Category: miscellaneous Toastmasters

The living DCP

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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!

Why Area Governors need assistants

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Do you know someone who thinks they can do it all themselves, that they don’t need to ask for help?  They don’t make a very good leader. They may be very good at getting things done, but they’re a loner, they aren’t helping anyone else learn, and what happens when that person isn’t around?

One of the hardest lessons to learn as a new leader is the need to delegate.  Of course, that means you need someone to delegate to.  Recruiting assistants has numerous benefits:

  1. Help spread the work out among more people, avoiding burnout — “many hands make light work”!
  2. Provide better service to the clubs and members, more resources to call upon and provide regular contact
  3. Fill in for when that one person, the Area Governor, is busy, or has two things at the same time
  4. Better practice leadership skills, now there is someone to lead!
  5. Provide potential successors the next year, who will already be familiar with the role

The Toastmasters District Leadership Handbook briefly mentions assistant Area and Division Governors as part of the area and division councils, but doesn’t describe their roles further.  Typically, there are two assistants, one for marketing and one for education.  Ideally, they attend the training and DEC meetings just like Area and Division Governors (though they have no vote at the DEC meetings).

The Assistant Area Governor Marketing focuses on helping clubs build and retain membership, and might also take a lead role in building a new club for the area.  They can help a club put on an open house, put together a guest welcome packet, create a lively club web site, or brainstorm articles for the sponsoring company’s employee newsletter.

The Assistant Area Governor Education and Training helps clubs improve their educational program, encouraging completion of manual speeches and better evaluations, and quality speech contests.  They can advise a club about running a Youth Leadership or Speechcraft program, improving contest participation, or how best to use meeting themes to increase excitement and attendance.

Division Governors have two assistants as well, doing the same sort of thing as at the area level, and helping their counterparts at the area level be effective.

By recruiting and using assistants, the Area Governor can improve service to the clubs as well as assure quality service after they leave office, enabling them to confidently answer YES to the question “Did you leave things better than you found them?”

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Top 10 reasons to be a club coach

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The club coach program is the best tool districts have to help struggling clubs, yet many districts don’t promote the club coach program very well.  There are districts with 30-40 or more clubs eligible for coaches, but only a dozen or so assigned.

They’re effectively leaving these struggling clubs to fend for themselves, or whatever the Area Governor can spare.  Official training is available, and it’s perfect to include in Toastmasters Leadership Institutes (TLIs).

Any club with 12 or less members (according to WHQ rosters) is eligible for a coach (there can be two coaches per club), and a coach can be anyone who is not already a member of the club at the time of appointment.  To volunteer, contact your district Lt. Gov’r of Marketing!  To find a club that needs a coach, click here, then click on your district number and scroll down in the right-hand panel to the “Clubs that need coaches” section; click on club numbers for meeting information.

The club coach’s goal is to bring the club to distinguished by the second following June 30.  Simple, right?  Of course, the biggest challenge is usually rebuilding membership to be eligible to be distinguished (a whole ‘nother topic!).  A good place to start is the Successful Club Series module Moments of Truth.

Top 10 reasons to be a club coach (some good, some bad!):

10. You’re bored on the night they happen to meet

9. To fulfill the requirements for your Advanced Leader-Silver and DTM

8. To help the area/division/district be distinguished by keeping its clubs

7. Because your Area Governor asked you to help

6. To get more speaking and education session opportunities

5. To exercise your leadership skills in a new environment

4. To help organize a membership-building drive

3. To bring ideas from your club(s) to a new club, and vice versa

2. To network with the members in a new club

1. To give back to an organization that gives its members so much

What’s YOUR reason?  Add it in the comments!

A trip down memory lane

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calendarIt’s often fun to indulge in a little nostalgia for the “good old days”, and many times, there might even be a lesson to be learned from what others have done before us.  Does your club keep records of club activities like meeting agendas?  There’s a list of minimum retention policies here, but keeping some things even longer is useful when it comes time to celebrate your club’s 10th, 20th, or even 50th anniversary.

I’ve attended such celebrations, and it’s very interesting to look at these documents from a different time, when only men could join, when they all wore suits and ties, and it was all quite formal.  Paging through a “Basic Training” manual from the 195os tells us a lot about where our organization came from, but it’s surprising how some projects look almost unchanged, like the Icebreaker.

A corporate club I helped to charter is nearing its 10th anniversary and I happened to run into a newer but very involved member from it at a recent contest.  She didn’t know I had been a club sponsor, but I still have the demo meeting agenda and the charter party agenda, and she wants to borrow them!

The Internet has done much to change how Toastmasters works.  There’s an organization which is busily archiving everything publicly available on the web (once it’s on the Internet, there’s no way to completely delete anything).  Thanks to that, I was able to put together a little slide show of how the Toastmasters International web site has looked over the years, going way back to 1996.  Seeing announcements from 2004 like “NEW! Pay your dues renewal ONLINE!” seem so odd in 2010, just six years later.

http://mikeraffety.com/TMtime/

Comments appreciated!

Are you a Toastmaster?

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Timeless words from the last page of the 1956 edition of “Basic Training for Toastmasters”, written by Ralph C. Smedley:

ARE YOU A TOASTMASTER?

The Men in Toastmasters have at least two qualifications in common: they have a life-time of living ahead of them and they way to make the most of it.  Their principal goal is self-improvement.  Hundreds of firms, institutions, and associations consider a man’s completion of his Basic Training Program the cue for his advancement.

The Basic Training Program includes the completion of twelve speech experiences treated in this book.  It also includes, as part of the club activity, seldom less than fifty impromptu talks, membership on one or more committees, and the fulfillment of other specified responsibilities.  In these capacities, he learns to work with others, to evaluate and accept merited criticism, and to listen and to speak more effectively.  The Basic Training program is an adult educational experience.

Besides Basic Training which is normally completed in less than two years of club attendance, there are provided opportunities for obtaining leadership experience as a club officer, communication and more advanced group experience as an Area officer, supervisory and executive experience as a District officer, and administrative experience as a member of the International Board of Directors.

This is a form of on-the-job training, for at each of these levels of experience the man not only has the opportunity to assume responsibilities and to experiment with methods in situations where success or failure is its own reward or punishment, but also he has at his disposal the resources of experienced men and of specialists in various areas of communication.  His training is directed experience.

Toastmasters International is structured to provide for these educational experiences.  Its acceptance has been so wide that any statistics used to show the numbers sharing this training must be dated.  At present (summer 1957) membership in Toastmasters International exceeds 75,000 and to that is being added about 3,000 new members joining each month.

Membership is dynamic; like the enrollment of any educational institution, some complete the degree of training that they seek and turn their newly gained skills to profit in their businesses and professions, leaving room for others to take their places on the ladder of progressive training.

The Future of the Toastmaster is seldom in question.  Even the attainment of the fundamental plateau marked by the completion of the Basic Training Program brings tangible results.  When page 58 of this booklet is received, the Home Office provides a further support and service.  If the man so desires, a letter is sent to his “boss” advising him of this progress.

Most men are willing to accept this recognition and most employers reply, “We have been pleased with Joe’s growth in maturity, work relationships, and ability to express his ideas.  Toastmasters should be credited for helping him to attain the promotion that he is being given.”

Collecting membership dues

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international moneyIt’s almost Oct. 1, how is your club collecting members’ dues? Remind members of what their dues get them!  For about $5-8 per month (a few cups of coffee), you get to:

  • attend club meetings and give speech projects in a safe place
  • learn how to give positive constructive evaluations
  • practice your leadership skills in meetings and as a club officer
  • network with fellow club members and guests
  • build confidence in your capabilities and skills
  • serve the club and its members as they practice new skills
  • receive the glossy color Toastmaster magazine
  • register your educational awards
  • attend district conferences
  • watch and participate in speech contests!

Here’s more ideas, divided up by the type of club (who pays dues):

Community clubs (individual pays, club usually has a checking account):

  1. Member writes a check to the club (requires delivering the check to the treasurer, the treasurer has to deposit the check, maybe wait for it to clear, then make a payment to TI).
  2. Member sends money to the club via Paypal from bank account or credit card, detailed instructions on setting this up are here, courtesy District 14 Toastmasters (Paypal keeps 2-3% of dues, but worth it!).
  3. Split payment; member  pays TI dues via individual credit card (which the treasurer or other club officer directly enters on the TI web site), and any local dues separately (cash or check).  This works especially well if there are no local dues to collect, or else you have to keep track of both payments.  (The first six payments of each renewal period have to be done as a single transaction though.)
  4. Collect a year’s worth of dues at a time instead of six months (the treasurer then pays six months at a time to TI at the appropriate time).  (Be sure you have a clear policy on refunds if someone wants to quit sooner; no refunds is probably the right choice here, but make sure members know that.)
  5. If your club bank account has more than a year’s worth of local dues (international dues should be treated as a pass-through, money in equals money out), consider reducing or even waiving local dues temporarily.  (Current members shouldn’t be paying for the benefit of future members.)

Company/organization club (sponsor pays):

  1. Start well in advance, a month or two, so the check is processed long before Oct. 1/April 1.
  2. TI will send you an invoice for the renewal upon request, if your company needs one.
  3. Use a company credit card for direct payment on the TI web site.
  4. Use a personal credit card to pay and file an expense report for reimbursement (make sure this is approved in advance by whomever needs to sign off on the expense report!).

Hopefully this gives you some ideas to streamline the twice-a-year process of collecting dues!  Do you have a suggestion?  Post it on the blog comments!

Award overload

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Ever been to a district conference where it seemed like everyone got an award?  Some districts have what feels like hundreds of awards.  At one district, I swear, they handed out an award for the conference education chair’s brother-in-law’s dog’s fleas.  Well, almost.

Awards are great things.  It’s the primary form of recognizing and rewarding our members’ accomplishments.  I wish we could give every CC recipient $1,000 like McGraw-Hill does, but alas, it’s probably not in the district budget.  Nonetheless, it’s critical that we do recognize our accomplishments.

Have you ever sat through a Lt. Gov’r of Education droning through a list of 50-100 CC recipients at a district conference, or a list of all the members who sponsored a new member?  Did this do anything to motivate them, or to motivate others to get that award?  It doesn’t seem likely.

Too many awards can dilute their value.  Handing out awards with no explanation for the accomplishments that earned the award has little value.  Reading lengthy lists of names as quickly as possible will bore the audience, and isn’t going to achieve anything useful.

Here are some key tips:

  • Recognize major accomplishments in the context of your audience.  Reading out a lengthy list of CC awards at a district conference isn’t helpful, though having them (and other awards) in a printed keepsake “Hall of Fame” booklet is a great idea.  Instead, recognize those recipients at the area or division level (depending on the size of your district).  If you must recognize a large group, ask the audience to hold their applause until all names have been called, and have them stand at their place.
  • Explain what the individual did to earn the award.  One of the best examples is a well-done DTM ceremony.  While the new DTM is walking down the reception line shaking hands, the emcee reads 2-3 paragraphs about the recipient, especially including details on their year of district leadership service and their high-performance leadership project.  Be specific with the praise, just like a speech evaluation.  (Yes, it requires some advance preparation!)
  • Present awards in a timely way, as soon as possible after the accomplishment.  Rather than waiting for the end of the year to present an “Area Governor of the Year” award, why not also have four “Area Governor of the Quarter” awards every three months?  (Same for Division Governor and even Toastmaster of the Year/Quarter.)

If you haven’t handed out many awards, consider doing the “Presenting an award” project in the advanced manual “Special Occasion Speeches” (this works especially well with someone else doing the “Receiving an award” project in the same manual).  There’s a skill to the “grip and grin” routine for the camera!  For more award presentation tips, TI has a good page on this topic.

Large community club spin-offs

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I’ve been involved in building many new clubs, both community and company, and they tend to take rather different paths.  Company clubs are relatively easy to build, but also easy to lose (e.g., management changes priorities for time and/or funding).  Community clubs can be a challenge to build, but given a good start, tend to stick around a long time.

One technique I’ve seen work well for building community clubs is to grow an existing club so large that it can spin off a new club.  This method allows you to gradually grow the “new” club from within the existing one, and every guest sees what a good strong club looks like.  The more traditional approach with a community club might start with a handful of people (which can result in difficulty producing a good meeting), and then new people sign up largely on faith that it will eventually charter.

Once a club reaches 40+ members, spinning off the new club is mostly a matter of paperwork; the hardest part, the membership building, is done!  Things to decide are which members go into the second club (needs to be a good mix of new and old), club officers, and a new club name.  The only money is the $125 club charter fee.

Selling this to the club can be quite an exercise in leadership though.  The biggest concerns I would discuss are:

  • Club officer workload: How does the VP-E schedule 40+ members, finding a big enough room, collecting dues from so many, etc.
  • Meeting speech slots: Even in a weekly club with 5 speeches per meeting, that’s 250 slots a year, divided by 40 members, means each members gets to speak an average of six times a year, once every two months!
  • Leadership opportunities: A second club means the members now have 14 officer positions for practicing leadership instead of 7.
  • Lost membership: Many large clubs have a remarkably high member turnover rate, since they are unable to schedule members to speak often enough, and they can feel like a small cog in a big machine.
  • Members must feel welcome to visit back and forth between the two clubs regardless of which club they’re formally paying dues in.
  • Clubs may meet no more than once a week: It’s not in the club constitution and bylaws, but WHQ has issued statements that a club may not regularly meet more often.

I believe that the highest recognition of a club’s quality is that it is so successful, it spins off new clubs (perhaps regularly!).

Which clubs are eligible for this process?  You can find a list for your district on the page below, the last bullet at the bottom (select your district number from the menu):

http://mikeraffety.com/reports.shtml

Members vs. customers

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Over the years, I’ve noticed that some of our members really don’t act like members. They act like customers. They get in with specific goals, get what they want, and get out. They don’t want to help run the place, they just want to be customers!

Imagine what might happen if you walked into a retail shop and were treated as a “member”.  The people already there start asking you questions about what they should inventory, what their opening hours should be, whether so-and-so should be promoted to store manager!

Now, this might be something you really like, if it’s a store you feel passionately about, and want to make a big part of your life (maybe Apple Computer?).  But for many, they just want to buy a package of cookies and a carton of milk and get on with their life.

Apply this to Toastmasters.  Some of our members don’t want to help run the place, and that’s OK!  Sure, make them aware of what they’re missing out on, but don’t press on endlessly.  They may not be our future leaders (yet), but others will be.

When you talk to someone who’s just joined, ask them how involved they want to be.  Do they just want to work on some manual speeches, overcome some verbal tics, gain some confidence speaking (customer), or do they have an interest in helping run our organization, be a mentor or club officer, learn leadership skills, and help others (member)?

We need to make sure we have what our customers need — speaking opportunities, strong evaluations, opportunities for learning specific skills, even contests.  No matter how they join, ask what they’re looking for.  Match it up against our offerings.  Be sure they know we can help them with what they’re joining for, regardless of whether they are a customer or a member.

In my experience, very few people join Toastmasters as a member — they start as a customer (despite paying “membership dues”!), and then after a few meetings, a few months, even a few years, once they find out all that we offer, then they become “members”!

By the way, if you’re reading this, you’re probably a member, not just a customer!

Long-term new club retention

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How well are we doing with retention of new clubs?  I looked at clubs that chartered in the 2007-08 year (two years ago) three different ways, by club type, open/group-specific, and whether they were advanced.  (Every Toastmasters club has these three different characteristics; yes, you can have a “company open” club, or a “community group-specific” club.)

Of those clubs chartered two years ago, as of last month, we had lost 20% of the nearly-1000 new clubs (how does that compare to your district?).  Out of that, we lost 27% of the company clubs, but just 10% of the community clubs.

Looking at the same clubs a different way, we lost 23% of the group-specific clubs (i.e., closed, or organization-aligned), while we lost just 14% of the open (typically community, but not always) clubs.

Out of 37 advanced clubs chartered that year, we’ve lost just one, 2.7% (it was in Taiwan).

Conclusion:  It does appear that closed/company/group-specific clubs are much harder to retain, perhaps 2-3 times higher failure rate, over that first two years, which is the hardest time for a club.  Club mentors are so important (though I don’t have data to prove that).

Club type          Lost Total  Percent
Company             148   558   26.52%
Community            34   325   10.46%
College               6    33   18.18%
Other/Specialized     3    24   12.50%
Govt Agency           3    32    9.38%
Correctional Inst     1     5   20.00%
Military              1     3   33.33%
Church                1     5   20.00%

Open/group specific
Group Specific      149   652   22.85%
Open                 47   332   14.16%

Advanced
N                   195   946   20.61%
Y                     1    37    2.70%