Hello District 98 Members, 

It is the time of the year that we begin our preparations for building our Leadership Team for the Program Year 2025-26.

DLC Committee

Past District Leader, Vinay Srivastava, DTM has been appointed as the District Leadership Committee Chair by 1st Nov 24 and the committee members have been appointed by 1st Dec 24.

Nominations

Nominations are now open for the following positions for the 2025-26 Toastmasters Year: 

• District Director
• Program Quality Director
• Club Growth Director
• Division Director for Divisions (A, B, C, D, J, M, S and U)

Guidelines

Each nominated candidate for all positions must be a member of a club that is within the boundaries of the district they wish to serve.
Please ensure you have referred to the eligibility criteria [Article VII] before submitting your nominations. 

The geographies of all 8 Divisions will remain the same as they are for the nominations unless the District Alignment Committee
suggests any changes during the District Council Meeting scheduled on 11 May 2025.

In our District, the District Director appoints the District Administration Manager, District Finance Manager, District Public Relations Manager, and Area Directors. Hence the nominations for those positions are not sought at this point.  

Nominations will close on January 30, 2025, 11:59 PM IST. You may ask a fellow Toastmaster to nominate you, or you may also self-nominate.  

Applicants are requested to go through the documents linked in this email before applying for the positions above. These documents would contain the eligibility criteria for each of the roles and will also help you understand the competencies required for the respective posts. 

1. Call for Nominations
2. District Leader Competencies 

Expression of Intent

Candidates are additionally requested to complete the Google form and attach the outlined forms below, duly signed on or before January 30th, 2025, 11.59 PM.

1. District Leader Agreement and Release Statement
2. District Leader Nominating Form 
3. District Leader Biographical Information
4. Photo / Video Release Form

Kindly note that this process needs confidentiality. Do not mark any current or past District Officer, or any member in the district, either in Cc/Bcc. The exception is when a member is nominating another member.  

The District Leadership Committee will schedule interviews on Zoom. You will be contacted to set up a mutually agreeable date and time by the District Leadership Committee.

Code of Conduct

Please note that the District Elections Code of Conduct will be put in place from December 30 2024, i.e. with immediate effect as per Protocol 9.0. This protocol would restrict activities on District Handles and during District Events for all the candidates who wish to apply for any of the above roles. 

At this point, there will be no additional restrictions outside of what is outlined in Protocol 9.0 i.e. you can visit clubs and attend events but ensure you do so as an officer (if required) or member and not as a candidate. Please inform my office at least 7 days before attending any such meeting/ event. In case you have campaign members, please notify the District Director’s office in advance.

In case of doubt, please get the same clarified with me/ Vinay (dlc@district98.org). Ignorance of protocol cannot be grounds for any exception.

Club Executive Committee Members have an additional responsibility to double-check before inviting any external member to conduct educational sessions/ fill up meeting roles. They can reach out to me for clarification/ confirmation.

Additional Information

Any member who wishes to stand from the floor for any of the roles mentioned above should have gone through the nomination and evaluation (DLC Team interview) process. Only those who apply as per the instructions outlined in this email before the deadline will be interviewed, and no further nominations or interviews will take place for the 2025-26 District leadership position elections. Those who have not gone through this nomination and evaluation process cannot stand from the floor during the elections (unless permitted as per governing documents). 

Please contact me via email at ankit@district98.org for any questions/concerns regarding the nominations.

PS: You are receiving this email as you are an Active member on TI roster downloaded on Dec 30 @ 21.00 hours

Best Regards

Ankit Dasgupta, DTM

District Director [24-25] | District 98 | Toastmasters International
Phone: 8369922103
www.district98.org
www.toastmasters.org