The Clock is Ticking to Save on the Milestone Event! — Next August, the 2024 International Convention is your chance to gather with Toastmasters worldwide in centennial celebration! Take a trip to Southern California where it all began 100 years ago. Come to learn, connect, and take part in the most dazzling communication event on the planet. Register now through November 27, 2023, and you will receive $100 USD off the regular convention rate, currently reduced to $625 USD.

Round Two of Club Officer Training Has Begun! — For a club to receive credit in the Distinguished Club Program, begin entering the training on District Central in mid-November. If you have any questions about club officer training, contact districts@toastmasters.org.

District Directors: Plan for Club Alignment — Prepare for club alignment for the 2024-2025 program year by directing your Alignment Committee to review the alignment webpage. Additionally, provide the committee with a current club directory by requesting one from listrequest@toastmasters.org. For alignment questions, reference Protocol 7.0 or email the District Growth and Support Team at districts@toastmasters.org.

Send In Your Fun Club/Member Photos — The Toastmaster magazine wants to see photos of your club in action! We encourage you to be creative when submitting images to photos@toastmasters.org. Any Toastmasters materials should meet the brand guidelines, and we love artistic angles, poses, and concepts. Check out the Member Photos gallery at the bottom of the magazine webpage for inspiration.

Area Directors: Submit Your Club Visit Reports — To qualify for the Distinguished Area Program, submit your Area Director's Club Visit Reports on District Central by November 30. In this first round of visits, you should have visited at least 75% of your clubs. While it is only required to conduct visits twice a year, clubs may benefit from additional visits and support. We recommend visiting your clubs at least four times per year.

District Leadership Committee Member Selection Due December 1 — The District Leadership Committee (DLC) Chair must appoint all members of the committee by December 1 to ensure the DLC report remains valid. Each Division in the District must be equally represented on the committee and must consist of no fewer than five (5) members, with no member representing more than one (1) Division. Reference District Administrative Bylaws, Article XI, and Protocol 9.0.

Tips for Nominating New District Leaders — The time of year to nominate District leaders is upon us! As you navigate this process, reference the District Leadership Committee webpage, the District Leadership Committee Handbook, Protocol 9.0, and the District Campaigns and Elections FAQs.

Meet the Winners of the 2023 World Championship of Public Speaking — For the second time in Toastmasters history, three women earned all three World Championship of Public Speaking trophies. Get to know Jocelyn Tyson, Nisha Shivram, DTM, and Maryam Ganni, and the stories behind their winning speeches.

Explore What's in Store for Pathways — The transition of Base Camp to a new learning management system next year will spark a host of improvements in the Pathways learning experience. Learn more about the positive changes that are coming to the program's online functionality.

Tune In! Take a Stand for the Brand — In this episode of The Toastmasters Podcast, Mayuri Assudani, DTM, shares how her District cascaded brand awareness through a live competition.

2023-2024 Speech Contests Reminder — For the 2023-2024 speech contest cycle, the Board of Directors approved an exception to the Speech Contest Rulebook. All speech contests at the Area, Division, and District levels may be conducted either in person only, online only, or in a hybrid format for the 2023-2024 speech contest cycle. Learn more about this exception and what it means for your District. If your contest will be online or hybrid, review best practices for those formats.

Support Fellow Toastmasters with the Smedley Fund — Learn about the Smedley Fund's uses, see a history of disbursements, and donate to support Ralph C. Smedley's educational vision for the organization on the newly-redesigned webpage.

New Pathways Content Is Coming — A completely new learning experience offering, called explorations, is coming to Pathways in 2024! Explorations will each consist of three projects focused on a specific topic to give you more flexibility in how you learn. The first two explorations will focus on inclusive leadership and presenting yourself online. More information to come next year!

Remind Club Officers to Submit Education Achievements — As you may already know, the Pathways learning experience is transitioning to a new learning management system (LMS) in the first half of 2024. The improved Base Camp will be a user-friendly, intuitive experience and will support new features!

Well ahead of the launch, member education data will be transferred to the new system. To ensure that each club's data is correct in the new system, in the coming weeks we will send an email to members to check that their education achievements are submitted on BOTH Base Camp and Club Central. Any members who notice a difference in their data between the platforms will be instructed to reach out to their club officers to make submissions on their behalf. Before the end of the year, Base Camp will be unavailable for a period of time while we transfer data. We will send you details about the planned Base Camp outage a few weeks ahead of time, but it's best for clubs to be ready now!

Get Ready for Mid-year Training — Throughout the month of January, 2023-2024 District Directors, Program Quality Directors, and Club Growth Directors will attend in-person Mid-year Training. These District leaders will continue to develop core leadership skills, share best practices and lessons learned, and network with others from around the globe. More information about specific dates, locations, region groupings, and travel will be sent directly to District leaders via email.