| Below
is a timeless message from a past Lt. Governor
of Marketing (2005-2006), Karen Miller, ATMS/CL.
Fellow
Toastmasters,
It is my job at Lt. Governor of Marketing to make
the benefits of Toastmasters membership available
to more people. This is how we are going to do
it together. We are going to recognize and address
Our
strengths and areas needing improvements:
In
the past couple of years, the District has been
accomplishing that by starting new clubs. However,
it appears that 36% of the clubs in District 11
are now functioning at 12 or fewer members! This
is a major concern because low membership makes
it difficult for clubs to provide quality service
for our members. We must focus this year on maintaining
or regaining charter strength in all of our clubs!
A
service to clubs to help them get healthy:
Pat
Moore, our District 11 Governor can appoint club
coaches to help clubs with 12 or
fewer members increase their membership and improve
the quality of club meetings. Contact the
current Lt. Governor of Marketing via
email if you are interested in serving as a club
coach! If you are interested in having a club
coach service your club, please contact the
District Governor to see if your
club is eligible.
What
does healthy mean?
What
does it take to keep our members once they have
joined a Toastmaster club?
- Healthy
clubs need 20
active members.
- The
members need to be giving manual speeches
and be receiving verbal evaluations, making
progress towards educational goals.
- Speech
evaluations need to be effective.
- There
needs to be an element of fun included in
the meetings.
How
to get healthy:
Toastmasters
International (TI) gives us a wonderful communication
and leadership program, and the tools to manage
the program.
In
order to accomplish all of these goals, it is
essential that we ensure we have a quality product
(our clubs health!) before we try to market our
club to others. If your club has 12 or fewer members
and you don’t want to take advantage of
a club coach services at this time, at least use
the, “Moments
of Truth” module from the “Successful
Club Series”, “Member
Interest Survey”, and “Club
Climate Questionnaire” to evaluate
the services your club provides. Consider presenting
modules from the “Better
Speaker Series”, the “Mentoring”
module, and “Evaluate
to Motivate” module from the
“Successful Club Series”.
There
is a flyer available for “First
Aid for your Club”
at Toastmasters International, which
features brochures, support material, manuals
and kits, membership contests, and modules for
training and self-help.
Getting
and remaining healthy through special invitations
and special events
Virtually
all Toastmasters clubs need a constant influx
of new members to stay healthy. I believe the
most compelling invitation to attend a Toastmaster
meeting is one that comes from one individual
to another. Therefore, I urge you to invite
as many guest to your club’s meetings as
possible as often as possible. Consider conducting
a special guest meeting where you specifically
discuss the benefits Toastmasters members receive
as they participate in the program.
Getting
and remaining healthy through membership -building
contests
Many clubs conduct membership-building contests.
These programs usually involve points for participation
in the program and rewards for those achieving
the objectives. Toastmasters International has
created sample programs of this type that you
may wish to conduct in your club. They are A
Simple Membership Building Program (Catalog No.
1621) and Membership
Building 101 (Catalog No. 1622).
Printed versions are available free of charge
from TI when you place a supply order. You may
also download them at no charge from TI.
Getting
and remaining healthy through press releases
You
wouldn’t want to rely solely on personal
invites to build your club membership. Many members
feel uncomfortable making requests of their friends
and colleagues, which involve time or money and
consequently don’t extend an invitation
to anyone.
There are many ways to publicize your club besides
word of mouth. You can download a handy guide
to publicity from TI called,
“Let the World Know”(Catalog No. 1140)
which contains sample press releases and many
other ideas.
Getting
and remaining healthy through Speechcraft
Clubs
that conduct a Speechcraft
program at least once each year have
few membership problems. Although the Speechcraft
program can be presented as a part of your normal
club meeting, I recommend it be presented as a
seminar-style program presented outside of the
club, at a different location and time. It can
be conducted in four, six, or eight sessions.
Partnering
with your local library adult education representative
can be very beneficial. The Speechcraft
kit (Catalog No. 205) is available
from World Headquarters and contains materials
for up to five participants. You will want to
try to get 10 participants lined up if possible.
At the end of the Speechcraft program, you hope
that the participants will join your club or maybe
even launch a new club.
Toastmasters
International, your resource for "How to"
Toastmasters
International has a large collection of membership
building materials that can help your club grow.
Many are available free of charge. The majority
of these items are listed on the “First
Aid for Your Club” flyer at:
http://www.toastmasters.org/pdfs/firstaidforyourclub.pdf
Visit
the membership
building ideas and resources section of www.toastmasters.org
for ideas and resources that can help keep your
membership at a healthy level - 20 members or
more, with at least 15 members attending meetings
regularly.
Let's
get healthy,
Karen Miller, ATM-S/CL
Lt. Governor of Marketing
2005-2006 |
