The living DCP

by Mike Raffety

Some people say that the recognition programs focus on the numbers too much, but behind those numbers are members achieving their goals.

My favorite educational session is about the Distinguished Club Program (DCP).  But I do it a little differently, by showing what those numbers mean.  For each DCP goal, I call volunteers out of the audience who are working on that goal and interview them briefly about their objectives and experiences.

For example, on the first goal, I ask for two people in the audience who are working on their CC, and call them up on stage.  I ask them what speech they’re on, what they’ve learned so far, and when they expect to complete speech number ten.  Ditto for the rest of the education awards.

For new members, I ask for a show of hands for anyone who’s joined in the last few months, call them up (two groups of four), ask them why they joined, talk about their Icebreaker, etc.

Club officer training is similar — ask for a volunteer holding each office, ask them about their role in that office, and get their commitment to twice-a-year training.

Finally, there’s the club officer list and on-time dues, for which I return to the club president, secretary, and treasurer from the previous group.

By now, I have 16 members on the stage, and now it’s time to underline the DCP membership requirement, noting that we need a few more people to round out the club and make a total of 20 (or a net growth of five).  There’s usually a few excited audience members who missed out on the earlier interviews who are ready to run up on stage.

I wrap up by summarizing the ten goals, pointing out the members achieving those goals on stage, and presenting the crowd of 20 members on stage as a ten-goal President’s Distinguished “club”, to strong applause.

Really a lot of fun!

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18 thoughts on “The living DCP”

  1. If you cant measure it, you cant manage it as the saying goes.

    What better way to track progress than DCP?

    There are clubs that make the numbers but lacking in quality.

    I have however yet to see a quality club without being Select or President Distinguished regularly

  2. Mike, I very well recall when you made your “Living DCP” presentation at the Fall 2008 District 8 Conference, and there were very favorable comments across the board! I heard people say that they’d never seen a program regarding the DCP presented in that manner.

    There was something else that impressed me about you that day . . . immediately following that educational session, you approached me (I was the D-8 LGET at the time) and asked to review the evaluations of your presentation. The only suggestion for improvement was a request for a written handout summarizing the DCP–knowing you, I’ll bet that handout has been produced and dissemminated during your subsequent presentations!

    While there may have been several factors, I can say that the number of Distinguished (or better) clubs in D-8 has increased significantly during the 2 years since you made that presentation. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with those of us who were blessed to have you as one of our International Directors . . . and to the entire Toastmasters world via the social media!

    Dori Drummond, D-8 IPDG

  3. Thanks Mike,

    A very unique way of presenting this, I will try to remember!

    Richard Bennett, DTM

  5. Absolutely fantastic presentation idea. Love it so much. I would like to present a training modelled on your concept at Highway Toastmasters please. Regards, Margy Sneeden

  8. Just one more question: how long it takes? I am sure it is unforgettable and worth, we should plan for the time too.

    2. Julie, how long it takes depends entirely on how long you talk to people about their goals. I recommend mapping out how long to spend on each DCP goal, and perhaps having a timer flag you when the limit is up for each goal (like 2 or 3 or 5 minutes each).

      It could be done in 15 minutes if you hurried, but I would recommend 45-60 minutes to do it thoroughly.

  10. Excellent presentation. Very creative way to present the numbers while shifting the focus to the individuals behind the numbers and that value that they gain from achieving the goals. I am now inspired to present this module again and will model it after your presentation.

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