innovative educators of the 20th century. He created an organization that embraced the pedagogy of “learning by doing” and brought people together from all over the world to learn better communication. Today, our technology is bringing us even closer together. In the face of the adversity of the last few years, Toastmasters has adapted and risen to new heights by embracing online meetings. Come and see how this organization is staying at the forefront of innovation by entering the realm of fully-immersive virtual reality, opening lines of communication that were never before possible!
“Toastmasters meets 21st Century Technology”
Melanie Stark, Ph.D.
DESCRIPTION: From the beginning, Ralph Smedley was one of the most forward-thinking and innovative educators of the 20th century. He created an organization that embraced the pedagogy of “learning by doing” and brought people together from all over the world to learn better communication. Today, our technology is bringing us even closer together. In the face of the adversity of the last few years, Toastmasters has adapted and risen to new heights by embracing online meetings. Come and see how this organization is staying at the forefront of innovation by entering the realm of fully-immersive virtual reality, opening lines of communication that were never before possible!
Bart Loeser, DTM
Education Sessions Chair
Education Sessions Chair