by Steven Timmons, DTM

One Day, you are logging into Toastmasters.org and you are presented with 4 choices about your privacy.

Did you study for the test? Did you pass? Who knows, it was probably pretty abrupt.

These four settings can and do have unattended consequences. For example, if you’ve opted out  of  ‘Your Name on Public Reports’ then your name is not being displayed on reports on Education Achievements reports.  This makes it difficult to recognize members for their accomplishments.

You will be missing from those recognized for all those awards you worked so hard to achieve in 2017-2018. Your name and/contact information may no longer appear in lists prepared for certain leaders in the District such as your Area or Division Director. The impact of invoking your privacy is still not fully known.

Here are the facts. District 25 and Toastmasters International has long since been sensitive to the privacy of your records. Member lists are not shared without reason and I can assure you that everyone is warned that the data is to be used only for official Toastmasters business.

What happened you might ask. Good question! GDPR – Global Data Protection Regulations was passed and targeted the EU – European Union. You were not even the intended target of the regulations.

However, Toastmasters International being an international organization was affected. Hence, they made sweeping changes that spilled over to the U.S. members… YOU!

Would you like to go back and check your Data and Consent Settings? You have come to the right place!

When you log into Toastmasters.org, you will see a section like the image just below. Of course, the name will likely be yours and not mine. 🙂

Click on your name to access your profile and you will see Consent and Privacy just below. To the right, you will see “Manage my data and consent”.

Click on “Manage my data and consent” to access your account information. You will need to choose the “My Privacy and Consents” tab to get at the settings.

These settings control the access to your Email, Mail, Phone and Name on Public Reports information. I recommend that you set them all to Yes, but of course that is completely up to you.

However, I expect that you will find that you are losing more than you gain by locking down your privacy.

The impact of the settings became so worrisome that last week, Toastmasters International, rolled back the privacy of information available in Club Central to your club officers. It is now available to your club officers at least for now.

You do have a right to your privacy; however, I would hate for that to hinder in your full participation at the Club, Area, Division and District levels. The District Officers respect your privacy and have for years. GDPR is NOT going to change that at all.

Should you have any questions or concerns regarding this matter. Feel free to reach out to your Area Director through your Club President and they will be glad to assist.