Essentials for being Successful Area Director & Special Guest Speaker - Thierry (TJ) Johnson

Submitted by Estella Mah, ACB, ALB

The June 4^th meeting had a lot of meaningful exchange of information on the essentials for being a successful Area Director. Lingo was honoured to host two renowned presenters, our past District Director Marg Faryna, and District Champion Speaker, Thierry (TJ) Johnson as well as guests, Collin Greene, Von Eric Tandoc and Fong Chua.

Our District Speech Contest Winner TJ Johnson presented his new speech, featuring a romantic comedy and life lessons, show cased the meeting. His story touched the audiences with heartfelt emotions, strong vocal variety, natural gestures, and vivid imagery. He was provided with verbal and written feedback using the contest judges’ ballot.

We were thrilled to have our special guest Marg Faryna, DTM, PDG, who gave an insightful presentation on “Honing the competencies as an Area Director”. Marg engaged dialogue through questions and answers, shared insightful messages from her experience and brought relevancies to individual aspirations for being an area director. Her catch line of “What’s in it For Me?” was a sure way to inspire others in taking a leap to becoming a leader beyond the club. She defined a roadmap for us as she introduced the skills, knowledge, competencies and attributes of an Area Director, and elevated the expectations and benefits, stressing that this role is “more than a body” and “more than two visits”.

Dan McCosh’s speech, “Refocusing Your Leadership as an Area Director,” inspired us through a dialogue of contrasts and similarities between the roles of club President and Area Director. He challenged us to think of interacting with a club that has farther distances with non-regular visits being a game changer and showed us how we can lead with greater success. It was educational and inspiring!

We were happy to have three Lingo members as panellists: Edith Baraniecki, DTM, Eileen Szackacs, ACB, ALB, PSII, and Kerrianne Koehler-Munro, ACB, ALB, to share their insights and personal experiences as past Area Directors.  Estella Mah, another Lingo member, facilitated and moderated the discussion with upbeat and meaningful questions and information.

The meeting concluded with positive comments from guests. President Richard Lebeuf, DTM, managed the meeting with superb organization, flare and enthusiasm.

Note to Lingo members – Our Year End party will be held off location on Tuesday, June 25, not June 18. Further details provided soon. Melanie Kruger ACB, ALB with assistance from Cherry Cheung, DTM will be organizing this celebration and 2019-2020 club office induction.