Tomorrow is June 1, the last month in the Toastmasters year. Lots of people plan their work around deadlines, and Toastmasters are no different. From individual to district, many Toastmasters goals have June 30 as a drop-dead deadline.
In the next-to-last-year of the Distinguished District Program (DDP) as we know it, with four critical success factors, and exactly six Presidents and six Select Distinguished districts, people are paying attention to performance. Let’s take a look at the May 26 report.
Out of 82 districts, three have already met all four goals and are distinguished before the end of May! Those are:
- D12 (southern California)
- D9 (eastern Washington, northeastern Oregon, northern Idaho)
- DF (southern California)
D9 was the first district in the world to reach distinguished (on the May 13 report), very impressive! By pulling ahead of the rest, they have a good shot at finishing the year even more strongly.
Membership payments goal: 12 district have met this goal (15%), with D59 (continental Europe) in the lead at 112% of the target number to be distinguished. 54 more districts are in the 90-99% range, which is well within reach. If you’re one of these, promote the “Beat the Clock” contest heavily, add your own local district awards to supplement what WHQ sends out (10% off a TI store purchase). If you’re going to make an effort to renew lapsed members, reach out to the clubs and get the club officers to make that call — the lapsed member is not likely to respond positively to a call from a district officer who is a complete stranger and knows little about their club.
Paid clubs goal: 16 districts have met this goal (20%), with D85 (China) in the lead at 112% of the target (19 more clubs than the goal!). 53 more districts are in the 90-99% range, and could reach it, depending on what new clubs or late renewals they have in the pipeline. If a club is not sure they can charter by June 30, the district could incentivize them by offering to buy them a club banner (if they don’t already) or buy each charter member a Toastmasters membership pin.
CCs earned: 32 districts have met their CC goal (39%), with D32 (western Washington) in the lead at 150% of the goal. 29 more districts are in the 80-99% range (lots more education awards are posted in June every year). Last year, only three districts missed their CC goal.
ACs earned: 74 districts have met their AC goal (90%), with D1 (southern California) in the lead at 236% of goal (more than doubling it!). 10 more districts have also doubled the goal, and all but 8 districts have met or exceeded it. This has been an easy goal for all but the very newest districts.
Other awards: D85 (China) has the largest net gain in clubs (President’s Extension Award), 23 (they’ve chartered 37 new clubs this year, almost one for each of 41 areas!). D71 (Britain and Ireland) has the highest percentage of clubs at charter strength membership (President’s 20+ award), 78%.
A lot can change in 30 days. Behind all these numbers are members meeting their goals to be better communicators and better leaders. Make sure every member in your club is progressing towards their goals, getting scheduled for manual speeches, giving constructive useful evaluations, and serving as a leader in the club and in the district.
This is what builds the Toastmasters brand, more than any logo ever can.
Mike, right on with the idea to have the club officers call their non-renewing (lapsed) members–I can say from personal experience that idea works when put into practice!
In addition to giving incentives to get prospective clubs to charter, incentives also can be given to get the members of existing clubs to earn educational awards or to recruit new members. Various small mementos can be purchased from the Supply Catalog, or something as simple as a homemade button with the International President’s theme (the new branding could be used in the future) can be distributed to those who earn ed awards or recruit the members that a district needs to be Distinguished (or better) down the home stretch!
George Marshall asked a good question — how are the membership payment and club goals looking compared to last year?
For membership payments, last year (end of May), 13 districts had met their goal, while this year (numbers posted to almost the end of May), 13 districts have met their goal (the same).
For clubs, last year, 19 had met their goal, while this year, 17 have met their goal (slightly less, but not enough to make a conclusion; 8 districts need just one more club to make this goal).
Just to round things out, CC goals were met last year by 35 districts, while this year, it’s ALSO 35 districts. AC goals were met last year by 73 districts, while this year, it’s 74 districts.
End-of-May to end-of-May, total membership payments are up 4.15%, total clubs are up 3.38%. Looking like a good year for Toastmasters!
From the viewpoint of district goals, this year is looking really close to last year.
TEST I will be interested to see what happens when the emphasis on distinguished district is more in line with club goals.