The new Toastmasters year provides all members with the opportunity to review their personal goals for the year ahead. Already there is interest in establishing new Toastmasters clubs across the District. With many members seeking to complete their Distinguished Toastmasters Award by June 2020, there is support for club sponsors, mentors and coaches and running speechcraft, speaker to trainer and youth leadership workshops for High-Performance Leadership (HPL) awards.
A busy year ahead beckons.
To support all the activity, it’s all about teamwork. With the backing of the District Director, Florian Bay and Program Quality Director, Arnaud Sartre, this year, I will be assisted by Club Extension Chair, Bob Bowes and Member Retention Chair, Seema Menon. With the addition of each Division providing a nominated representative to service on the Club Extension Committee.
With this experienced team, members wishing to set up a demonstration meeting to set up new clubs, help is available. Each division has expressed a projected level of new club activity, there may well be an opportunity to be involved, right on your doorstep. There are plenty of occasions for members to volunteer to serve to support and learn more about themselves along the way. Help is at hand. The District will provide you with a demonstration box to assist you in running the meeting. Along with volunteers to assist with the running of the meeting too.
Many clubs organise membership drives, during the year. Interest in hosting an Open House Meeting for this year has already begun. You may find members wishing to manage this event as their HPL project. The District will support your club when you undertake this activity. There is an open house box of goodies too.
For your events, you are not alone. Established members are often seeking openings both inside and outside their own clubs. Their experience is invaluable; from running advanced club meetings, organising club, area and division events, Toastmaster specific training sessions and to cutting-edge and forward-thinking workshops on speech and leadership. The great gift of being a member of Toastmasters is when you ask for help, it will be there. If you are hosting an event and seeking support, ask for help.
Member retention will be a key focus this year. Our District is ahead of the curve in putting in place provision for membership numbers before this becomes an aspect of the Distinguished Club Program. To encourage our clubs this year, there is a new incentive this year of 10+. This award will be given to clubs that grow from their membership base number as of 1 July 2019, to 10+ members by 30 June 2020. The 10+ is in addition to the member retention element to the pizza challenge.
I am looking forward to serving all our members and driving the Club Extension Committee. It’s going to be a fantastic year ahead.
Last Updated on 7th October 2020 by Susan Rayner