Link to District 62 Conference Slideshow

Multiply Your Membership

            In 2007, our Toastmasters Club membership hovered near twelve. On a good day, meeting attendance was six or seven members. The few minutes before each meeting started were chaotic. There was a lot of scrambling to fill meeting roles and organize the agenda.

            In 2009, we had twenty-plus members and attendance is consistently near or over 20 members. About 40 percent of our meetings include guests. We have had as many as five guests at one meeting. In two years, we learned a lot about growing and strengthening our club. Here are 15 ways your club can build membership and boost club success.

NOURISH LEADERSHIP

1.      Have An Officer Succession Plan: My recommendation is the VP of Education becomes the President and the President becomes the Immediate Past President. This way, anyone who accepts the role of VP of Education knowingly makes a three-year commitment. This provides continuity, greater commitment, and reduces officer fallout. Before we started this process, our Presidents were serving multiple terms because no one was stepping up to fill that slot. Now, when someone accepts the role of VP of Education, it is clear he or she is committing to three years of club leadership.

 

2.      Hold Monthly Officer Meetings: Immediately following a club meeting is a perfect time. You are already together, the room is probably still available, and when done monthly, each meeting will only take about 15 to 20 minutes. During the meeting you can set goals, create action plans, deal with challenges, and plot your club's future.

3.      Assign Mentors: Mentors provide guidance and answer questions for new members. Assign mentors to those who have not completed their first manual. Match each new member with an experienced member, and ask mentors to meet with new members to help them understand each newly assigned role.

ATTRACT ATTENTION

4.      Evaluate Your Club Name: Do you think your club name attracts, or repels, potential members? In 2007, our club name was Executive Toastmasters. That name fit in the 1980's. Recently, we discovered the word “executive” was a turn-off for some people and they could not identify with us.  We changed our name to Community Toastmasters and almost immediately we had a newer and stronger connection with people in our community.  Is your club name working for you?

5.      Location, Location, Location: In retail and real estate, the mantra is location, location, location. The same is true of club meeting sites. For several years, we were nomads. We met in various hard-to-find rooms in a hospital and slightly easier-to-find smaller rooms at the local community college. Then we moved to the centrally located, brand-new Muskegon Area Chamber of Commerce office building. What a coup! It is easy to find, has plenty of free parking, a live receptionist greets us, and it is just the right size for our growing club. We also have a backup room in the same building, just in case the regular meeting room is unavailable.

6.      Create A Website: For years, we ran a three-line classified advertisement in the local newspaper. It often appeared in the same section as garage sale announcements.  We changed that. We now have a website created, hosted, and managed by our VP of Marketing. We use our site to inform our members, attract guests, and position our club in a more desirable way. Our site contains both general-public and password protected pages. You can do the same. To view our first website, please click here to view our newest website, please click here.

7.      Show Off: Encourage your members to compete in Toastmaster contests. Then display your winner ribbons and trophies in your meeting room where they attract the attention of others who use the same room. These people frequently become meeting guests. Ribbons and trophies also inspire your members to compete and achieve in Toastmasters.

FOSTER COMMITMENT

8.      Create A Culture Of Commitment: Be firm about role commitment. Expect members to either be present and prepared for their role, or find a replacement if they are unable to attend. No exceptions; no excuses. The first time a member misses a meeting assignment, his or her mentor should follow-up to determine the reason. The second time, the President should make the contact. The third time, that member should be removed from the agenda. This may sound a bit harsh, but in 2007, members routinely did not show up, were not prepared, and expected the club President to find replacements.
  

9.      Use Role Assignment Software: Assigning roles using spreadsheets or sign up sheets is time consuming and often leads to mistakes. As a more systematic and balanced option, we use Club Scheduler software. You can learn about this software by visiting www.clubscheduler.com. Club Scheduler will greatly reduce the burden on your VP of Education for creating meeting role assignments. The software also tracks the meeting attendance and meeting award winners.

10.  Monday Morning Calls:  Our club meets on Fridays and every Monday morning our President calls the Toastmaster and General Evaluator reminding them to contact the members assigned to their area of responsibility for the upcoming Friday meeting. An important aspect of this call is the President's request for a return call from the Toastmaster and General Evaluator by Wednesday to report that all contacts were made and the roles will be properly filled.

11.  Add “Bring A Guest” Role: This role highlights the importance of guests and new members. It helps create a steady stream of guests and is a frequent reminder that guests are important for club growth. The results are more guests, better meetings, and new members. I promise.

ENERGIZE YOUR MEETINGS

12.  Everyone Contributes: When our membership was low, we combined minor roles such as Invocationist, Ah Counter, and Lexicologist. As we continued to grow, we unbundled roles and added new roles. Our goal: everyone at every meeting has an assigned role. Periodically, we added new roles. The latest role added was the Leadership Evaluator. To learn more about this role, visit www.toastmasters.org.

13.  Push Manual Speeches: When membership was low, manual speeches were rare. I am not sure which came first, but they clearly work in tandem. I recommend strongly encouraging manual speeches by praising speakers who give manual speeches and poking good-natured fun at speakers who do not come prepared with a manual speech. The result: more members will achieve higher levels in Toastmasters and you will have more focused meetings. Plus, the manual speech evaluation page will increase the value of your club evaluations.

14.  Follow The Three-Speech Format: During our low member period, we moved to a two-speech format. This was a mistake. Upon returning to the three-speech format, our meetings immediately became more productive, more exciting, and more fun. This format encourages members to be more diligent about time management and guests will be amazed by how much is accomplished and how smoothly meetings run.

15.  Create A Guest Guide: All meeting guests receive a tri-fold guide with a brief history and purpose of Toastmasters International, a meeting agenda, and contact information for our VP of Membership. This guide makes it easy for guests to follow along and feel more involved in the meeting.  The guide is downloadable from our website so prospective guests can get a feel for the meeting before they arrive. A member’s employer reproduces our guest guides as a community service project. Please click here for a copy of our guide.

Jerry Conrad is a Distinguished Toastmaster and a Certified Speaking Professional. Jerry has served in various Toastmaster leadership roles including club president, DTM ceremony emcee, and Area Governor.

Jerry is an active member of Community Toastmasters #3009 in Muskegon, Michigan. He can be reached via jerry@jerryconrad.com or 231-719-1986.