Forrest Tuff Recognized as a Distinguished Toastmaster
Monday, June 15, 2020 @ 11:00 AM
Forrest Tuff has achieved the Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) education award, which has earned him the highest recognition from Toastmasters International. The Distinguished Toastmaster award is given only to those who have proven exceptional mastery of leadership and communication. The elite DTM status is ever achieved by less than 0.05% of the 4 million people who have joined Toastmasters.
"This truly a testament to hard work and dedication," says Tuff. When I first joined Gwinnett-Tucker Toastmasters in 2017, I wasn't aware of this recognition. My goal was to grow my professional speaking career. However, after only three years, I am honored to be a Distinguished Toastmaster" which normally takes 5 years to achieve.
In order to achieve this designation, Forrest was required to focus not only on developing as a speaker but also his leadership skills. He led High Performance leadership team projects, mentored a new club for a year, initiated a Youth Leadership program, and served as an Area Director. In this role he was responsible for 5 clubs (2 community, 3 corporate) and more than 100 members. He was tasked to aid them in successfully achieving its District's Goals and becoming President's Distinguished Clubs.
This was also during the one of the most polarizing times in modern history, the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
Forrest Tuff pictured inducting new club officers in 2019
During htis time of world-wide panic, fear of face-to-face interactions, and uncertainty for the future of Toastmasters (mass exodus of members), Forrest created a series of commercials to help booster club moral and virtual membership. They were approved by Toastmasters International and highlighted the advantages of staying with the organization during these times (see below). Today, Toastmasters International serves over 364,000 members in 145 countries, through its 16,200 member clubs.