A Website Challenge

Clubs in Division E were challenged to upgrade or create a new club website. The Website Challenge winners were awarded at the Division E International Speech and Evaluation contest on Sunday, April 15 at the Executive Office Building. Division E Governor Imelda Rocha said, "It was a lot of fun!!!"

The Winners for Division E Website Challenge are:

Area 51: BMD Toastmasters club. Visit: http://bmd.freetoasthost.us

Area 53: Town Center Talkers Toastmasters Club. Visit: http://www.towncentertalkers.org/

Area 54: Tech Corridor Toastmasters Club. Visit: http://techcorridor.freetoasthost.org

Area 55: Vagabond Toastmasters Club. Visit: http://vagabond.freetoasthost.com/

And the winner is...

Clara Barton Toastmasters and Interior Toastmasters have been waging a friendly competition to develop an outstanding club web site using FreeToastHost.  Twenty judges from around Toastmasters and the professional web world served as judges, visiting and exploring these two sites, and everyone came away impressed!  On Tuesday, the two web designers, Melissa Allen of Interior Toastmasters, and Cynthia Holt of Clara Barton Toastmasters, gave their formal presentations and unveiled their phenomenal respective sites at a joint meeting of the two clubs.  The judges had a really tough time, but a winner has now been declared… Clara Barton Toastmasters!

Visit the two sites yourself, and see what incredible work these two Toastmasters have done.  Be sure to sign the guestbooks and leave your comments!

Clara Barton Toastmasters: www.cbtm.us

Interior Toastmasters: www.interior-tm.org

Point and Click: A Competition to be the Best Amongst Toastmasters Websites
By Melissa Allen, m1melsa@gmail.com, Interior Toastmasters

Two D.C. Toastmasters clubs.

Two competent Web development teams (Melissa Allen, Vice President Public Relations, and Anita Gonzalez-Evans, President for the Interior team; Cynthia Holt, Secretary and Website Developer, and Joseph Reninger, President for Clara Barton Toastmasters).

Two distinct marketing visions.

One goal: to be the best (and win their respective clubs a pizza party).

Interior Toastmasters and Clara Barton Toastmasters have been challenged to develop new club websites using FreeToastHost. Jim Dooley, a member of both sparring clubs and the progenitor of the ensuing creative chaos, has procured judges who will rate the clubs’ new websites according to the following criteria:

(1) Artistry

(2) Distinction from other Toastmasters websites

(3) User resources

(4) Ease of use

(5) Reflects members’ interests

(6) Encourages club member involvement

(7) Recognizes Club and member accomplishments

(8) Outreach potential (attracts new members)

At a special joint meeting of the clubs on February 6th, the two web development teams will briefly present the approaches they took and how their websites are benefiting their clubs. A live internet connection will be available so the teams can demonstrate their creations.

Bo Bennett, the man behind FreeToastHost, has become intrigued with the contest and has agreed to serve as one of the judges.

“I would love to!” Bo said. “I can even put a link to the first place winner of the FTH main webpage. This may promote other contests which would be great for the quality of websites used!”

As one of the competitors, I’m beginning to sweat a little. My reputation and my club’s sustenance (at least during that afternoon) is at stake. Times like these make me wish I hadn’t given my Web developer friends fruitcake for the holidays.

A Club of Champions - Business Oriented Toastmasters

Are you looking for a strong club to enhance your speaking and leadership skills? Are you interested in competing in Toastmasters contests and winning? Then check out Business Oriented Toastmasters - BOTM for short. We are the Club of Champions.

BOTM is one of the strongest clubs in District 36. We have been a President's Distinguished club for the last four years. Meetings are well attended and usually average 15 members per meeting. One of the strengths of our club is our record in Area, Division, and District Contests. Our members include John Melmed (past winner of several District Speech contests), Jay Moore (past winner of the District Humorous Speech contest), and Josef Martens (past winner of the District and Region 7 International Speech contest).

This year we swept the Area 53 contest, winning both Table Topics and Humorous Speech, and our Humorous Speech contestant, Robert Katz, placed 3rd in this year's District contest. Those mentioned previously and other club members have won many other Area and Division level contests. We meet the first and third Wednesday of every month at 8:00 PM in Rockville. Directions and additional information can be found on our web site http://botm.freetoasthost.com

If you would like to improve your speaking skills and improve your contest speeches, check us out. We are always looking for new members to help keep the club fresh and vibrant, and above all, fun!

Speechcraft Award

Crown of Laurel President Don Zwach ATM/B presents a plaque to Nancy La Joice, Member Services Coordinator of the Baltimore Washington Corridor Chamber of Commerce in appreciation for BWCC support of Speechcraft '06. La Joice, a Speechcraft graduate some years ago in a different club, enthusiastically and actively promoted Speechcraft in several different BWCC venues."