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Membership
Finding and Visiting a Club
Visiting a club is the best way to learn about Toastmasters! If
you are interested in learning more about Toastmasters, refer to
the list
of clubs to find
a District 80 club which meets in a location and time convenient
to your office, home or commute.
Starting a Club
Toastmasters groups are formed every day in a variety of
settings. Groups meet onsite at corporations, churches,
community centres – even in restaurants. Forming a Toastmasters
group is simple. All of the materials are provided for you and a
team of local Toastmasters will guide you through the process.
Your Organization Needs Toastmasters
Your company’s success
depends in large part on how well your
employees communicate – with each other as well as with
customers. Good communicators tend to be good leaders, and
chances are your company needs employees with leadership
potential. This is where a Toastmasters group can help.
Getting Involved to Help Other
Clubs
If you'd like to get involved by helping new or existing clubs,
the program offers these opportunities:
-
A Club
Coach may be assigned to an existing club with 12 or fewer
members. The coach helps by providing guidance to help the
club increase membership, drive fun and productive meetings
that meet member needs and become Distinguished (see
Distinguished Club Program).
-
A Club
Mentor may be assigned to a new club. The mentor helps by
providing guidance to ensure the club meets member needs by
following the Toastmasters program.
-
A Club
Sponsor champions a new club.
Serving as a Coach, Mentor, or Sponsor is one of the
requirements for the Advanced Leader Silver award, which is on
the path to becoming a Distinguished Toastmaster. Serving in
these roles can also be a rewarding experience.
Club Coach
Clubs that have less
than 13 members qualify for a coach.
The article Be
a Club Coach describes
a Toastmasters Club Coaching Experience, including "what
worked," "what did not work," and "what I would do next time."
Toastmasters Membership Goals
The overall health of a club depends very much on the number of
active members. Having a larger number of members in your club
generally translates into more energetic and interesting
meetings, which in turns leads to a higher level of satisfaction
among your club's members.
Toastmasters clubs are encouraged to keep membership at “charter
strength” above 20 members (the number required to charter a new
club.) The Distinguished
Club Program (DCP)
requires that the club has 20+ members at year end (June 30), or
the total number of members has grown by 5 or more since the
beginning of the Toastmasters year (previous July 1).
There are also DCP goals for gaining new members: one goal for 4
new members and another goal for 4 or more additional members.
Aim to bring in one new member a month to keep your club healthy
and replace any attrition!
Increasing Club Membership
Most people joined their Toastmasters club because someone
invited them to attend a meeting. Encourage all your members to
invite friends and co-workers to watch a meeting and see how it
works! This website contains some more tips to help your club
membership grow.
Open House Meetings
An Open House or demonstration meeting can be one of the easiest
ways to build membership.
Retaining Members
In addition to gaining new members, it's very important to keep
the current members! To do so, the club meeting should have
quality meetings, supportive and constructive evaluations, and
an enjoyable environment.
The Club
Quality Audit checklist
reviews some items to ensure the club is doing well. The Successful
Club Series module
called Moments of Truth (available for free download)
is a good tool to review your club progress. You can also
consider these 106
Ideas for Retaining Members. |
