Launching a Corporate Summit in District 91
Are you currently in a corporate role? Have you ever sat through a pointless meeting? Can you think of even ONE organisation that may benefit from bringing Toastmasters in-house but not sure how to go about it?
These are just a handful of the reasons why we’re hosting a corporate summit in London this June – and maybe, just maybe, it will be the first of many.
Why it is my Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM project)
Even now, I need to correct people (more so in other Districts) when they assume that I’m already a Distinguished Toastmaster because I’ve been a member over nine years and I’ve served as District Director. Just the other day, in a virtual session I’d been asked to be involved with in another District, I was referred to as DTM over 10x! 🙂
For me, it was never about three letters, but feeling that whenever I become a Distinguished Toastmaster with the hardware, it would be the culmination of multiple paths coming together and one that would benefit this organisation/District based on my own learnings during my time as a member and where I’d spotted gaps in my leadership journey.
When I joined the ‘Trio’ as Club Growth Director back in 2020, I learned that our approach to taking Toastmasters into company settings may need to be different, and more importantly, for when it does land in a company setting, for its longevity to be longer than the current average lifespan for a ‘corporate closed club.’
What’s this summit all about?
In order for us to have success in a company setting, we need to partner with companies as modelled in Past International President, Pat Johnson’s handbook on this subject. This goes beyond an existing Toastmasters member selling the idea to their boss and creating the equivalent of a community club in a company. I also can’t tell you the number of times that I’ve heard people say that they think Toastmasters would be great in their company, but they either don’t know where to start or don’t take it any further because they think that they will end up doing the work!
That definitely shouldn’t be the case! It takes a team to get it off the ground and whilst the person suggesting it is part of the process, the Toastmasters program to become part of an employee development program is the preferred approach. This event is aimed at HR/L&D/Employee Engagement Professionals who would be interested in exploring whether Toastmasters could work in their companies for this purpose.
The summit will include a demo/taster session, a panel discussion Q&A and a couple of presentations on how Toastmasters fosters leadership development and effective communication in the professional world.
How can you help?
Let me go back to the third question at the beginning.
Can you think of just ONE organisation that could benefit from a Toastmasters program in-house? Write it down now.
If that organisation is based in the UK and has at least 1000 employees (ideally based in the UK), please share this link with someone in HR/Learning or Engagement at that company…
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/toastmasters-corporate-summit-2025-tickets-1369962126599
When they register, a member of the corporate summit team will review and confirm if they have secured a spot! Fulfil one of your Toastmasters promises, by giving this market the opportunity to explore the benefits of what Toastmasters offers.
If you’d personally like more information on any of the above, wish to attend or support, please contact District 91.
Rupa Datta
Last Updated on 29th May 2025 by Allen Paul