Fellow Toastmasters,

It is a great honor to serve as your District Governor and to work with you, the member, Club Officers, District Officers and Committee Chairs.

My theme for the 2005-2006 Toastmasters year is "Communicate from the Heart."

To me, "Communicate from the Heart" means to share information with other Toastmasters.

This sharing of information helps to keep the member to the Club.
     It helps to attract new members to the Club.
     It helps to strengthen Clubs, Areas, and Divisions.
     It also helps to unify our District into a cohesive unit.

How do we communicate from the Heart?
     We remember that we are all volunteers and treat each other
     with respect.
     We speak from our heart, as we guide and mentor our Toastmasters.
     We remember the basics of a good evaluation and use those skills to
     communicate.
     When we communicate from the heart working together, we will achieve success
     for each member, Club, Area, Division, and our District.

This type of communication is important because –
     This is how we get to know our fellow members.
     This is how we let Clubs know what they need to do to be
     Distinguished or better.
     This is how we encourage members to achieve their
     communication and leadership goals.
     This is how we praise and recognize individuals’ and Clubs’ achievements.
     This is how we will assure that we will become President's Distinguished
     Clubs, Areas, Divisions and District.

A challenge to each of us is that we end the year as President's Distinguished Clubs, Areas, Divisions and District. In order to achieve these goals, we need to have –
     our Clubs aim for reaching Distinguished or better by April 30^th,
     our Areas aim for attaining Distinguished or better by April 30th, and
     our Divisions aim for accomplishing Distinguished or better by April 30th.

We will have a successful year by working together and by always remembering to "Communicate from the Heart."

Chieko Keagy DTM
District 12 Governor