FOUNDER’S DISTRICT PUBLIC RELATIONS REPORT

 

DELP Meeting — March 17, 2005

Alanda Dyer, DTM, PRO


Founder’s Newsletter

The March issue of the Founder features two new looks. One is a print version that went from 12 pages to 4 pages, and the other is an electronic version that is posted on the Founder’s District web site. The slimed down print version represents a substantial cost savings and allows us to focus on ‘news you can use’ and to spotlight the successes of our members and what is happening in their clubs.

 

The electronic version has no article length restrictions, is accessible “24/7” we still maintain all the informational content that was in the print version. This layout was designed by Elaine Randolph (the Web Team) and allows the reader to scan the content summaries before choosing which articles to read.

 

Public Relations Contests

Entries for the ‘Diamond Web Award’ for club web sites, and the VPPR Recognition Award will end March 29. Currently, we have more entries for the web sites, and a few for VPPR. Many club members are sending emails to the PRO nominating their VPPR, but are not attaching corresponding proof. Requirements clarification is being sent to the Top 4 officers in all the clubs addressing this issue.

 

Promoting the District Conference

The Conference will be held Saturday, April 23 at the Sheraton Anaheim Hotel in Anaheim. The PR Team is working with Laurie Molsberry, Conference Chair, in promoting the conference to our membership and to the community.

 

We need everyone’s help in spreading the word to their club members about why it is important for them to attend. I’ve listed seven reasons that can be shared:

  1. Voting on the addition of a new Division.
  2. Election of 2005-2006 officers. Please stress that even though the slate is running unopposed, they have the opportunity to meet the candidates and ask them questions.
  3. The District needs a quorum to conduct the Business Meeting. This gives you as a District leader the opportunity to visit your clubs and explain what a quorum is and why it is important for them to attend. 
  4. We’ve expanded our educational workshops to nine, featuring a variety of topics to appeal to people interested in leadership, communication, membership, and personal improvement.
  5. Our C & L recipient is Craig Shoemaker, who was named Comedian of the Year, and will be honored at the Hall of Fame Lunch.
  6. The Table Topics Contest and the International Speech Contest where they will hear the best from each Division.
  7. The different cost packages to attend the conference allows people to choose whether they want to attend all day, or for specific activities.

 

 

 

 

Community Judging

Matt Stern, Community Relations Chair, is proud to report that many of the outside organizations that contact him for contest judges are very happy with the quality and professionalism of our judges. The task of providing judges for outside organizations is particularly challenging during February, March, and April because our Areas and Divisions are also having speech contests during this time period. Matt has explained the situation to them, and fortunately, he has been able to meet the majority of their requests without sacrificing the needs of the District.

 

OC Fair

In February we mailed the Letter of Participation paperwork to the Orange County Fair (to be held July 8-31, 2005) and are waiting for them to send us the contracts. This will be our third year involved in the Fair, and we have gained experience about what works, what doesn’t work well, and what we can do to improve how we promote Toastmasters. Based on this, we will institute some changes. The major change will be dividing the responsibility of chairing the Fair between two people. One person will be responsible for the administrative side, and the other person will be responsible for volunteer coordination. Job descriptions have been created for these duties. Also, each Chair will have committees assisting them so the workload will not be overwhelming like it has been in the past.

 

Our booth size has been 10’x10’, which makes for a very tight work environment when you add all the items we put in our booth, plus the workers. We have requested the 10’x20’ booth, which is harder to get. We hope that our past participation and the ribbons we have won on our booth content and appearance will enable us to get the larger size.