January, 2012

Dear District 59 members,

Toastmasters International is devoted to making effective communication a worldwide reality. Our district is continually building new clubs offering more and more people the opportunity to benefit from the Toastmasters program.

 As a district grows it becomes more challenging for the District Executive Committee (Area and Division Governors and District Board) to support clubs and effectively fulfill its responsibilities to its individual members. Additionally, effective officer training for club and district officers becomes more difficult and there are fewer leadership development opportunities for members. 

District 59 is already nearing this point, with 215 clubs spread across Continental Europe at present. It is estimated that by 2014 we will have 300 or more clubs. Therefore, we are now looking at reforming our district. Reformation is the process of creating two new districts out of the existing one. This takes time and we hope to complete the process by July 1^st, 2014. 

It is important to initiate this process now before the district becomes too large to maintain. By starting now, we may propose what we believe to be the best possible and most cost effective way to create the two new districts in Continental Europe before Toastmasters International makes this decision for us. 

For this reason a reformation committee has been formed. Their report has been written and two possible proposals for the new districts have been created following Toastmasters International policies and guidelines. 

This report, including the two proposals and a time schedule is available for your viewing in the table below: Reformation Proposals. The reformation committee members who carried out the analysis and prepared the proposals will be available to answer your questions. You may contact them directly at reforming@district59.org during the months of January and February. 

Questions and Answers have been made available.

In order to keep costs and distances manageable and to maintain a most effective service to our clubs and members this reformation must be considered now. As shown on the time schedule, the final vote on how best to reform D59 will be taken during the Poznan Spring Conference. During the District Council Meeting those club representatives and district officers present will vote for one final proposal. This vote however, will only serve as a recommendation. The Toastmasters International Board of Directors, during one of their upcoming business meetings, will later take the final decision on how to form two districts out of the existing D59.

Sincerely yours,

Barbara Hoerger
District 59 Governor and Board of Directors

Feel free to contact us to ask questions: reforming@district59.org 

We are happy to support you in discussions with the members: 

• Odile Petillot, DTM, Past District Governor, Reformation Committee Chair, Paris – France odile@district59.org 
• Ellen Hermens, DTM, Past District Governor, current Chair of the Strategic Advisory Board, Munich - Germany ellen@district59.org 
• Gerhard Hoerger, DTM, Past D59 Treasurer, Nuremberg – Germany gerhard@district59.org 
• Zuzana Kala Grofova, DTM, Past District Governor, member of the Strategic Advisory Board, Pardubice, Czech Republic zuzana@district59.org 
• Markus Kuenkel, DTM, Founder and 1st Chair of the Strategic Advisory Board, Zurich – Switzerland and Mallorca, Spain markus@district59.org 
• Elizabeth Nostedt, DTM, Past District Governor, Co-Founder of the Strategic Advisory Board, Gothenburg - Sweden elizabeth@district59.org 
• Jaap Russchenberg, ALB/ACS, Founder and 2nd Chair of the Strategic Advisory Board, Oegstgeest- The Netherland jaap@district59.org