Editor’s Note
There are few opening ceremonies as auspicious as the christening and naming of a new vessel. The champagne is splashed across the stern and the ship slips bow first into the bay. It is a special occasion because the ship may embark on a decades-long voyage of discovery and service. Like any new event, excitement and possibilities characterize a new beginning. In the English seaside city of Plymouth, the Armada Toastmasters launched a well-coordinated rebuilding effort with a unique demo meeting. Most demo meetings are abbreviated versions of a regular meeting. The Armada Speakers tried something different. They encouraged and emphasised audience participation to establish the principle that, yes, despite any anxiety you may have, you can speak at a Toastmasters meeting and it will benefit you. The meeting was a splendid success. The club continued to emphasise guest involvement throughout the 2010-2011 Toastmaster year. New policies encouraged guest visits, ensured friendly follow-ups and made it easy for guests to join the club. The club won the Smedley Award and ended the year with a net gain of 10 new members. Would you like to add more members to your club? Consider a Armada-style demo meeting.
Dwindling Membership Presents a Worthwhile Challenge
The Armada Toastmasters started in October 2008 as an open club, membership rapidly grew to around 35, and chartered straight away. By the middle of 2009 we were seeing issues with dwindling membership and an issue with lack of funds. The dwindling membership was partially due to some of the members that joined at the start realising it wasn’t for them, and on top of this we had the recession, which left some members jobless or changing priorities. This was added to by the venue wanting more money for the venue hire.
Because of this we had to move to a new venue, which was far from ideal and we moved on again quickly, still the venue was not perfect but it was functional. At the start of 2010 we were down to nine members and we needed to take action. At this point there were two members who wanted a public speaking club in the city, and were prepared to put in the hard work to get this back up to where it should be.
Our Prioritised Action Plan
We drew up an action plan and we prioritised it as follows:
- Find new suitable venue
- Fill the officer roles Grow membership to 20 by December 2010
- Attain Distinguished Club Award
- Allow more fun and interaction during the second half of the meeting.
Improvements Begin At Our New Venue
One of our members took the task of contacting all the local hotels in search of a good venue at a good price. We had already resolved the issue with our finances, but with so little income we had to keep an eye on our outgoings. I visited the hotel (the only venue who didn’t laugh at us), and we came to an agreement (very cheap for six months so we could grow our membership, then a rise to the standard rate), and more importantly they wanted to help us, and still do to this day. The hotel helps by publishing that we meet there and they carry some leaflets at reception. They also acknowledge we meet there.
We started at the venue in early June 2010, so we could start the new Toastmaster year in the right location, being central in the City with enough off street or nearby free on street parking. Filling the officer roles was a harder task, but we managed to fill most of the roles, with a view to change throughout the year as membership grew. We have struggled and still struggle in filling the Sergeant at Arms, and Treasurer role. These two roles along with President, VP Education, VP Membership were viewed as being critical, to stabilise the club, and grow the membership.
By the end of June 2010 we had already picked up two members, we knew that the change in venue was working. We went on a membership drive, but instead of giving a demonstration meeting we decided on a format that would allow all guests to take part, and indeed we would encourage them to take part, giving them something to take away, and bring back to come and see a full meeting Our VP PR advertised the meeting, but every member was asked to contribute. One member contacted every guest that had ever visited the club and asked them to come and visit again. We had some posters printed up and we distributed them, we also utilised Social Media (FreeToastHost.org, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, among others).
We didn’t have any speeches that day, and various members ran different parts of the evening, we had a warm up, followed by Table Topics. Then after a short break, which enabled members to discuss things with the guests. We started back with a Debate (using our coaches as the two opponents), we completed the evening by playing a word game.
The word game was based on collective nouns of animals, to prove exactly how little we knew. The meeting then concluded after John one of our coaches and our Area Governor told us all what he thought! This meeting was successful and we gained several more members from it, and actually gained the Ralph Smedley award during this period. And this continued; we made sure guests were looked after really well, we also stopped charging for visits, allowing guest’s up to three meetings to decide if Toastmasters was for them. All guests are given a welcome pack on their first visit; this includes a welcome letter from the President, details of the roles, and a summary of the 10 CC speeches, along with a magazine and a joining form. They then have someone sit with them for the first meeting explaining what is happening and answering any questions. Our VP Membership should follow-up with them (normally via email) after each meeting. We allowed more fun and interaction during the second half of the meeting has allowed members to express themselves during Table Topics, although we do have to keep a check on some people to stop them interrupting. This came about as when we set up we were told you sit and listen, this actually caused some people to stop coming, as it is done in their own time they wanted to have some time were interaction was allowed.
We got up to our 20 members by December 2010, however we have seen a big churn in new members and this has continued, and we closed the year with 21 members, but we did manage to achieve Select Distinguished Club Award, with only the lack of advanced speakers stopping us gaining the Presidents Distinguished Club Award, which we hope to achieve this year. The work isn’t done yet, as we have set a goal of 40 members by the end of this year. I have drawn up a membership drive campaign, and for the first time in the clubs history we will hold club competitions twice this year.
Lessons Learned
Before you can rebuild a club you have to find out what went wrong. This can only happen by asking current and ex members, and also ask them what could be done different. (Even for clubs doing OK, this is an important item. Always check to see what could be done better, and change it.)
Put this into a plan, and make sure that all members take ownership of this plan; it is going to need every member on board to be successful. This means that members are taking ownership of the club and will want it to succeed. If your club has never had a big membership, then contact guests, try and find out why they didn’t join?If I had to do this again I would do nothing different, but would make sure we did a second hit of membership recruitment 4 – 6 months later to boost numbers even further.
If you are seeking a new venue, then I suggest the following
- Your budget for the venue
- Ideal location
- Ease of access on Public Transport
- Good local parking (preferably free)
- A venue that will support you, that gives a good impression to visitors and guests.
If you are going to run a demonstration meeting then be clear about what you want to achieve. People can always visit a proper meeting to get an idea of an authentic Toastmasters meeting, having been part of a true demo meeting that simply didn’t work; we wanted to get people to speak. For us, most of our members join to overcome nerves in public speaking, by getting the chance to speak, and speak more than once, most left with the knowledge they could speak in public, could gain from coming back and increased their self-confidence.
A Letter of Praise
Our club achieved Chartership from inauguration but over the next two years reached a point where only nine members remained. We had to re-build. It is hard to re-build within your own resources with day jobs to attend and life events to contend with. We needed help and approached the then Area Governor John EVANS. We formally requested assistance that immediately meant access to funds and to John and Michelle Coffey from North Avon Speakers who were valuable sources of information, suggestions and support. Both visited the club, no mean feat and at least a two hundred mile round trip, and with a hard core of officers rallied around and an open evening was arranged. The publicity and open evening attracted interest and new members that soon boosted the club to fourteen, but still short of our target of twenty. With the money spent but support from John and Michelle and continual cajoling from the hard core and notably this year’s president, we have progressed to twenty one members and also achieved distinguished status. By the way, it hasn’t finished there, there’s more to do; now what was that quotation about oak trees and acorns?
Regards, John Campbell-Beattie CC CL