Passion, Excitement, and Determination

Amy Campbell, DTM
Club Growth Director

Earlier this year, there was much speculation around how our clubs would grow and thrive under the circumstances of the pandemic. Allow me to reassure you – the passion, the excitement, the determination of you, the members, is clear. You are shouting LOUDER than any obstacle that has come your way, and it is impressive!

As you continue to renew members, with all your passion, excitement, and determination – remember to claim the free path, as announced by Toastmasters International. ALL members who renewed for the 2020-10-01 to 2021-03-31 period (and do so before 2020-12-31) are gifted a path in Pathways. This may be an incentive to invite members from last period back to the club, but definitely a gift for you to enjoy and develop new skills you’ve been wanting to explore.

In addition to renewing your members, the “Conversation with Club Leaders” workshops are designed as a forum to discuss topics around membership building. It has been a great joy to participate with everyone sharing thoughts, conversation, and ideas with fellow members. These conversations will continue in the coming months, rest assured, but for now, a summary of the four key components of membership building:

1. The existing information (can a guest find you or is there conflicting information on the Internet?)
2. Public Relations (beyond the “join our club” posts, have you profiled your members, written an article for a local paper, or shared an article from the Toastmasters magazine and its importance?)
3. Special Event (think outside of the traditional open house and explore a leadership educational from the Better Leader Series with a special promotion campaign to draw in guests, or a speak-a-thon, or an award-winning guest speaker)
4. Guest Experience (it is tough to reflect on our own clubs to really understand how the guest experienced the meeting, but the moments of truth will guide you through the process and ensure your guests have the same great feeling you did that caused you to join!)

If you want to grow your leadership skills, consider the position of club coach. The role of Club Coach allows a member to assist a thriving club, while offering the experiential learning of skill development such as building rapport with another team, instilling enthusiasm and camaraderie, assessing an environment and recommending best practices for success. It’s your leadership experience at the next level!

The planning has begun for the next few months, and it is being fueled by your passion, excitement, and determination. To quote Ralph Smedley, “Ours is the only organization I know dedicated to the individual. We work together to bring out the best in each of us and then we apply these skills to help others.” We (the Club Growth Team), want to ensure your clubs have a great year. Together, we will grow and thrive! Reach out to connect: cgd@tmd61.com.