Area Governor Tips

Time Commitment: Expect to spend two to three hours each week doing something, even if it is just emailing and planning.

Feeling Comfortable with Your Office: It normally takes a new Area Governor a few months to feel like s/he knows what s/he is doing. Give it time.

Keys to Success as an Area Governor:

• Get to know well the officers of your clubs
• Be in continual contact with the officers of your clubs
• Get to know how the club operates
• Let the entire club know you are a resource available to them for assistance
• Keep offering them reminders of tasks and suggestions/alternatives for improvement
• Show the club you care about their success as a club and them as members
• Find ways to point out the club strengths to the club

Club Connection: Plan to make some connection with your clubs at least twice each month, even if it is just a reminder email. When you forward the district bulletin to the clubs, always include something extra from you to the club, especially reminders of upcoming vents and deadlines. Never assume that clubs already know about a particular event or that they have done a particular activity, even if a District officer is a member of the club. Make sure the appropriate club officers hear it from YOU.

First Club Visit: Visit a meeting of your clubs at least once before you attend a meeting to do your official Area Gov visit report. That way, you have some idea of the club make-up and can better judge its strengths and areas for improvements. Pre-arrange with either the club President or VP Education to be there. Introduce yourself to the entire club. If you can, make a short presentation of some aspect about Toastmasters and/or the district functions. Show them you are a leader.

Area Gov Official Visit: Schedule this with the club President and VP Education before attending. You will want to sit down with them before or after the club meeting to review your visit report. They will need to check with the club in order to supply you with some information for your report. Review the visit report form for these needs.

Area Contests Scheduling: When setting the date for your Area Speech Contests (Fall and Spring), try to give the winning contestants are least two weeks before they compete in their Division contests.

Area Contests - Putting One On: You can work with one or more other Area Governors to hold your Area Speech Contests. Detailed instructions are found on the District 22 website. Basically, you select someone to handle the various roles (contest master, two timers, two ballot counters, three to five judges, hospitality/food (if applicable), registration table, sergeant at arms. Then coordinate it all to make it happen smoothly.

Club Executive Council Meetings: If possible, attend a meeting of just the club officers. Much more discussion can go on there about club activities and performance.

Area Council Meetings: Try to get the members of your Area Council together two to four times during the year. Giving the top three club officers a chance to discuss various aspects of clubs with their counterparts is time well spent. Plan your program is well and they will be very glad they attended. Some ideas for meeting items:

• At the beginning, during introductions, have them tell one personal thing about themselves that is non-job and non-Toastmaster. Also have one club officer tell the recent accomplishments and upcoming goals of the club.
• Have one of the club officers present a module from the Successful Club Series. That counts as a credit towards their CL award.
• Have breakout sessions, by officer, for them to discuss some pre-determined club matter. Then they present their results to the entire group.
• Have someone (non-Area Council member) be the timer and someone take minutes.

Getting More Information: If you need information on something you are unsure about, there are several resources at your disposal:

• Google the Internet for what you need (e.g. new ideas for Table Topics)
• Your Division Governor
• The District Trio

Transition Times: Newly-elected club officers need to transition their duties and knowledge to their successors. Area Governors need to do likewise. Club officers are elected in December (only for clubs that elect officers every six months) and in May. District officers are elected at the Spring Conference.

Attendance Expectations: District 22 and/or International expect Area Governors to attend or do the following:

• TLI in June and January
• DEC Meetings (at the two TLI's and two conferences)
• Two Area Speech Contests (fall and spring)
• Two Visit Reports for all clubs in the area (by October 31 and April 30)