Editor’s Note
The Little Engine That Could is a classic children’s book that teaches the value of optimism and hard work. Somebody asks all the engines in the train yard to pull a long, heavy train over the mountain. They all refuse except one. The Little Engine takes up the challenge and starts voicing a mantra: “I-think-I-can, I-think-I-can, I-think- I-can.” Although the mountain is steep and the train is long and heavy, the Little Engine’s optimism and hard work win the day. This book is a great metaphor for life and describes the spirit of the Penn Hills Toastmasters Club. On their own, the club had already earned four points in the Distinguished Club Program. Two coaches arrived and quickly focused their efforts on membership growth. They hosted an open house, advertised using online calendars, placed ads on event websites and used LinkedIn. With a lot of optimism and hard work, the Little Club That Could added 12 new members and earned the Distinguished Club Award. What about your club? How will you help your club overcome its challenges?
Only a Little Help Was Needed
Penn Hills Toastmasters is a unique club within District 13. The club was chartered September 6, 2001 and initially met at a local school. Penn Hills is an open club and all are welcome to attend and join. As with all clubs, Penn Hills Toastmasters experienced member- ship turnover. There were many reasons for the loss of membership. The club was not following the Toastmasters protocol for having quality meetings. Most of the meetings were not planned in advance and it was not until the members walked into the meeting that they tried to put a meeting together. The club did not have officer meetings, and at times, some members brought their children to the meeting. The meetings were low quality and some members did not feel it was beneficial for them to be there and left the club. By 2003, there were only six members in the club. In 2005, two club coaches were appointed by the district to try to bring new energy into the diminishing club. At the end of the 2005-2006 Toastmaster year, the Penn Hills Toastmaster Club was Select Distinguished.
The club moved its location to a library centrally located in Penn Hills in April 2009. Membership started to increase, but as quickly as members were being added to the club, they were leaving. At this point the club had few members and could not attract new ones. In January 2011, I was asked to coach the Penn Hills Toastmasters Club. At that time, there were 11 members. The impressive factor in the club was they had four DCP points in January. This suggested that the club had a strong desire to participate in the Toastmasters program, yet had an issue with adding members. The club needed 16 members by the end of June to become a distinguished club. The members were eager to have a distinguished club since most of the members of the club were not present when the club was Select Distinguished in 2006. This was the last time the Penn Hills was a distinguished club.
When I first started attending the club meetings in January 2011, a couple of thoughts immediately jumped out at me. First, I could not believe how positive the members of the club were. They were all very dedicated to making their club distinguished and building up the membership base. I thought they would not be happy with a club coach, thinking they had managed to achieve four DCP points without one. I was wrong, they were eager to hear what thoughts or ideas I could share from my past Toastmaster experience and were willing to try any new ideas I had to offer. Second, I was impressed by the quality of the meetings. The club always had an agenda and it was followed. The whole meeting lasted one hour, at the end of the meeting they adjourned for the business meeting. There were always emails going back and forth if a member could not attend or perform a role and someone would volunteer to step up and take on that role. Third, all seven officers were trained at each TLI. I was surprised this was a constant and the officers all attended each TLI for their training. They conducted officer meetings and conference calls when needed.
Focus on New Members
Low membership was the only issue. After visiting the club for a few meetings I had some suggestions on how the club could address this challenge by building its membership base. At this time, a second club coach was appointed, Jerry Horn ACB, CL. Jerry and I were in two other clubs together. It was very helpful having a second club coach. If I could not make a meeting, I knew Jerry would be there and vice versa. It was also very advantageous that we would meet before each Penn Hills Club meeting to go over plans and strategy to help this club achieve all of its goals.
The best way to have the club become distinguished was not to worry about the DCP points, but to concentrate on membership. By acquiring the specific number of new members needed, the club would earn another DCP point bringing the total to five. We focused on membership growth with a two-part plan: attract guests and turn them into members. At the time we didn’t think it would be difficult to get five new members in four months. We didn’t realize what a struggle it would be to get the final couple of members by June 30th.
Our Multifaceted Public Relations Campaign
We focused on attracting guests, because the club already had great meetings full of well- prepared participants. We believed that if guests attended, they would like our meetings and join. The first course of action was to have an open house. The prior year the club held an open house and had 13 guests show up. The members were all excited about the possibility of having that many guests again. The open house was planned over a two- month period. The VP of PR advertised the open house on several local event websites including the website for the library where the meetings are held. There was an officer conference call along with the coaches and we planned out the agenda for the open house. Flyers were printed out and each member emailed these flyers to all their friends and family or posted it on their Facebook page. We set up the program for the open house to show guests that Toastmasters can benefit everyone despite their needs or experience in public speaking. We demonstrated the full range of manual speeches with a newer member giving his second speech, while I gave a speech out of an advanced manual. We also demonstrated the other two parts of a Toastmaster meeting as well, table topics and evaluations. Unfortunately, we only had four guests, and only one of the guests joined.
After this open house, we concentrated our efforts on advertising and promoting the club using online resources. Our VP of PR did a great job of promoting the club on event websites and calendar websites in the local area. This brought in a few guests and we did have a new member join. I came up with the idea to promote the club in a couple networking groups I belonged to on LinkedIn. These groups have a different source of members who are professional individuals and might have a desire to improve their communication and leadership skills. I encouraged each club member to use a posting on any groups they belong to and see what happens. I also made a general post to all of my contacts on my home page. I mentioned not only public speaking, but asked if the person had trouble answering questions in an interview. I also mentioned leadership. This sparked some interest in the groups and we had 2 people interested. One person joined after only one post on LinkedIn.
Jerry and I were so impressed with this club we also joined! The club was Distinguished. In the 2010-11 Toastmaster year, the Penn Hills Toastmasters Club added 12 new members. The club won the Smedley Award and the Beat the Clock Award. The Penn Hills Toastmasters Club as of August 2011, is a thriving club. Each meeting is well organized with an agenda and stays within the one-hour time frame. The club has had up to three speakers for each meeting. One new member, who joined in May, attended the District Spring Conference and has stepped up to be an officer in the new Toastmaster year. How exciting!
Lessons Learned
I am so happy I had the opportunity to coach this special club. I went into being a club coach with the notion that I could coach and teach the members how to improve the club and become all that they can be in Toastmasters. I was the one who learned the lesson of what happens when a little Toastmasters club works hard and believes in its members and its club. The club welcomed me and has become one of my favorite Toastmasters clubs.
I have benefited from this experience and I encourage anyone to become a club coach if the opportunity presents itself. Not only will you help others achieve their goals, get credit for being a club coach, you will learn a lot about yourself from others. I definitely learned a great deal from my experience with the Penn Hills Toastmasters Club. I learned that it takes determination, professionalism, and willingness to go the extra mile both for the coach and the members to support their club.
As of today, the club has 17 members who regularly attend club meetings. In the last two meetings, guests have visited and will be joining the next meeting. The club has high quality meetings each and every time. The guests are greeted warmly and someone offers to discuss the details of Toastmasters with them. The guests are given a membership packet, which contains an application, a Toastmaster magazine, contact information for all of the officers and a list of all the roles and duties during a Toastmaster meeting. This allows the guests to enjoy the meeting and take home the information to look over at a future date. For the first time in a few years, the Penn Hills Toastmaster Club is holding a Humorous Speech Contest and Table Topics Contest. Some of the new members are participating and are quite excited! The Penn Hills Club is also hosting the Area 11 Humorous Speech and Table Topics Contest. The Penn Hills Toastmasters Club is without a doubt, the little club that could and did!
By Denise Ann Galloni, successful club coach of the Penn Hills Toastmasters Club #1104
A Letter of Praise
On behalf of Penn Hills Toastmasters Club 1104 I would like to express our gratitude to Area 10 Governor Denise Galloni, who enthusiastically embraced the role of club coach. Her speaking skills are exemplary, and matched only by her leadership skills. Her dedication to the Toastmasters mission was apparent, by the ways in which she kept the Club apprised of events of potential interest, and was always available to clarify the standards of Toast- masters International, as they applied to the Club’s optimal functioning. She was also instrumentally involved in our open house event during the Spring of 2011. Denise was respectful of all members and welcoming to all guests. She presented as the consummate professional, and set a positive example to which all can aspire. We truly appreciate all that Denise contributed to the Club during her coaching stint, wish her well, and look forward to continued interactions with her at upcoming Toastmasters functions.
By Carol J. Power, VPPR – Penn Hills Toastmasters Club #1104