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D91 Leader Letter January 2023 Club Growth Update

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Club Growth Update

Reflecting on our membership growth: retaining members and converting guests

Since the start of the Toastmasters year, we have welcomed four new corporate clubs and 1054 new members to District 91. We are now at the halfway point of the Toastmasters year. Now is a good time to review how your club is doing. Here are a few things to consider:

1. Guests are the lifeblood of any Toastmasters club. If you are struggling to get guests to your meetings, you may want to review your marketing efforts. Please also review whether your club’s contact details (address and contact number) are up to date on ‘Find a Club” on the Toastmasters International website, and on your club’s website (if you have one).

2. Are you converting your guests into members? Please take time to speak to each guest at meetings and invite them to join your club, the fact that they have turned up means that they are ready to start their Toastmaster journey. They will stay if made to feel welcome and asked to join.

3. Do you have an onboarding process for new members? How new members are onboarded is key to the longevity of their membership.

  • Do you offer mentors?
  • How quickly are they onboarded to Pathways?
  • How quickly are they integrated within your clubs?

4. Are your members attending meetings and doing speeches and roles? If a member has not attended for a while, then please get in touch with them. You could even send a survey to all your members to see what your club could do better or conduct “moments of truth”.

5. Review your club success plan and check how you are doing against those original plans. If you didn’t create one, don’t worry, it’s not too late to put one together and plan the rest of the year.

6. Are your meetings fun and enjoyable? Try new things at your club such as themed meetings, debates etc. You could even visit other clubs to pick up further ideas.

The renewals window is open, and we would like every member to have reasons to stay within their club. This is especially important because happy members are attractive to guests who, in turn, will become our new members and future leaders within District 91.

I would recommend that you complete your renewals as early as possible. There will be an award of £50 for the first 30 clubs that renew 20 or more members by 28th February 2023. All renewals must be completed by 31st March 2023.

Debbie Williams

Club Growth Director

Londinium Spring 2016 Conference Keynote Speakers

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Two exceptional keynote speakers

We are very fortunate to have secured TWO exceptional keynote speakers for the Londinium Spring 2016 Conference.

David Taylor @NakedLeadership

Our speaker on Saturday will be David Taylor of The Naked Leader. As well as being the author of several best-selling leadership development books, David has worked with companies as varied as Tesco, the University of Southampton, Aramco, BP, Network Rail and the NHS. David will be joining us for the gala dinner on Saturday night, so you’ll have plenty of opportunity to learn from him.

World Champion Public Speaking 2015
Mohammed Qahtani, World Champion Public Speaking 2015

Our Sunday speaker is the 2015 World Champion of Public Speaking, Mohammed Qahtani. He held an audience of over 2,000 Toastmasters utterly entranced from his first words, you won’t want to miss the chance to see him speak live! Mohammed will also be delivering a workshop on Saturday.

The rest of the program is shaping up rapidly and we have an incredible program under development. The 2016 Londinium Spring Conference is shaping up to be the biggest and best ever!

How to book

To secure your tickets, book now!  The Early Bird rates close 29th February 2016.

D91 Spring 2015 Tower Conference Workshops

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From the Spring 2015 Tower Conference Team

D91 conferenceIn our last blog post we introduced you to our keynote speakers. Today we’d like to introduce you to the leaders of our Spring 2015 Tower Conference workshops.

The great thing about a Toastmasters district conference is that it’s packed to the brim with useful workshops. Pick and choose which ones you’d like to attend, depending on your personal needs.

Every workshop is either on the Leadership or Communication track.

Saturday morning 9 May

There will be two workshops running alongside each other, both starting at 09:55.

09:55 ‘Centred, calm, connected – vital communication when the heat is on’ by Richard Fallon, City Limits Speakers and voice and communication skills trainer.

09:55 ‘Could you be a leader?’ will be run by Bob Nisbet DTM, current Division H Governor.

12 noon ‘Understand your audience. Understand your content.’ Julie Gould, Early Bird Speakers, and editor at Nature Publishing Group, will show us how to communicate our topic to our audience, however complicated or technical it is.

Saturday afternoon 9 May

After lunch two workshops will again run side by side at 14:00

14:00 ‘Handle Q&As with confidence’ by Paul Carroll, expert debater and impromptu speaker, founding President of 104 London Debaters.

14:00 ‘Leadership in the workplace’ by Liz Hobbs DTM, charter member of Tube Talk Toastmasters, currently spearheading the design and implementation of a project knowledge management system across Transport for London.

Sunday 10 May

Two workshops will start at 10:20 – giving you time to recover from Saturday night’s gala dinner!

10:30 ‘Speaking without words – the power of silent communication’ by Lynne Cantor, Excalibur Speakers, District Evaluation Champion 2012

10:30 ‘Create dialogue in difficult situations’ run by Khaled Matlagaitu, International Director to the Board of Toastmasters International (2013-2015, Europe, Africa and West, Central & North Asia).

11:30 a further two workshops take place simultaneously:

11.30 ‘Improv for Toastmasters’ by Ian Hawkins Early Bird Speakers and speaking coach and Al Cowie Early Bird Speakers and expert on performance skills.

11:30 ‘Creating future performance through coaching’ will be run by Charlotte Hitchings, Cardiff Toastmasters and Voice of Wales, immediate past Division J Governor, Accredited coach with extensive business experience.

Followed by a final choice…

12.15 Trainers bureau showcase with Andy O’Sullivan, London Public Speakers

12:15 Chris Boden, Maidenhead and Reading Speakers, District International Speech Champion (2014) and District Evaluation Champion (2011) will be running a workshop ‘From Inspiration to Celebration’ to help us turn our Toastmasters speeches into masterpieces.

In summary…

With ELEVEN workshops to choose from over the weekend, you’re guaranteed to leave the conference with masses of ideas to implement.

Detailed information about the Spring 2015 Tower Conference workshops and speakers can be found at http://www.spring-conference.org/2015Tower/ along with the full agenda for the weekend.

Public Speaking Northern Lights

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From Rona Harding, President Northern Lights Speakers

public speaking Northern Lights Public speaking Northern Lights, our public speaking club is moving!

Where: The Star Pub, 47 Chester Road, London N19 5DF. Meeting room on 1st floor.

When: We will have our first meeting on Monday 5 January 2015 and our second meeting on Monday 19 January. However, from February we will be meeting on the 2nd and 4th Monday of each month ie, 9 and 23 February and so on. Meetings will begin 7.15 pm as usual.

Public speaking Northern Lights. Getting there and getting started!

By Car: If you drive, you can park anytime after 12 noon on the street and surrounding streets. Please note that Chester Road is one-way.

Buses: The C11 and No.4 Bus leave Archway station and stop outside the pub (3rd stop).

Walking: It is approximately 10 minutes walk between Archway Station and the Star Pub. You can also walk from Tufnell Park Station which is via a hill.

Why don’t you make a date to visit us next Monday or very soon. Our meeting dates are on our website. Click here to view. We’d love to have you join our club and build your confidence and public speaking skills.