District 59P - Now their dream had come true.
At the Toastmasters International Convention in Chicago on 18 August 2001 at 1:50 PM, senior Vice President Tim Keck announced that the C.C.E.T. would become Provisional District 59P! That was the moment that many enthusiastic toastmasters had been waiting for since the C.C.E.T. was formed in 1979.
Now their dream had come true.
Why did we receive number 59 where there were already many more Districts in the world already? “There once was a District 59 from July 1957 to June of 1973, and it comprised the state of Nevada, The northern part of the District 59 was joined with District 39 in 1937 while the southern portion was merged into the newly formed District 33 in July 1974. Since that tine, the number 59 had been kept in reserve until it was recycled for the new European district” (Clarion)
On 1 July 2000, the C.C.E.T. officially became a provisional District 59P. First of all this change gave the new District full access to the benefits that any official District has, including full acceptance during the training programs led by TMI and administrative assistance to help build a bigger club network in Europe. Our district became a district but under the following condition: we had to prove that we can grow. The goal that TMI set for the district 59P to prove our viability was to reach minimum 60 clubs within the next 4 years.
This task seemed to be impossible at that time; however, the desire to be a District was stronger than mere impossibility.
2001 - First Governor Dirk Husfeld
After receiving a status of a provisional District, it took European Toastmasters about 4 years to prove that they had it in them to be a real District. The first Governor of the new Provisional District 59P was Dirk Husfeld.
At the International Convention in Miami, Florida, USA they received the "Provisional District" status.
In the Clarion of April 2001 Dirk wrote:
"The 'p' in our district designation, '59p'. It stands for 'provisional', they say. My interpretation is different now: 'p' stands for 'promising'. Here is why.
Very recently, I gave a talk at one of our clubs in Munich about the status of District 59p. (By the way, this was project 2 in "Speeches by Management". Never lose a chance to give manual speeches.) While preparing that talk, I often checked the data that Christoph Stoppok, our Lieutenant Governor Marketing, provides on the Web. You will realize that we are among the top four of the 12 overseas districts! This has been consistently the case over the past months. Note also that the other two 'provisional' Districts (Taiwan and Japan) are also in this group of four. We'll show World Headquarters that the word 'provisional' should evoke the best of associations and emotions! We are very 'promising' in all facets of the word.
There is obviously no reason why a new district -- or a new club for that matter -- should consider itself limited because it is new and inexperienced. On the contrary, it is the excitement and the enthusiasm that come with doing something new that make extraordinary results possible.
So keep up the good work. By working on getting the membership dues in and encouraging the clubs to plan the last speeches for budding CTMs, we should be able to present ourselves as a Distinguished District in our first year of existence. That would be something to be proud of. "
2001-2002 - District Governor: Alain Petillot
District Governor: Alain Petillot
Motto: Together, we achieve !
Ensemble, nous réussirons !
Zusammen, schaffen wir es !
- LGET: Christoph Stoppok
- LGM: Andreas Schmidt
- PRO: Denise Magyar
- Treasurer: Thierry Peirani
- Secretary: Christina Schultze
- Area 1 Governor: Mike Ferris
- Area 2 Governor: Vincent Schettini
- Area 3 Governor: Odile Petillot
- Area 4 Governor: Roy Skinner
- Area 5 Governor: Anna Eicher
- Area 6 Governor: Frank Hoffman
- Area 7 Governor: Sharon Abrahamson
- Area 8 Governor: Martin Schmädeke
- Area 9 Governor: Otto Schwerer
- Area 10 Governor: Ranger Russell
- Area 11 Governor: Ralph Jones
- IPDG: Dirk Husfeld
- Clarion Editor: John Knotts
Alain continued to lead the District’s along its journey full of challenges towards being accepted around the world. Alain was the first District governor who set a motto for the year. His motto wasTogether, we achieve !Ensemble, nous réussirons !Zusammen, schaffen wir es !
The existing Toastmasters were already consistently displaying their excellence; however, club growth was still too weak – the net club growth was only one club. Nevertheless, the district was well on its way to becoming an official District. During Alain’s term, the District produced: 30 Distinguished Clubs, 8 Selected Distinguished Clubs, 12 President Distinguished Clubs including 4 Clubs who achieved 10 of 10 goals!
30 Distinguished clubs out of 51 is a fraction of 59%. This was an excellent figure, far above the world wide average which is generally between 30 and 40 %.
Also, during this year, the district produced the very first Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) from District 59P, Peter Kenton (July 2001). Peter was followed, one month later, by George Nigro and Ranger Russell (August 2001)
During the rest of the year, four other Toastmasters achieved their DTM:
- Ralph Jones (December 2001)
- Dirk Dewulf (January 2002)
- Alain Petillot (February 2002)
- Norman Hershfield (February 2002)
What was the Alain’s recipe for success? When asked, he replied:
Leading people scattered all over Europe is not easy. My recipe was:
- Believe in yourself
- Have faith in others
- Be a role model
2002-2003 - District Governor Christoph Stoppok: Dropping the “P”
District Governor: Christoph Stoppock
Motto "Together we achieve"
Taking the motto "Together we achieve" from the previous year, Christoph led the district to become a President Distinguished District and being placed as number #4 in the world.
Due to these excellent results the District became a fully authorized district and dropped the Provisional "P".
The lessons that Chrisptoph learned during the year of being a district governor he summarized as follows: “You can enjoy if you work hard. Make the work you do visible so you get recognition from the people.”
This was the year when the European District proved its growth potential and became a real Toastmaster District 59.
You would like to support the district in long-term matters? Take a look and get in touch with us. SAB
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