Building new clubs helps Founder's District stay healthy and grow to serve your needs as a District leader, and the needs of each member in every club. Building clubs requires a huge team effort, not only from the Marketing Team but also from District leaders like you. Each new club requires:

• a Sponsor or two to help it get off the ground
• a Demonstration Team (4–5 experienced Toastmasters) to run a demonstration meeting for the prospective club
• a Mentor or two to help it survive and thrive for the first 6–12 months

This affords you a number of speaking and leadership opportunities which will help you achieve your personal goals, gain personal satisfaction from helping others discover the benefits of Toastmasters and help strengthen the District.

Duties of the Sponsor

The Sponsor (up to 2 per new club) is appointed by the District Governor and leads development of the new club. The Sponsor will work with the Marketing Team by:

• attending the pre-demo meeting ("selling" Toastmasters to the prospective host organization);
• setting up the demonstration meeting, including arranging the program, creating the agenda and working with the Demo Team Coordinator to staff the program;
• attending and participating in the demonstration meeting; and
• working with the New Club Committee of the hosting organization to plan and execute future meetings until the club is chartered.

Duties of the Mentor

The Mentor (up to 2 per new club) is appointed by the District Governor and helps the new club members and officers “learn the ropes” during the first 6 months of meetings following the charter application. The duties of the Mentor include:

• helping the officers understand their duties;helping the VPE setup the programs & agendas;
• helping the club understand the importance of the Distinguished Club Program and club goals;
• training the members in speaking and leadership using the Better Speaker Series and Successful Club Series training modules;
• serving as General Evaluator and Evaluator for speeches until several members have given at least 3 speeches.

Duties of the Demo Team

The Demo Team Leader helps organize the program and set the agenda for the demonstration meeting. He or she will draw from the local pool of talented Toastmasters to build a demonstration team consisting of a Toastmaster, General Evaluator, Table Topics Master, Speaker and Evaluator. Timer and Grammarian roles are optional and can be delegated to the prospective club members or handled by other Toastmasters.

The Demo Team Members agree to be available for demonstration meetings when possible, and to thoroughly understand and prepare for any assigned program role as directed by the Demo Team Leader or the Marketing Team.


See Also

Start a New Club