The subject club, with the support and assistance of the District leadership, conducts a series of four weekly meetings designed to attract Toastmasters skeptics and dispel negative thoughts, enhance club programming, build the club membership, and aid in the club extension efforts of the District.
Week 1: Hold a one-hour seminar based on the Leadership
Excellence Series, How to Listen Effectively, etc., and the needs of the
target audience.
There
is no mention of the Toastmasters program at this point, just an invitation
to return for week 2 of the program.
Week 2: Provide a shorter seminar, featuring some of the
principles of the High Performance Leadership program or an appropriate presentation
from
an Advanced
Speaking manual. A Table Topics–style session follows. The total
program time is approximately one hour, and there is still no mention
of the Toastmasters
program at this meeting. There is an invitation to return for week 3
of the program.
Week 3: This program features a typical Advanced speech presentation,
an evaluation, and a Table Topics session. These presentations should highlight
the advantages of the Toastmasters program and tell how participants can
get from where they are now to where they want to be effectively, efficiently,
and cost effectively.
Week 4: This week’s program is more like a classic Demo meeting, where all the details of the Toastmasters program are explained and the people attending are given the opportunity to join the club. This is the conclusion of the four-week cycle. Regardless of the number of people who join the club, the cycle is repeated until the club is at charter strength and on its way to becoming Distinguished.
I envision this program becoming a standard means of rebuilding and expanding Toastmasters membership and presence in the corporate world.
The idea is a classic, but positive, “bait and switch” tactic.
The prospect first sees the solution to his or her situation presented
and then as times goes on, how Toastmasters can help. The point is to
get them
to the meeting without having their preconceptions of Toastmasters cloud
their view. This is opposite to the way clubs are started, but the target
client
probably rejected Toastmasters when the club was formed.
This model can also be used to help start a second club in large
companies, especially when more than one location is available or
the first club is
made up of members from predominantly one department.
This program depends on the support and buy-in of the club members
and the District leadership.
The various week 1 and week 2 presentations should include but not
be limited to:
Richard Elliott, DTM, is currently the Division E Governor in Founder’s
District. He first joined Toastmasters in 1980 and has been a member of clubs
in District 1 as well as Founder’s District. He has held all the club-level
offices at least once and served as Area Governor in District 1 and in Founder’s
District. In District 1, his Area was Select Distinguished and while in Founder’s
District, he was Division E Area Governor of the Year. In 2003-2004, he took
over as Division E Governor when the current Division Governor resigned. Feeling
that his service was incomplete, Richard agreed to stay on as Division E Governor
for a second term, where he is currently serving. Richard is a Certified Hypnotherapist.
He is married and has 3 children and 4 grandchildren, including a set of twin
girls just born in May. History has shown him that although he can leave a
club, he can't quit Toastmasters.