Yep, I managed to complete all of my Distinguished Toastmaster requirements in about 3 1/2 years. It helped (greatly) that I was able to attend two clubs and participate more-than expected. I've already started working on my second DTM, but I'm not in a hurry and right now two is my limit, mostly because I don't want to be "that guy".
You know "that guy".....the one who forges ahead needlessly screwing other people out of opportunities just so he can get another notch in his belt. The path to Distinguished Toastmaster is a long one and there is one big roadblock in the way. In order to finish your Advanced Leader Silver you have to have served as a Club Coach, Sponsor, or Mentor. These opportunities just do not come up very often at all. To take one of these away from someone else trying to earn their first DTM so you can get DTM >1 isn't cool. Now through a stroke of luck I managed to be a Club Sponsor a second time. A new club was forming and they had 1 volunteer for Club Mentor and that person had to quit due to a move out-of-state. After the second or third call for volunteers, I think the club's meeting time of 9 AM on Friday was the big barrier, I stepped up. Since this tough requirement is out of the way.....might as well work on a second DTM.
Anyway, the requirements for DTM (it is a stepped process):
Competent Communicator (CC)
Finish the first 10 speech projects
Competent Leader (CL)
Finish the 10 leadership projects (mostly taking on roles at meetings with a few special events tossed in)
Advanced Communicator Bronze (ACB)
Complete 2 advanced speech manuals of 5 speeches each
Advanced Leader Bronze (ALB)
Served as a Club Officer for a minimum of 6 months
Go through Club Officer training and come up with a Club Success Plan
Conducted any two programs from The Successful Club Series and/or The Leadership Excellence Series
Advanced Communicator Silver (ACS)
Complete 2 advanced speech manuals of 5 speeches each
Conducted any two presentations from The Better Speaker Series and/or The Successful Club Series
Advanced Leader Silver (ALS)
Served a complete term as a district officer
Completed the High Performance Leadership program
Served successfully as a club sponsor, mentor or club coach
Advanced Communicator Gold (ACG)
Complete 2 advanced speech manuals of 5 speeches each
Conducted a presentation from the Success/Leadership Series, Success/Communication Series or a Youth Leadership Program
Coached a new member with the first three speech projects
For those keeping track that would be around 47 speeches, not counting any presentations made as a Club/District Officer or while taking a role at a club meeting. It is a lot of work, but quite worthwhile. I've learned a lot so far and I'm pretty sure I still have a long way to go until I'm going to meetings simply for a "refresher".
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