Drive, zoom, and walk on over to the West side of Iowa to our 2023 District 19 Hybrid Fall Huddle! We are so excited to be in South Sioux City, Nebraska for this Huddle! Join Huddle Chair Tammy Dunn Peterson and her Siouxland crew for an exciting day of learning and achievement.
Our Presenters for the Huddle have expertise in their fields and are ready to present! Meet them below!
Dr. Cyndi Hanson enjoys the opportunity to creatively problem solve and imagine future achievements. She has a strength of being able to take seemingly disparate thoughts or ideas and identifying connections and opportunities.
Having worked in the human resources field for more than 20 years, Dr. Hanson transitioned to work as faculty and administration in college settings for Wayne State College, Western Iowa Tech and Northeast Community College. She is currently the Dean of Workforce Development for Northeast.
Dr. Hanson provides consultation and conducts training, facilitation, and professional seminars covering a variety of human resource topic areas for Rayford & Associates or as a volunteer when opportunities arise that fit with her schedule. She maintains a commitment to continuous improvement, professional development and community service through volunteer appointments to Sioux City Civil Service Commission and on the board of directors Missouri River Historical Development, Growing Community Connections, Siouxland African Festival Association, One Siouxland, and Dakota County Leadership.
Ike Rayford is a highly sought after thought leader, facilitator, coach and trainer. At a young age, Rayford’s entrepreneurial spirit was nurtured through involvement in family businesses. He learned the arts of relationship building, time management and the value of self-determination. Rayford earned his Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in Business Administration and Mass Communications from Briar Cliff University in Sioux City, Iowa in 2003 while balancing the demands of school, single-parenthood and full-time employment.
He has never shied from taking action when a need was recognized. An early example is when he accepted primary custody of his two toddler sons. Traveling from Dallas, TX to Sioux City, IA in the winter months was challenging enough; however, the challenge of changing diapers when no changing stations existed in men’s restrooms at that time. Ike contacted state Departments of Transportation to make them aware of this need for single fathers to have access to changing stations in rest areas. He is
proud to see the fruits of that labor all these years later. Ike’s warm personality, business sense and ability to motivate means he is a natural choice for leadership roles, boards of directors and advisory committees. He currently serves as the Sioux City NAACP unit President and has been involved in leadership positions for numerous other organizations and events including Three Rivers Independent Living Centers(TRILC), Toastmasters International, Leadership Siouxland, Habitat For Humanity, Freedom Festival, Youth For Christ, Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Decatur Lodge and ACLU of Iowa.
He achieved the highest honor awarded in Toastmasters International, the Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM), in 2012 and continues his education both formally and informally. Ike believes commitment to continuous growth will help everyone achieve more than previously imagined and that growth only happens when we are out of our comfort zone. Which led Ike to run for Sioux City City Council in November 2021, he came up a little short (66 votes). He was most recently appointed to the Sioux City Civil Service Commission and begin a four year term as a Board of Director for Mercy Medical of Sioux City. Rayford was recently recognized by Governor Kim Reynolds as a Volunteer of the year, and he is the CEO/Founder of Groundswell Diversity and Production Manager of KES Productions.
Ashley has been a member of Toastmasters since October of 2018 when she joined Waterloo Speechmasters. Her story is a little different because she didn’t want to join but was forced to by a previous employer. She landed a role as a Project Manager and needed to develop her speaking and presentation skills. Ashley will tell you she only went because it got her out of the dark basement at work, which may have been true at the time but that isn’t the case now.
From day one she jumped right in and volunteered for a Table Topics question. After getting that out of the way and realizing that wasn’t so bad, she decided to keep doing more. Pathways had recently been released and didn’t have good reviews because no one understood how to navigate it. Being a computer nerd who liked solving problems, jumped right in and decided she wanted to be the first in the club to complete a path. She wasn’t the first one to finish but she was a close second.
Fast forward to today. Ashley has held in numerous officer roles in her club including President and VPE but last year took on being the Area 21 director who held the first same day Area/Division speech contest in District 19.
Outside of Toastmasters Ashley is a manager of a 24/7 Security Operations Center keeping organizations safe from bad guys. During the warm months you can find her near the water with a fishing pole in her hand and in the winter, she’s snuggled up inside playing a video game.
Yayoi Teramoto, also known as Tera, joined the Waterloo 101 Toastmasters Club in 2019. She took on various roles within the club, including secretary, VP of Education, and VP of Public Relations. She serves as the club president for the 2023-2024 term.
Tera is an IT professional specializing in business intelligence report development at the University of Northern Iowa. Also, she holds two art degrees in painting emphasis—one from Coe College (BA) and another from the University of Northern Iowa (MA). Aside from her work, Tera manages a unique & niche Facebook group called “Destinations from Cedar Falls, IA.” She enjoys writing essays, going on short trips, and growing plants in self-irrigated containers.
Mathew serves as the 2023 – 2024 District 19 District Director and while his goal is to work towards District success, his home club is where he does his best work. He has been a member of Capital City Advanced Presenters since its charter in January 2020 and has served as its VPE and Sergeant at Arms. He has also been a member of Hy-Vee Corporate Club and 5 Seasons Leadership Academy.
Outside of Toastmasters, Mathew is the Third Party Accounting Team Lead for Hy-Vee Inc in West Des Moines. Serving as a team lead, Mathew has found that his experiences of sandbox leadership in Toastmasters have been helpful in his career. With 5 years at Hy-Vee, he looks forward to retiring from there. He is also an avid tennis player and runner from time to time.
Let’s make the most of free AI tools to tidy up and revamp a club’s FreeToastHost websit, making it appealing to potential new members. Get ready to use Google Workspace for Nonprofits; a toolkit for collaborative work, cultivating community support, especially for the members who join via Zoom!
What is it and why is it important? Long time thought leader, and TedX Speaker Ike Rayford will challenge you to look for a new leadership mindset!
Conducting training sessions utilizes presentation skills as well as facilitation skills. This session will explain the differences between different roles involved in sharing information, focus on the skill related to facilitating discussion training sessions and discuss body language.
Did you know everything you do in Toastmasters is something that can be used as part of a Pathways project? Do you find yourself becoming frustrated with Pathways because you can’t decide on a topic or is it the excuse that you don’t have time? What if I told you you’re already working on multiple projects right now? Did you know that you don’t have to be a club officer or a district leader to have enough experience to complete a path? There are many Pathways projects to help you with your speaking goals while supporting your club’s educational goals and serving the district at the same time. Join me and I’ll show you how you’re already doing it. You just don’t know it.
Teamwork and negotiation are hand in hand skills that go a long way to a positive team and better growth. In this team-building exercise, participants engage in friendly competition to see how their team members react under pressure with ambiguous information, Participants observe how team members manage negotiation and make decisions.
Our in person and virtual attendees will find handouts from presentations here!
More to come!
