Hope for the Future

Year End – a Time for Reflection

The past year has been difficult for many of us, both in and outside of Toastmasters, but I would like to thank everyone who has helped clubs win 169 club growth awards this year so far. These clubs have won £11,250 between them. What is particularly encouraging is that many clubs, both Corporate and Community clubs have won multiple Club Growth and Membership Retention awards. There are too many to list individually but congratulations to Hamwick, Shilling Speakers, Bristol Central, Moody’s London and Microsoft who are vying for most wins for community and corporate clubs, respectively.

The Net 10 Challenge

I am delighted to say that two clubs have already won the Net 10 Award and several more are close to winning and a final push in the last few weeks of the year will also see them win as well.

You may remember that the challenge set in July last year is for clubs to gain a net increase of 10 members above their baseline number set on 1^st July 2021, by 15^th June 2022. I will announce the winners of the £100 incentive award a few days after that. You can find full details of the Net 10 Award on our website.

Beat the Clock

Even if you club is not in the running to win the Net 10 Award, clubs can still get £50 by winning the “Beat the Clock” incentive. To win your club needs to recruit five new members in May and June. Despite the problems with the web site several clubs have won both “Beat the Clock” and the Juliember extra award we ran in May.

Hope for the future

I am delighted to say that the end of the year is looking positive going into next year. We are planning to charter between three and five clubs this month, depending on how quickly they can process the paperwork. We have a strong new club lead pipeline with interest for both corporate and community clubs. Also, many clubs are reporting that the number of guests attending meeting is steadily rising, it is time to revise how to convert guests to members on the district 91 YouTube channel.

Thank You

Finally, I would like to thank everyone who has helped me over the past year, Jacqui as Club Retention Chair, Nadya as Club Extension Chair and John who helped me put together the Thursday Dash marketing sessions before Christmas. I would also like to thank all the club officers, club coaches and mentors who I have spoken with in the past year who have challenged me and have jointly help develop an idea to make it more successful. I would also like to thank Janet Alkema and her Alignment Committee team for their demanding work to ensure that Area and Divisions meet the criteria set by Toastmasters HQ.

I look forward to serving you again next year as Program Quality Director and know that you will support my successor, Debbie Williams. I wish her much success in the year ahead and hope that she enjoys the role as much as I have this year.

Diane Richardson,
District 91 Club Growth Director 2021/22