Club Leadership

How to do a Club Success Plan..

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With Post-It Notes!

Goals Goals Goals.. yes I know the Euros are on but those aren’t the sort of goals I’m talking about…

I’m talking about your educational awards, your progress in the Toastmasters Program.

Now, not everyone wants to set goals and I’m completely fine with that. One of the many wonderful things about the Toastmasters program is the fact that it is entirely self-paced. It’s up to you when you what to do something and there are lots of people who are quite happy attending meetings and just having a good time not concerning themselves with goals and progress and recognition (oh my!)

CSP Poster 2This idea is for members and club committees who do want to set themselves goals and do so in a fun way.

I spotted this idea on the The Official Toastmasters International Members Group on Facebook.  Many thanks to incoming VP Education Kathy Shine, DTM of Cream City Communicators, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.

Her club completed Moments of Truth two weeks ago. They have already implemented several suggestions from our members and have begun to develop plans for further action that will be included in their 2016-2017 Club Success Plan.

One suggestion was to find a way to display member goals and progress in a non-threatening and non-embarrassing way for all members, and to encourage others who are taking a slower pace as they focus on building self confidence.

Their solution: they invited their members to sign their name and indicate their goal on a super-sticky post-it note, then placed them all on a large poster board marked simply as “2016-2017 GOALS.” They plan to have a second poster labelled “2016-2017 GOALS COMPLETED” and members can move their post-its from one board to the other in a simple recognition ceremony during a club meeting. What a great photo opportunity!

CSP PosterThey have several fun, colorful shapes:

  • crown shaped post-it notes for members who want to work toward their Triple Crown award
  • red apple post-its are for members who want to serve as mentors – they will be paired up with a green apple / mentee
  • dialogue post-its for people who want to attend their first conference or convention
  • other post-its for goals specific to their club, for example Club Ambassador, being part of their traveling “Cream Team” (a Capture the Banner program, which sounds a lot like Thomas the Travelling Gavel in Area 55)
  • stars for Competent Leader and Communicator awards
  • clouds for Advanced Leader and Communicator awards

It’s a Club Success Plan on a poster board! Why not try it in your club? If you do, send photos to dltdistrict91@gmail.com.

The Toastmasters Promise

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web_res_vk_086Why did you join Toastmasters? Why have you stayed?

We all have very different answers to those questions. Maybe a boss told you you really had to improve your presentations or you wouldn’t be able to advance your career. Maybe you had to make a best man’s speech and you didn’t want to let your friend down. Perhaps, like me, you wanted to meet new people with different experiences.

I suspect that, no matter the range of answers to the first question, the answer to the second is pretty much the same for all of us.

Toastmasters has changed our lives.

We discovered capabilities in ourselves we didn’t know we possessed. We felt good about supporting a fellow member. We laughed, cried and developed long-lasting friendships with fellow members, and sometimes more, as I did.

It’s a pretty great place to be, isn’t it!

Wouldn’t you love to share that feeling with others?

When you joined Toastmasters, you made an agreement with your club – The Toastmasters Promise. You might not remember, but it’s there, on the back of the membership form you signed, and in the front cover of your Competent Leader and Competent Communicator manuals. There are ten promises and I’d like to focus on just two of them:

  • To help the club maintain the positive, friendly environment necessary for all members to learn and grow
  • To bring guests to club meetings so they can see the benefits Toastmasters membership offers

If you look around your club though, is there anyone you haven’t seen for a while? Perhaps a friend, maybe an acquaintance. Do you ever wonder how they are doing? Why not give them a call, just to say hi and let them know you’re thinking of them and ask them to come back to the club for a visit.

I encourage you to invite a friend to your next club meeting. Share with them how Toastmasters has affected you. They’ll probably recognise the changes you’ve made but be unaware of the reasons why. Invite them to your club so they can experience the Toastmasters program.

Grow and be strong!

Best wishes,
Vanessa King, incoming District Director 2016-17

 

PR and Marketing for Toastmasters’ Clubs Workshop

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PR and Marketing for Toastmasters’ Clubs: A hands-on workshop for officers and members.

Have you ever wanted to plan marketing or PR for your club but didn’t know where to start?  Or thought you had a good news story but didn’t know how to pitch it to the press?  Or wanted to know how to produce a Facebook page?  (Or just wondered what it is?)

If you have ever wanted to know about the basics of marketing your club, this is the workshop for you.

This workshop will cover how to:
•  Understand the best marketing and PR methods for small organisations and what works at a local level
•  How to write a press release, talk to and contact journalists and media organisations.
•  The basics of producing a leaflet and a Facebook page
•  How to organise, run and market an event promoting your club – and look at what events work best!
•  How to write for your audience and how to make the most of your copy

At the end of the workshop, you will take away:
•  A draft marketing plan for your club
•  An overview of different types of marketing and how to create them and make them work
•  How journalists work, what makes a good story and how to pitch to the press.Kate Wood 1

The workshop will be delivered by Kate Wood and Chris Nye from Lewes Speakers Club on behalf of Area 55 and will be followed by the Area 55 International Speech and Evaluation Contest.

Further Information:

Date:  Saturday 2nd April
Time:  10.00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Location:  Lansdown Hotel, King Edward’s Parade, Eastbourne, BN21 4EE

For further information and to book, contact Sue Pellow, Area 55 Director on 07803 234 894 or via email.

Area 55 International Speech and Evaluation Contest

The Area 55 Area International Speech and Evaluation Contest will take place at the Lansdowne Hotel, King Edward’s Parade, Eastbourne from 2pm on Saturday 2nd April followed by the election of the Area Director for A55.

Contest Chair is Barnaby Davies and Chief Judge is Meg Heyworth.

Club Finances

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Message from Meg Heyworth, District 91 Finance Manager

Tax, Legal Requirements, Club Financial Term and other matters

Questions arising from club queries are welcomed by the finance team.  A recent query was raised by Elizabeth, a club treasurer in District 91, enquiring if there was any particular accounting year end that club Treasurers should use.  The answer from WHQ was that club financial years should run from 1 January to 31 December.

She commented that their club use 1 July to 30 June to fit in with the Toastmasters year.  Meg sent on this query to her contacts at WHQ who sent this answer “To answer your question about the term year, district finance and related bank accounts are handled within the regular term year, July to June.  However, club finances are handled and transferred during the regular calendar year.  This is mainly due to IRS tax reporting and is something we cannot control.”

Perhaps UK accounting qualified members could let us know if they agree with this ruling as it is the responsibility of the individual clubs to determine the tax filing or other legal requirements in their city, state, province, and/or country, and to file proper forms as appropriate.  Failure to comply with tax or other legal requirements may result in the revocation of a club’s charter.

WHQ also commented on the Club Treasurer section of the Club Leadership Handbook, which says that “operating a club bank account is not a requirement, but if the club decides to operate an account it is the club treasurer’s responsibility to turn over all financial records for the club at the end of the calendar year, this includes changing signers on the bank account.  We understand that changing signers once a year can be cumbersome, but this is a control that is set by policy and having ‘senior members’ as designated signers over one year is not allowable.”

If any Treasurers have any other questions that they wish answered then do contact Meg who is happy to assist in finding the answers.

 

Have you considered starting a new club?

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From Jill Segal, D91 Club Extension Chair

Embrace the joy and challenge of starting a new club

Are you looking for ways to have fun and meet new people? Are you considering improving your marketing and promotional skills? Would you like to actively fulfill your Toastmaster promise by encouraging new members to join? And how about helping them transform their speaking and leadership skills? You can do this at the same time as making progress on your own TM journey. The perfect way to achieve this is by starting a new club!

How can you get started?

Step 1 Get clear on your vision for your new club

Consider what kind of new club you would like. Are you drawn towards starting a community club? Perhaps you’d like a club at work or in your professional or trade association. Maybe you’d like to create a club with a special focus such as debate, evaluation, other languages, or storytelling. (There are examples of clubs like these in our district and around the world). Get clear on your vision for the club. Who will the members be? How will the club serve them?

Starting New Clubs Visual
Step 2 Gather support

Projects work best when there is an enthusiastic team to get them started.

Find a small group of friends or colleagues who share you vision and are ready to play a part in getting the club started.

For a company club it’s a good idea to talk to the key stake-holders in HR or in your management team as soon as possible. Genuine support from within your organisation will help your club get going quickly.

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