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You may stay at the hotel up to 5 nights at the conference rate if you would like to stay in Albuquerque for longer to visit local attractions.

What is a District Conference?

District Conferences are yearly, weekend long events for Toastmasters within the District. It includes the District Council Meeting (Business Meeting), Contests, Keynotes, Educational Sessions, and ample opportunities to meet new friends and network. Conferences also give members the opportunity to stay connected to Toastmasters outside of the club level.

Getting Started:

Arriving at any unfamiliar event can be confusing. With over 100 members attending, District Conferences can seem a little over whelming to a first timer. When arriving at the hotel, if you are staying at the hotel, get yourself checking in, drop your luggage in your room, and relax. Once you are ready, go to the hotel lobby and look for signs that point you in the direction of the conference registration table.

Checking in is easy. Give your name to the person at the registration table and they will check you in, give you a program and any swag, and provide your meal tickets.  DO NOT lose your meal tickets – they cannot be replaced. If you have brought your club’s banner for the banner parade or a proxy for the business meeting, ask the registration person where you can get these items signed in.

The conference will have events solely for first timers. These events are designed to get you familiar with the layout of the conference and help you meet new people. Don’t miss out! If you are uncertain where they are being held, ask the volunteer at the registration table.

District Council Meeting and Credentials:

Every Conference will have a business meeting. This is a meeting of district leadership: District Director, Program Quality Director, Club Growth Director, Division and Area directors, and Club presidents and Club Vice Presidents of Education. This meeting is required by Toastmasters International and allows lower level leaders to see how the district is doing by the numbers, and vote on changes at the district level.

Anyone is welcome to attend the Business meeting; however, to vote you must be in one of the leadership positions mentioned above, or hold a proxy from someone in a leadership position listed above. Proxies are given if a leader can’t attend the conference. When carrying a proxy, it is recommended that the proxy holder discuss with the leader the items to be voted on. The proxy form, filled out by the leader not attending, is given to the volunteer at the credentials table in exchange for a voting sheet.

The credentials table provides voting members with voting sheets for the Business meeting. The volunteers running the table have lists of those eligible to vote. These members are in the system with Toastmasters International. If there has been a recent change, and the new member is not yet in the system, they will not be able to vote without a proxy. Proxy holders will give their proxies to the volunteer, who will then confirm the proxy is valid and give the member a voting sheet.

Contests:

Toastmasters has a few contests every year. Fall contests are district level: humorous speaking, evaluation, and tall tales. Spring contests are the International Speech, which ends at the international level, and the Table topics contest, which is a district only contest.

Contests begin at the club level. To win, contestants must progress from Club to area, area to division, division to district, and in the case of the international contest, district to international. Members wishing to compete in the international contest must have completed at least 6 speeches from their Competent Communication Manual. There are no requirements for district level contests.

Two contests are held each conference, one Friday night and one Saturday night. Winners are typically announced following the Saturday night contest.

Donation and Auctions:

District conferences are great ways to keep members connected; however, they cost money. The district does have some money budgeted for conferences, but not enough. This means some of the money required must come from donations and auctions. Conferences never work to make money. The money raised goes straight into the conference, thank you gifts, decorations, swag, printed materials, and so much more. Without donations, the conference could not run.

While straight donations are an option, many people choose to instead donate an item: themed gift baskets, gift cards, art, and even services. These donations are then auctioned off Saturday night or put into the silence auction which runs until the live auction Saturday night.

Many clubs and areas put together themed gift baskets to donate to the conference. For information about how to get your club to put together a basket see our Basket information sheet (LINK)

Keynotes and Educational Sessions

Conferences are a haven for Toastmasters wanting to bring their speaking to the next level. Keynote presentations and Educational Sessions are where the learning occurs.

Keynote speakers are exceptional speakers, often International Level Toastmasters leaders or Professional Speakers. They are the Rockstars of Public Speaking and Toastmasters.

Conferences often have one or two Keynote speakers. The keynote speakers have designated speaking slots that never overlap with other activities, typically Friday night, Saturday morning, and Saturday afternoon.

Educational speakers are typically your local, district Rockstars. They run educational sessions, aka breakout sessions. These sessions often run two or three at-a-time. One of the hardest aspects of attending a district conference is choosing your breakout sessions. Who wants to miss out on so much information? If you are attending with a group, splitting up and taking notes to share is a great way not to miss anything. If you are solo, make a friend and ask if they would be willing to swap notes with you.

Schedule Expectation

Each conference is unique. Schedules and activities will vary; however, below are what you can expect for a typical conference.

Friday:

District Conferences begin Friday Night. Typically, Friday includes a Keynote speech, contest, dinner, and if your conference is themed, a costume contest. If you have a costume, wear it to Friday night dinner.

Dinner should be included in the price of your registration.

Saturday:

Saturday is an all-day event. The morning will include a club banner parade, one or two keynotes, or break-out sessions. The afternoon will include an awards lunch, which we call the Hall of Fame; another keynote presentation, the all-important business meeting, and more breakout sessions. Evening will include a contest, the DTM ceremony, and auction.

Saturday dinner is often considered the formal sit-down dinner of the conference. While there is no required dress, people typically put on their fancy clothes. Don’t feel the need to go out and buy a formal outfit, unless you want to.

Saturday’s lunch and dinner are typically included in your registration ticket.

Sunday:

Sunday is a half-day. It typically includes two breakout sessions and a conference planning reflection meeting.

No meals are offered on Sunday.

Most Hotels offer breakfast to the folks that are staying at the hotel.

What does that mean? A list of commonly used Toastmasters jargon.

DTM: Distinguished Toastmaster – A member that has completed the Toastmaster’s education program.

CC: Competent Communicator – One of the first two educational manuals used by Toastmasters

CL: Competent Leader – One of the first two educational manuals used by Toastmasters

ALB: Advanced Leader Bronze – An education level in the leadership track.

ALS: Advanced Leader Silver – An education level in the leadership track.

ACB: Advanced Communicator Bronze – An education level in the Communication track.

ACS: Advanced Communicator Silver – An education level in the Communication track.

ACG: Advanced Communicator Gold – An education level in the Communication track.

Key Note: A featured speaker brought in from out-of-town. They are typically professional speakers and/or a Leader at the international level.

Breakout sessions: Smaller educational sessions in which two or three take place at a time.

Accredited Speaker: A speaker that has been recognized by Toastmaster’s international as the highest caliber of speaker. This is the highest designation that Toastmaster’s international awards; however, it is only for those speakers that strive to speak professionally, not your everyday Toastmaster.

See a term that you don’t recognize? Send us an email and ask!  We’ve love to add it to the list.

District 23 Proxy Form (PDF)

Either the club president or vice president education of any member club may designate, in writing, any active individual member of the club to act as a proxy for him or her at any district council meeting.

• In the event one of those officers (VPE or President) is not in attendance at the meeting and has not designated, in writing, an active individual member of the club to act as his or her proxy at such meeting, the officer or proxyholder in attendance shall be deemed to hold the proxy of the other and may therefore cast two votes at such meeting.
• The intent of this provision is to assure that every club will be represented by two votes.
• No other proxies shall be valid at a district council meeting.
• A written proxy, to be valid at a district council meeting, must contain all the elements set forth in Toastmasters International policy and must be delivered personally, by mail, by fax, by e-mail, by electronic transmission, or by other reasonable means to the club member who will hold the proxy. The form above meets these requirements.
• The proxy holder must present the proxy in paper form (i.e., print out an e-mail) to the credentials desk. If the proxy does not bear a handwritten signature, it must have the typed name of the club officer(s) giving the proxy or some other indication that the club officer(s) authorized the proxy to be given.
• A proxy that complies with these requirements shall be treated as valid so long as the credentials desk has no reason to believe that the proxy was not authorized.
• A proxy holder cannot transfer or assign a proxy to someone else.
• A valid proxy delivered to the proxy holder is revoked only if the club officer who gave the proxy takes one of the following subsequent actions: he or she destroys the proxy, cancels the proxy in writing, issues another proxy authorized at a later date, or actually attends the district council meeting.

(Source: Toastmasters International District Administrative Bylaws, Article X(d).)

Toastmasters International is a nonprofit organization under Section 501(c)(3) so some expenses may be deducted as charitable contributions. For more information, please read this document from Toastmasters International: Tax Deductions for U.S. Toastmasters