Links for members

PR For Success Conference Resource Page

This page intends to collect all resources used for or produced by the October 2024 PR Conference.
For more about the conference see the September 2024 Newsletter.

Table of Contents

Subtitles and/or closed captions are available on all videos.

Need some starting points for Canva templates? Click here!

Introductions and Welcome

Karakia, mene and mihi:
Led by Division R Director Meegan Herewini

Presentation video:  
Housekeeping and greeting

Formal opening:
Performed by District Director Richard Perkins. 

Presentation video:  
Welcome on behalf of the District

Purpose of the conference:
To look at what we are doing in the light of what we could be doing, and share ideas from experience on how to promote Toastmasters more effectively.

Masterclass 1: Customer- Centric Club Culture

About the presentation:
Too often, we regard customers as those outside the organisation – guests. This session is a reminder that members are customers of their clubs, and provides tips on how to serve them effectively.

About the presenter:
Neil Stichbury has been a member of the Franklin club for 19 years and served as District Director for the 2019-2020 year.

PowerPoint slide deck:
Customer Centric Club Culture

Presentation video:
Club Culture

Masterclass 2: Membership Magic - Transforming Interest Into Engagement

About the presentation:
Today, there are more barriers to membership than ever before. This session looks at innovative ways of engaging with new members – and the issues that trying something new creates.

About the presenters:
Deepshikha (Dee) Vyas is a Mobile Mortgage Manager at Kiwi Bank and Immediate Past Vice President of Membership at West Harbour Toastmasters.
Tim Muhundan creates Customer Journeys for a living and a CX (Customer Experience) guy sharing some of his learning from forming the newest Toastmasters Club, Hobsonville Toastmasters. Tim is also the Immediate Past Area Director, N5 and Immediate Past Vice President of Education, West Harbour Toastmasters.

PowerPoint slide deck:
Transforming Interest to Engagement

Presentation video:
To be supplied

Masterclass 3: Target Markets, Marketing With Canva and Practical Branding

About the presentations:
Over the last few years there have been increasing calls for “professionalism” within Toastmasters, and Public Relations is not immune. However, there are few “professional” VPPRs. This session provides simple introductions to aspects of Marketing; like others today, the aim is to provide motivation for further learning.

About the presenters:
Sarah Wilson has been a member of Toastmasters for 5 years, initially in Makati in Manila and now at Three Kings Toastmasters in Auckland. She has held the roles of Club President, Vice President Education, Vice President Publicity, and Vice President Membership.
She has over 20 years experience in marketing and advertising. She ran a marketing agency for 18 years. She has a Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing and International Business, Professional Diploma Arts & Design, and has recently completed a Masters of Theology degree on the topic of online marketing and community.

Kenneth Gustilo is a registered nurse and serial entrepreneur. She founded Synergy Care, a community care provider, and TerePay,  a financial technology company that empowers migrants to gain financial freedom while ensuring security and sustainability for their families back home. Kenneth believes that even the sky is not the limit.
She is a member of Albany Toastmasters and is Toastmasters New Zealand North’s Public Relations Manager, a role she has filled with great success since  July 2023. 

Elizabeth Viljoen works in marketing and fundraising. She is passionate about Toastmasters because the programme and the members transform people’s lives. Currently she is the District’s Club Retention Chair with the focus on helping low membership clubs through the club coaching programme. She saw the need for clubs to learn how to promote themselves well, and that was the seed for this PR for Success Conference. 

She is a member of One Hour Toastmasters, Takapuna Midday Toastmasters, and Review Toastmasters in Auckland, and Bell Block Toastmasters in New Plymouth.

PowerPoint slide decks:
Target Markets and Club Cultures (Sarah Wilson)
To Be supplied (Kenneth Gustilo)
The Brand Ambassador (Elizabeth Viljoen)

Presentation videos:
Sarah Wilson – Target Markets
Kenneth Gustilo – Getting Started With Canva
Elizabeth Viljoen – The Brand Ambassador

Masterclass 4: How To Tell A Good Story

About the presentations:
“If you want to make a point, tell a story about it” – David Brooks, WCPS 1990. This applies when making points about Toastmasters benefits, as well. But its all very well being asked for an “elevator speech” – how do you create an effective one?

The two parts of this session focus on making connections through stories, and how to put a story together. Relax – you know much more of this than you think!

About the presenters:

Vince Ford is the author of 16 books for children and teens. He’s won the junior fiction category of the New Zealand Children’s Book Awards and won the children’s choice category three times. He’s been a student in the International Writers Program at the University of Iowa. He’s presented to thousands of children through the Writers in Schools programme, he’s a member of the New Zealand Professional Speakers Association and president of Tauranga Toastmasters. He’s won second and third place (twice) in the Toastmasters International Speech Contest.
Vince is currently researching and writing an adult’s book on connection and story. As well as running workshops, he’s a keynote speaker and an MC at community and corporate events. Check out his website – www.vinceford.org for more information.

With our “Connecting through storytelling” masterclass, Toastmasters participants will discover the key to connecting with prospective members and building a trusting relationship. We’ll focus on listening to their stories, finding what motivates them and has brought them to Toastmasters in the first place, then we’ll work on the stories that you could use to help new members see themselves as Toastmasters.

Mark Adam’s career spanned advertising, graphic design and branding in the US, the UK and NZ. He worked with NZ’s largest corporates and institutions – and many, many smaller businesses. His approach to brand design is that a brand is part of a larger story, not just a logo on a page. An award-winning designer, he helped set up NZ’s Best Design Awards and is an original founder of the Designers Institute.
Mark has been a Toastmaster for many years and is a member of One Hour Toastmasters. 

Suresh Paleti is a freelance copywriter; his passion lies in empowering organisations to achieve unparalleled growth and success while positively impacting people’s lives.

He specialises in creating irresistible email marketing, captivating landing and sales pages and compelling brand stories meticulously designed to deliver exceptional results.

He’s been an active member of First Impressions Toastmasters Club in Hamilton since July 2020. He’s held various roles including VP Membership, Area P3 director & Division Q Director, currently serving as VP PR & a member of the D112 PR team.

PowerPoint slide decks:
Connection Through Storytelling (Vince Ford)
How To Grow A Story Tree (Mark Adams)
How To Tell A Good Story (Suresh Paleti)

Presentation videos:
Vince Ford – Making Connections

Mark Adams – The Story Tree
Suresh Paleti – To be supplied

Masterclass 5: The Membership Experience (Access For All)

About the presentation:
Very often, we deal with a guest – or member – who has a problem with confidence. With the impending release of Pathways that is accessible to all, this panel discussion looks at how best to work towards accessibility – and how such issues may be closer than you think.

About the presenters:

Toni Sharp has been a member of Toastmasters for 22 years and is passionate about ensuring inclusion of one and all. She is the District’s Inaugural Director, and current Administration Manager.

Her personal experience has developed an empathy with many members from a wide variety of backgrounds and accessibility stand points.  

PR in relation to “Accessibility For All” will enable our clubs to offer a much more stringent and comprehensive network that will ensure inclusivity, and positive moral support for members from all walks of life that our clubs all stand to benefit from.

Mike Diggins joined in 1998 and, through seeing the wide variety of help available, has developed a keen interest in communication and how simple changes can have large effects. He believes that learning to tell personal stories more effectively will, over time, improve the storyline for everyone.

James Edley celebrates ten years of membership this year, and has served in both Club and District leadership roles. He is a keen believer in the power of communication and feedback to help with continuous improvement, and that the best way of tackling a challenge is to meet it head-on.

PowerPoint slide decks:
Accessibility For All

Presentation video:
Overcoming the Accessibility Challenge

Masterclass 6: Where To Tell Our Stories

About the presentation:
A story has little use without a reader, and in this session we look at tips and tools for attracting readers. The essential idea is to find tools that make it as easy as possible for our stories to be read – and for that, they first have to be found.

About the presenters:

Dr Fred Angels Musika is a skilled health and safety professional with experience helping businesses develop their health and safety systems and culture. Fred is passionate about positive safety choices, attitudes, and habits and helps clients discharge their due diligence in health and safety by providing pragmatic advice. Fred has a thorough knowledge of safety compliance, risk management, and incident investigation.

He also has a PhD in marketing who truly understands the needs of “green” consumers and has been a brilliant marketing lecturer.

Mike Diggins has been involved with the Toastmasters NZ website since 2009 and formal webmaster for D112 since 2021. He believes social media works, but only if searchers can find it. This session shows how to use search products to make the social content more easily found, so it can become the book containing our stories.

The web can be technical – a founding brief of this session was to use English!

Kenneth Gustilo has already been introduced for Session 3.

PowerPoint slide decks:
Social Media Marketing With Stories (Fred Musika)
Web Presence and Search Optimising (Mike Diggins)
Marketing as a System (Kenneth Gustilo)

Presentation videos:
Fred Musika – Telling Stories on Social Media
Mike Diggins – Optimal Presence
Kenneth Gustilo – Marketing Systems

Masterclass 7: Using Our Experience

About the presentation:
Its all very well to listen to the stories of others  how do we make them our own? That is the question this session sets out to answer.

About the presenter:
Sheryl Dickerson DTM brings 25 years of Toastmasters experience to the stage. As the Division L Director and a member of the D112 Training Team, Sheryl has a wealth of knowledge to share. While she enjoys the thrill of competition, she is currently embracing the valuable lessons of leadership. In her corporate career and through her own business, Sheryl has facilitated training and delivered speeches on Personal Branding, Motivation, Presentation Skills, and Change. This afternoon, she will inspire us to leverage the insights gained today to attract new members and keep our current members engaged and enthusiastic. 

PowerPoint slide decks:
N/A

Presentation video:
Sheryl Dickerson – Motivational Marketing

Masterclass 8: Ending Exceptionally Well

About the presentation:
The last few hours have in themselves told a story. This final session provides the conclusion..

About the presenters:
Kenneth Gustilo and Elizabeth Viljoen have been introduced in earlier sessions.

PowerPoint slide decks:
N/A

Presentation video:
Elizabeth Viljoen – What Have We Learned?

Closing Address

About the presentation:
Marlene Krone DTM, 
District Program Quality Director, sums up the days presentations and formally closes the conference.

Presentation video:
Marlene Krone – On Behalf of the District

Log on to What?

The District Calendar?
Click here, let the calendar load, then click the login button at top right of the Calendar area.

Toastmasters International?
Click here for the login page.

Changing the D112 website?
You want this link