A year of learning

With the 2015-16 E team leaving office this week, we took time to reflect on the things we've learnt this year. Here's some of our combined wisdom.

• There are many different leadership styles and no single approach is always right.
• Different people are different: different goals, different values, different aims, different communication styles.
• Every team has its strengths and weaknesses. It's important to understand them, play to the strengths and account for the weaknesses.
• Toastmasters clubs are diverse. All of their different approaches can and do work. They all need and deserve support to be who they are.
• Planning in advance is important. No, even more important than you think!
• Communicate early, communicate often...
• ... but, people don't read emails.
• Bureaucracy is a reality of life; being able to work within and around it is a strength.

And the final tip from this year's team...

... together, we can achieve more than any of us could do individually.

Division E team 2015-16 (photo taken 26 June 2016)

(L-R) Kai Chan, E10; Rob Barton-Howes, E9; Owen Winter, E6; Gael Price, Division E; Simon Lin, E1; Sam Masters, E3; Larrie Talbot, workshops coordinator; Amanda Hillock, E2; Susan Dugdale, marketing manager

Absent: Mike Mckee, E7; Alice Chu, events manager

Happy new Toastmasters year from the outgoing E team!

Introducing the incoming team

Here they are folks! Your incoming Division E team - taking office from 1 July 2016.

Top row, L-R: Queenie Lin (Capital), Area E1 director; Alice Chu (Business Breakfast), Area E2 director; Steve Preston (Progressive), Area E3 director

Second row, L-R: Shagen Ganason (Harbourside), Area E4 director; Norbert Lee (Assurity Testmasters), Division E director; James Callinicos (Pipitea), Area E6 director

Third row, L-R: Viv Sutton (Turbine Talkers), Area E7 director; Jeffrey Ng (Victoria University), Area E9 director; Mark Thompson (Wellington Professional), Area E10 director

Division E is distinguished!

When the dashboards ticked over this morning, they showed something very exciting - 14 distinguished clubs in Division E! That's 40% of the division's club base, which makes us a distinguished division!

Image source

Division E is the third distinguished division in New Zealand for this year - after Division H (south Auckland) and Division F (Northland).

Those 14 distinguished clubs also translate into distinguished areas. Areas E3, E7 and E10 are all distinguished, and area E1 is select distinguished.

Division E Distinguished status, 14 June 2016

Congratulations to all the members, clubs and area directors whose hard work has generated this achievement! Stay tuned - there'll be more good news to come before the year is out...

Area contest reports - E1 and E9

In our final Area contest update, we bring you the results from the E1 and E9 International speech and Evaluation contests. The set of contestants is now complete! On 9 April, all these people will compete for Wellington's spot at the national-level contest in May. Don't miss this chance to see Wellington's best speakers all on the same stage!

Contest night in Area E1 was on 30 March and hosted by Capital Toastmasters (who, to accommodate the crowd that arrives for an Area contest, had temporarily moved their venue to the new MBIE office on Stout Street). The International speech contest was a smorgasbord of stories as six speakers shared experiences with sugar, grooming, grandparents, and even game theory. Contest chair Sue Hamlett ran the show, and at the end of the night, Khorshed Irani (Cupcake Communicators) was named contest winner. Second place went to Quang Nguyen (Assurity Testmasters), and third place to Jack Snow (Public Service Toastmasters).

E1 International speech contest. (L-R) 3rd place Jack Snow, 1st place Khorshed Irani, 2nd place Quang Nguyen.

Later in the night, E1's Evaluation contest was chaired by Jacqui Smith. The audience enjoyed an enlightening speech from Sampath DeCosta (Pipitea Toastmasters) on the benefits of failure. Six evaluators gave their views on Sampath's speech. First place went to Margaret Nixon (Capital Toastmasters), second place to Bryan Ventura (Wellington Toastmasters), and Glenda Bullock (The Gourmet Toastmasters) placed third.

E1 Evaluation contest. (L-R) 1st place Margaret Nixon, 3rd place Glenda Bullock. Second placegetter Bryan Ventura is absent from this photo.

The International speech contest in E9 was on 14 March and chaired by Peter Scholtens (Terrace@12). Intriguing speeches from four contestants had the audience thinking as we learned about mountain biking, the good side of redundancy, how to start a charity, and several different ways to look at apples. The contest was won by Raymond Kemp (Five Crowns), with Rose Austen-Falloon (Terrace@12) in second place.

E9 International speech contest. (L-R) Area Director Rob Barton-Howes, 2nd place Rose Austen-Falloon, 1st place Raymond Kemp, contest chair Peter Scholtens.

E9's Evaluation contest was chaired by Andrew Neal (Terrace@12) on 31 March. Four evaluators gave their thoughts on Mike Wareham's (Victoria University Toastmasters) inspiring speech on the theme of 'Girls can do anything'. First place went to Raymond Kemp (Five Crowns), and second place was Rose Austen-Falloon (Terrace@12).

E9 Evaluation contest. (L-R) Contest chair Andrew Neal, 1st place Raymond Kemp, 2nd place Rose Austen-Falloon.

Congratulations to everyone who got involved in contests this season! That wraps up our Area contest reporting. All these wonderful winners will go head-to-head on Saturday. Who will win?

See you there if you can join us - if not, keep an eye on this blog for results next week.

Area contests kick off: E6 and E1

The Area contest season kicked off in Division E this week with contests in E6 and E1.

The E6 Humorous contest was hosted by Toast Health and chaired by Diane Isherwood. Contestants entertained the audience with stories about their sartorial challenges, gardening woes, conspiracy theories and transport near-disasters. The contest was won by Marie Wright of Toast Health.

E6 Humorous contest: L-R Area Director Owen Winter, 2nd place Kathleen Murphy, 1st place Marie Wright, contest chair Diane Isherwood

The E6 Table Topics trophy went on the line at FearBusters, where contest chair Cathy Myers challenged contestants with the question "If you could go back to when you were 16, what advice would you give yourself?". Responses ranged from tips on career choices to exhortations to relax and worry less. Contest winner Peter Scholtens (Statistically Speaking) advised his younger self to "never go to sleep in a huff".

Area E6 Table Topics contest: L-R contest chair Cathy Myers, 2nd place Franco Pang, 1st place Peter Scholtens, 3rd place Tracy Wilkinson

Contest night in E1 was held at Public Service Toastmasters. The audience was thoroughly entertained by six humorous speeches, many of which made use of everyday life: middle age, marriage, driving, winter weather, and the internet were all subjects of humour for these contestants. The contest was chaired by Mike Lucas, and won by Kath Cherrie of Cupcake Communicators.

Area E1 Humorous contest: L-R 3rd place Nasser Ahmed, 2nd place Rob Julian, 1st place Kath Cherrie, Area Director Simon Lin

After a break for wine and cheese, E1 moved into Table Topics, where contestants answered the question "If you are going overseas for a holiday, where do you want to go?". After six engaging illustrations of wonderful holiday destinations, some audience members were tempted to get distracted planning their next holiday. Announcement of the results by contest chair Kai Chan quickly brought everyone back to the present. Aaron Hodder (Assurity Testmasters) won the contest with his response about visiting "the land of Twin Peaks".

Area E1 Table Topics contest: L-R 3rd place Brian Ventura, 2nd place Kath Cherrie, 1st place Aaron Hodder, Area Director Simon Lin

The next two weeks have contests scheduled in E2, E3, E7 and E10; check the Area contest calendar to see where you can catch your contestants.