		District 36 Toastmasters Challenge Your Imagination
	Excellence in Leadership: a Distinguished District SIX years in a row: 2002-03, 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08!

Fall 2008 Conference Information

The conference date this year is Saturday November 8th, 2008. We will meet at the Silver Spring Hilton, 8727 Colesville Road
Silver Spring, MD 20910. Please check back for registration information, fees and the conference agenda. picture of hilton holet

C&L Awardee

District 36 is excited to announce that our special guest and C&L Awardee this fall is author and NPR radio host Diane Rehm.

From the NPR Website:

diane rehm photo In 1973, the 37-year-old Diane began her radio career as a volunteer producer at WAMU 88.5 FM, with no prior experience. As the story goes, her first day on the job as a volunteer, Diane Rehm was asked to assist the station manager in the studio when Home Show host Irma Aandahl called in sick. Ten months later, Aandahl hired Diane as an assistant producer.

She became host of WAMU's Kaleidoscope in 1979, and hosted her first session of "open phones" when one of her guests failed to show up. Her question -- "Tell me what you do?" -- generated a tremendous response. Shortly thereafter, in 1984, the show got a new name: The Diane Rehm Show. It soon gained a reputation as one of the country's leading regional radio shows, and started attracting authors and celebrities visiting Washington on publicity tours.

When satellite distribution made it possible to take the show to a national audience, Diane raised the money to pay for the satellite time, and in 1995, the show became part of National Public Radio’s (NPR) "Talk Track." Listeners across the country joined the audience. Three years later, Washingtonian Magazine named her "Washingtonian of the Year."

In 1998, her career nearly came to a halt because of a mysterious speech problem. She took a leave of absence from the show and saw specialist after specialist until, finally, she was diagnosed and treated for spasmodic dysphonia, a neurological disorder. Not one to be defeated, she returned to the show and made a point of bringing attention to the condition. In 2000, she interviewed President Bill Clinton and became the first radio talk show host to interview a sitting President in the Oval Office.

Today, The Diane Rehm Show is distributed nationally and internationally by NPR and NPR Worldwide, and can be heard online (both live and archived audio streams are available) and on Sirius satellite radio. Diane's weekly U.S. audience is estimated at 1.7 million and growing.