District 53 Toastmasters International, serves the 2700 members and the 138 Clubs in the states of Connecticut, Eastern New York (from Lake Placid, capital city Albany, down the Hudson river to West Point), and Western Massachusetts (Springfield and the Berkshires). District 53 is one of eight Districts in Region_VII. The 2008-2009 District Governor is Karin von Kaenel, ACB/ALS. The LGET and LGM are Marsha Kiley, ACS/CL and Dave Wheeler, DTM. The District 53 Website URL is http://district53toastmasters.org/ Visit or return to other Districts in Region_VII | District_18 | District_27 | District_31 | District_36 | District_38 | District_45 | District_46 |
 DG Karin von Kaenel, ACB/ALS |
District 53 Fall 08 Conference[]
The District 53 Fall '08 Conference will be held on Friday and Saturday, October 10 and 11, 2008 at the Trumbull Marriott Merritt Parkway, 180 Hawley Lane in Trumbull, Connecticut USA.
District 53 is looking forward to hosting Toastmasters International's President: Jana Barnhill.
This will be a great opportunity for everybody in attendance to meet the CEO of Toastmasters. Jana is not only a role model as leader, she's also an incredibly accomplished speaker: Jana has attained the prestigious Accredited Speaker designation and has competed on the International stage, finishing as first and second runner up.
The conference will be hosted by Division D. In addition to the many educational sessions, the conference includes the District 53 Evaluation Speech Contest (Morning) and District 53 Humorous Speech Contest (Evening Banquet).
District 53 Spring 08 Conference[]
The District 53 Spring '08 Conference was held on Saturday, May 17, 2008 at at the Delaney House in Holyoke, Massachusetts USA. The conference was hosted by Division E. In addition to the many educational sessions, the conference included the District 53 Tall Tales Speech Contest (Morning) and District 53 International Speech Contest (Evening Banquet).
District 53 Fall 07 Conference[]
The District 53 Fall '07 Conference was held on Saturday, November 3, 2007 at at the Holyday Inn in Fishkill, New York USA. The conference was hosted by Division A. In addition to the many educational sessions, the conference included the District 53 Table Topics Speech Contest (Morning) and District 53 Humorous Speech Contest (Evening Banquet).
District 53 Spring 07 Conference[]
The District 53 Spring '07 Conference was held on Saturday, May 19, 2007 at the Sheraton Hartford Hotel in East Hartford, Connecticut USA. The conference was hosted by Division B. In addition to the many educational sessions, the conference included the District 53 Tall Tales Speech Contest (Morning) and District 53 International Speech Contest (Evening Banquet).
District 53 Fall 06 Conference[]
The District 53 Fall 2006 Conference and District 50th Anniversary Celebration was held on November 3-4, 2006 at the Holiday Inn, ALBANY-TURF ON WOLF RD, 205 Wolf Rd, Albany, NY. We celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the formation of District 53 on the evening of Friday, November 3rd.
The District 53 Fall 2006 Conference was on November 4, 2006 at the Holiday Inn Turf in Albany, New York. The conference was hosted by Division F where the Hudson River flows through Albany, the NY capital city. The theme was "Sail Into the Future" and its logo made use of the historic ship, Half Moon (Halve Maen). Commissioned in March 1609 for the Dutch East India Company, the Half Moon was a ship of exploration and the spaceship of her age, designed to take a crew of twenty into unknown and uncharted waters.
In addition to the many educational sessions, the Fall conference included the District 53 Hall of Fame, the District 53 Evaluation Speech Contest (Morning) and the Humorous Speech Contest (Evening Banquet). The Speech contest results were as follows:
- D53 Evaluation Speech Contest
- 1st Place Winner = Roger Brown, representing Greater Hartford #919, Hartford, CT and Division B
- 2nd Place Winner = Brian Cavanaugh, representing Sikorsky - DCMA TM #842294, Stratford, CT and Division D
- 3rd Place Winner = Patricia Hendrickson, representing Catskill TM #9542, Monticello, NY, and Division A
- D53 Humorous Speech Contest
- 1st Place Winner = Brian Cavanaugh, representing Sikorsky - DCMA TM #842294, Stratford, CT and Division D with "The Wanderers"
- 2nd Place Winner = Roger Brown, representing Greater Hartford #3523, West Hartford, CT and Division B with "Things Happen"
- 3rd Place Winner = John Meeks, representing Division E, and Southern Berkshire #8792, Great Barrington, MA with “Touched”
The Divisions of District 53[]
Division A[]
Division A serves Eastern NY and Western CT. Clubs located in Eastern NY include: Brewster, Carmel, Goshen, Hopewell Junction, Kingston, Newburgh, Poughkeepsie, Monticello, Rhinebeck, and Walden, NY. Clubs located in Western CT include: Bethel, Brookfield, Danbury, and Ridgefield, CT. See Division A Directory
Division B[]
Division B serves North Central Connecticut. Cities and Towns located in North Central CT include: Bloomfield, Enfield, Hartford, Simsbury, West Hartford, Windsor and Windsor Locks, Connecticut. See Division B Directory.
Division C[]
Division C serves Eastern and Central Connecticut. Cities and Towns located in Eastern and Central CT include: Berlin, Brooklyn, Colchester, Cromwell, Danielson, East Hartford, Glastonbury, Groton, Madison, Manchester, Middletown, New London, Newington, Norwich, Vernon Rockville, Wallingford, Waterford, Connecticut. See Division C Directory.
Division D[]
Division D serves Southern and West Central Connecticut. Cities and Towns located in Southern and West Central CT include: Bristol, Cheshire, Farmington, Greenwich, Madison, New Haven, Norwalk, Plainville, Shelton, Stamford, Stratford, Torrington, Waterbury, and Woodbridge, Connecticut. See Division D Directory.
Division E[]
Division E serves Western Massachusetts. Cities and Towns located in Western MA include: Agawam, Chicopee, Greenfield, Great Barrington, Lee, Lenox, Northampton, Pittsfield, Springfield, and Westfield, Massachusetts. See Division E Directory.
Division F[]
Division F serves Northeastern New York. Clubs located in Northeastern NY include: Albany, Ballston Spa, Clifton Park, Delmar, Fort Edward, Glens Falls, Latham, Loudonville, Malta, Saratoga Springs, Schenectady, Troy, New York. See Division F Directory.
Newsletter: Yankee Activator[]
The Yankee Activator is the newsletter for District 53 and is published four times a year. Each issue contains letters from the DG; the LGET; and the LGM plus other stories of timely interest to the toastmasters in District 53. The Yankee Activator is edited and produced by Mary Rarogiewicz, CTM.
The Yankee Activator, has been selected as one of Toastmasters International’s Top 5 Newsletters for 2005-2006. Editor John Osborn, CTM, received "on-stage" recognition at the Hall of Fame Ceremony at the Convention in Washington, DC.
D53 Speech Contest Results Archive[]
For details of past contests, including contestants, venues and results, click on the link below: Remember, this is a wiki. So the information on this site is probably accurate, but should be verified with the official District records.
Erich's Wiki Web Construction Notes[]
For more information about what's happening in the rest of the Region, go to Region VII
Note on Categories.[]
If you're publicising a contest, please insert [[Category:Contests]] on your page somewhere.
If your club site is in District 53, place the link [[Category:District 53]] on your page somewhere.
This automatically places that page alphabetically in the relevant category. Just click on the Category link at the bottom of the page for an example.
By clicking on the category that appears at the bottom of the page, you can get a list of all the contests, or pages related to District 53, or Region VII or whatever. This is very cool.
Explore the wiki![]
And explore the rest of the resources here! Start at Main Page, but also Speaking and Leading for fabulous resources!