Membership Building

Growth Together

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Growth Together We were delighted so many of our members renewed and we were fortunate enough to attract new members as well We have already started planning for next March’s renewals! Firstly we are always looking for ways to attract and retain members to give ourselves a solid base. Our team ensures at least one … Read more

Do you remember David and Carmen?

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Let’s see how they are getting on. Carmen thoroughly enjoyed her first meeting at Club X. She did a table topic and signed up that day! David did almost slip through the cracks, however as the committee of the club did a full audit of the club tools, his email was found and the VP Public Relations of that club followed up with him and invited him as a guest to their next meeting. Because their VP Membership followed up appropriately with him thereafter, he too has since signed up.

When times are tough or disruption occurs, it helps to be reminded about our ‘WHY’ and core reason for being. Sometimes all it takes it a return to some fundamental, often basic processes to get things back on track again. District 91 now launches the ‘Lead to Achieve’ initiative -mainly focusing on those who are trying to contact us via toastmasters.org but giving us all the opportunity to review and ensure that we are doing the ‘hygiene’ things that make our club successful.

The way we do things may be reviewed and changed and some clubs have adapted very to being able to bring members on board in this new environment. At the time of writing, 6 clubs have achieved the covered Smedley Award.

You can hear from the President of one of those clubs, Dan Magill – Society Speakers about their ‘how’.

Our 80/20 challenge for the October 2020 renewal period is on. At the time of writing, 16 clubs have so far retained 20+ members and I’ll be calculating those with 80%+ at the end of the period. We recognise that some of our members may move on at this time for a host of reasons. It’s important for us to understand why and that our doors or virtual platforms remain open to those that want to return when they are ready.

I’d like to conclude this month by remembering our organisational mission:

‘We empower individuals to become more effective communicators and leaders.’

We’ll explore leadership a little more next month along with seeing how a returner to toastmasters is getting on after a breakaway as well as David and Carmen.

The types of communication channels we have are numerous and ever-changing and every now and again it doesn’t hurt to take stock of what they are. I hope you’ll continue to utilise your Toastmasters journey to flex and refine your communication skills.

Rupa Datta – District 91 Club Growth Director 2020-2021

What Could Go Wrong?

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The Story of the Port in the Storm

By Carolyn Johnson, VP of PR, Chiltern Speakers

March 2020

Our club was burgeoning.  We had had a bumper January of guests, an Open House in February, and March saw our new members standing up front taking the first steps of their public speaking journeys in front of a friendly and substantive live audience.

Our committee had worked hard over the previous months to build a better new member experience.  We lined up the VP of PR and the VP of Membership to attract guests to meetings and follow-up afterwards with a slick sign-up process.  We created a new ‘Hospitality’ role to ensure guests were welcomed and introduced to a member or two so they had someone to talk to and engage with during the evening.  Our President would give each guest a special welcome in his meeting introduction and ask them to say a few words at the end about their impressions.

We focused on celebrating the victories with standing ovations for Icebreakers and awards with photos and social media accolades for best speakers, evaluators and Table Topics.  We laughed heartily with our speaker journey fellows inside the disciplined structure of our Toastmaster sessions and watched each other grow.  Then went to the pub afterwards.  What could go wrong?

The Transition

We no longer have a live venue, we no longer have the lively face-to-face interaction, we no longer have the pub.  We no longer have that excited and slightly anxious drive or walk, to the meeting, we no longer have that post-meeting reward and joy of reflection on our way home.  So what has become of our club in this new world cohabiting with Covid-19?

As soon as it became clear that society would need to head indoors, right as March membership renewal was approaching, we knew we had to create a vision, with an element of certainty, or the club could suddenly end up on a trajectory of contraction we really did not want.  There is no way we did all that work to have it wiped away by a disease!

So we fired up our laptops and downloaded Zoom.  Luckily for our club, we have club leaders who like to explore new avenues and try things out – and this was just what we needed.  Our committee, along with members from other clubs in our Area, spent evenings and weekends working through a trial-and-error system of devising a new Toastmasters online meeting.

Which aspects of a meeting could we retain?  Which aspects are hard to emulate? What tactics could we employ to mitigate the ‘losses’? What could we actually gain?

It became very quickly obvious that this learning experience could be embraced and shared.  New skills mastered that are directly applicable to the fast-tracked remote workplace and the sudden explosion of all generations of people driven online.  We have a new Toastmaster meeting role – that of the ‘Zoom Master’ – skills gained here which can be shown off in work meetings when someone wants a poll, or a team needs a breakout room or a recording for future reference.  Meeting recordings have become a much-valued asset!

And our VP of PR suddenly had a new wave of material to attract new members – our Facebook feed became enriched with new learnings and images of social interactions at a time when everyone was locked down and restricted from human connection.  People could join in at the click of a button on their PC – not just at their local Toastmasters club, but at ANY club!  How to travel and meet people from different parts of the world, whilst sitting in your own armchair? Here was the answer!  Make connections with people in Mumbai, Vancouver, Barcelona? Yes, please!

Oh and it wasn’t all swimmingly successful – the technical issues have had us puzzled a number of times with audio-visual gremlins and connectivity blips, and then there is lighting, positioning, eye contact to get right.  Then came the Zoom-fatigue phenomenon – so we had to get creative with physical actions, visual variety, recorded applause, dressing up, blowing kisses at your Zoom neighbour! (Yes we really did that…)

Suddenly the emails started coming in and Facebook messages popping up – can we come along to your next meeting? Send me the Zoom details!  Prospective new members, former members who had moved away and wanted to check back in and members from other clubs who want to try out new audiences.

August 2020

So where are we now?

Membership is up! Diversity is up! Fun and learning live on!  We have the most members we have ever had at 41, with regular attendance at 25 people or more including 3-4 guests.  Our club came second in the Beat the Clock competition to gain the newest members before the end of June.

Yes sure we have a few members taking a break, and new chatter has begun about when and how we will get our much-loved in-person format back – but the online format has not only taken away, but it has given.  It has given us new and different opportunities – and it turns out that people are willing to embrace them.  It has provided us with a much-loved Port in a Storm.

High Impact Online

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How to look and sound professional in an online world

Online communication is now a way of life, even when we return to what was considered “normal”. The world has changed and there will be some sharp changes in the workplace. Every interaction is a moment of truth, and leaves an impression, whether in person or on-line.

This webinar will be focusing on looking professional on camera and communicating with impact and authority, so that your first, second and last impressions is a positive experience.

We will look at three essential elements of online communication to develop an online presence to maximise the impact:

Being professional and developing an impactful online presence will help you stand out positively, increase visibility and demonstrate professionalism to your manager, your customers and your peers

It could be the difference between:

  • Winning or losing business
  • Being promoted or being passed over
  • Keeping a job or being made redundant

There are two scheduled dates to choose from

Friday 19th June at 8 pm – Register now

Sunday 21st June at 6 pm – Register now

You still have time

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As we head towards the end of the Toastmasters year, we have one key message for our clubs. You still have time to bring your clubs back to a strong membership position.

We are currently in the middle of a membership drive called Beat The Clock for clubs to increase your membership by 5 and we are encouraging everybody to engage with these efforts. The mantra 30 is the new 20, still stands.

Ensuring your club hits the 20 member mark, will enable some clubs to achieve DCP level. For members requiring the opportunity to complete educational awards, there’s still time to organise mega meetings and events to assist them to achieve their educational goals. Plus, this provides you with an opportunity to invite non-renewed members and guests to attend.

Here’s how you can help.

1. Members and renewals – during March and April, some of our members did not renew, but are now starting to come back. If you have members that decided not to renew earlier, now is the time to contact them to invite them to renew.

2. Increase your membership – clubs can host their own Open House Meetings to invite guests and non-renewed members too. To support this, there’s £100 available from the District for marketing the event, e.g. Facebook ads, Meet Up registration etc.. Keep the receipts to claim the expenses back. To benefit in this Toastmasters year, the event must take place between now and the 30 June 2020.

3. Club Finances – review the club’s budget for the year ahead. The slower than usual renewal payments have affected some clubs more than others. When we come out of the lockdown, clubs may struggle to hire the same venues, for a variety of reasons. An option is to switch to annual renewals from September (rather than 6 monthly) as this will greatly assist with budgeting. Discuss with your members now as this change impacts them.

We acknowledge that these have been challenging times over the last couple of months. Throughout this time, for members facing uncertainly, their Toastmaster meetings have been a constant. Many clubs have stood up to support their members. We are not alone. It is particularly heartening to look at the clubs in Italy, with the testing situation there, to witness their members continuing to be actively engaged, providing invaluable support for each other and in turn, have helped their clubs to grow. The measure of this success, clubs achieving distinguished and having a strong membership-based. We can learn from this if you have established and experienced members that haven’t yet renewed, it is time to bring them back into the fold. As well as welcoming guests to join meetings and continuing to attract new members. Ensuring new members are registered with Toastmasters International by the end of June.

Some clubs are excelling, they have increased their member base. If that is your club, are you sharing your good practices with other clubs? Can you help a neighbouring club that is struggling? We have pre-charter clubs that are close to chartering and looking for support, can you get involved? This is your opportunity to support all clubs to bring them back to a strong membership position. While we are at it, let’s Beat The Clock!

It has been an absolute delight and pleasure to serve as your Club Growth Director this year. I look forward to continuing to serve you, next year as, your Program Quality Director.

Helena Boden-Brewer, DTM