To: Toastmasters Club Presidents and Coaches
Subject: TM Coaching Program for Your Club
(Email sent: Thursday, January 26, 2006)

This is a new email service for presidents and coaches of clubs with 12 or fewer members. The purpose is to share ideas to help clubs grow and thrive, not just survive. All clubs with 12 or fewer members are entitled to a coach . . . if they ask for one.

In a world when it may seem as if all the other clubs are winning awards and signing up dozens of new members - - and your club isn't - - you can feel lonely and frustrated. No longer. Let's encourage each other by sharing what's working.

I've volunteered to coordinate your questions and tips and will send messages on the 1st and 15th of each month. The first message will go out February 1, so write soon. (I'll include your name unless you ask me not to.) When you write to me, please start the subject line with TM so that your message gets through.

Case history. Years ago, at a meeting of Last Word in Pittsfield, Mass., only 3 of us showed up. When membership dropped to 7 members, we all had to pitch in to pay for the 8th so that our club could survive (the minimum requirement is now 6). Yet a couple of years later membership hit 32! The club just celebrated its 35th anniversary. Your club can grow dramatically, too.

Step #1. Decide. Are there 10 prospects within reach? If so, get them. If not, should you consider changing your meeting place or time? Some clubs say they can't add pizzazz because there are so few present. Don't just pretend that you're holding a meeting when actually no one is giving speeches. Why would members attend? Why would guests join? CHANGE SOMETHING.

Step #2. Listen. "The party was starting to rev up, with the 15 guests getting to know each other. Suddenly, the hostess burst into tears. She cried, 'I invited 30 people and only half showed up!' Until then, we were having a great time. She cast a pall on it." Listen to the talk at your club. Does it focus on who's absent? Do you make excuses for them? Face it: They must be or want to be somewhere else, not at your meeting. Don't talk about absentees. Make the meeting worthwhile for the ones who are there.

Learning. The main purpose of Toastmasters is learning. Friends are a byproduct. People join and attend when they are learning something. What are you learning? What are you teaching? What has been your most memorable meeting? When absent members ask, "What did I miss at the meeting?" be able to reply, "You should have been there. What a meeting!"

Speechcraft. A new year is the ideal time for personal growth. Chip in for a Speechcraft kit now. It's a mini-version of the basic manual. Same speeches, but shorter. Attendees make a speech at every meeting. Make flyers to distribute to companies and libraries. Charge, say, $39 for the course (a one-semester speech course at a community college can be more than $300) and require checks to be mailed in advance. Start with a four-session course, during which everyone makes three speeches. They will be the program. Yes, you can run it with only a few members.

Order the Speechcraft Starter Kit, Item 205, for $20. It has manuals for 3 instructors and 5 students. Additional student manuals are only $1.75 each.

Here's the link: www.toastmasters.org/store/item.asp?SKU=205 Or here's the link to the TI site, www.toastmasters.org In the top banner, click on Online Store (type Speechcraft in the search box).

If the attendees join your club at the end, the speeches they give count towards the CTM. Not all participants will join. But you'll create new enthusiasm and build up your funds.

Conclusion.
What ideas has your club tried that you can share with others? Send them to me this weekend! LET'S GROW!

-- Ann Bloch, Area E-1 Gov. and assitant to Club Coach chair

To: Toastmasters Club Presidents and Coaches
Subject: TM Coach - You've Taken Step #1
(Email sent: Thursday, February 09, 2006)

A bonus message since we started late in the year. Send me your ideas for the next one.

So your club now has a coach. What's next? Some people get a sense of achievement when they take the first step in any project. But then they SIT DOWN on the step!

Step #1 was recognizing that your club needs a boost and asking for a coach. Good. But who takes the next step? I deplore the phrase for this district role -- "club rescue." No, no, no. No one is going to "rescue" your club but YOU! You take the next step . . . and the next.

HELP. Years ago when I taught business communications in a local community college, students came to my office after class for extra help. They sat down and waited expectantly for me to take charge of our session. I had to train them to arrive with answers to:

1. What actions have you taken so far? (most had done nothing - - session over!)
2. What are the good things (strengths) in your writing?
3. Where do you feel you need help?
4. How do you expect me to help you?

What a difference! The coach's job is not to ride in with all the answers. You know your club. You know its strengths and needs. The coach can only provide missing information and lots of encouragement. You need to take charge of the relationship. You're the beneficiary.

As a club coach previously, I learned this lesson. The president didn't return my emails. She never called me once. When I called, she played "yes, but." To my suggestions, she answered, "Yes, but we don't have enough people to do a Speechcraft" or "Yes, but everyone is so busy."
[As for the four-letter word BUSY, ask yourselves, "Ten years ago we didn't have email but were still saying we were BUSY. Now, somehow, we fit in an hour or more a day on the Internet. Where did that time come from?"] Turns out that no one in this downtown office building even knew about a Toastmasters club meeting at noontime! There must be 1,000 people within walking distance.

MY COACH. When I wanted to write a book, I got stymied and rehashed it for a year. (Ironically, the book was about how to make writing easy!) When notified that my application had been accepted to present at the national convention of professional speakers four months hence, I knew the book had to be printed by then. A speaker in Atlanta offered to coach me by phone. We made weekly dates for ME to call him. During each call I told him where I was stuck in the process. He suggested a step or two and we agreed on my actions before the next call. I was most grateful for his support. Although I knew what to do, I just couldn't do it alone. But it was up to ME to get the book done in time. (And we did.) He never even read it since he is blind.

1. Have the president and other officers agreed how to use the coach effectively? What do you expect the coach to DO?
2. Do all of the members of your club agree on the necessary steps for success? Just "get more members" is not a STEP. Make a checklist of ACTIONS with a name by each (not just "everyone.") and start checking them off. Make one action something to beef up the program. Make a second action to expand publicity inside and outside the club. Inside? Yes, write to your members regularly. For example, send absentees notes signed by everyone present: "thinking of you." Send notes to guests thanking them for attending. (You do have a guest book, don't you? Oprah, celebrating her 20 years on TV, exclaimed "We're never had a guest book! No one thought of it." What a loss for her.)
3. Do you have a schedule of weekly phone or email messages with your coach, initiated by YOU, with steps you have taken? Or do you just expect the coach to attend your meetings in addition to his own club's meetings and somehow "rescue" your club by himself?

If you do have a checklist and if you have taken several productive steps, please send them to me to share in my next message.

-- Ann Bloch, E-1 Gov. and Assistant to Club Coach chair

To: Toastmasters Club Presidents and Coaches
Subject: What Makes a Club a Toastmasters Club?
(Email sent: Thursday, March 23, 2006)

At the District officers meeting a week ago, three Area Govs mentioned visiting clubs that were “doing their own thing” and not necessarily “doing it the TM way.” Since then, I’ve pondered what that means: the TM way. The steps to run a club and a meeting are proven -- they work. If your club is thriving, tell others via these messages what’s worked for you. If your club is not yet thriving, ask yourselves whether you’re using the tried methods.

Sometimes, motivation means just being honest among ourselves. Following is a message from the president of a once-vibrant club in Division E that recently folded after 10 years.

Poet's Seat is no more.

Thinking back, I am not certain just when things changed; however, I can speculate. For much of its history, Poet's Seat had at least a core group of members who followed the club by-laws, thus maintaining the club as a true Toastmasters club. Gradually, these people left, leaving the club in the hands of people who did not care about rules, formalities, or rituals.

I recall my first board meeting as club president. I decided to make membership (retention and building) the focus of my term. However, when I started the meeting by citing some of the by-laws re: membership, the other officers jumped down my throat. They were not interested in being part of a club which was like a country club -- a private association where new members had to be voted in or existing members could be asked to leave. The others were for a casual, informal club with no rules, which anyone could join.

There were consequences to that approach. People joined who had no commitment to the Toastmasters program. Guests, of which we did have a fair number, rarely joined. Some guests expressed a desire for a more formal setting. In the end, a sizeable portion of our membership were people with little or no commitment to the educational program. Without commitment, there was no desire to try to keep the club going.

I feel sad about the demise of Poet's Seat. I am keeping the banner as a memento.

***

Part of the response to him from the LT. Gov of Mktg: Reports also indicate that only one officer was trained. We know from experience that there's a direct correlation between officers trained and club health.

Question from me: How do you feel about the president’s message? How does your club feel about “voting in” members? (I’ve never been in a club that did that or that really asked for a commitment. Maybe mine should.) Do your officers know their roles? If not, get your AG to review them. Poet’s Seat apparently had enough guests to flourish. Why didn’t they join? What a missed opportunity!

As we enter the final quarter of the TM year, ask your club members the one thing they can point out to change that would make a difference. Let me know what’s working so that it can be shared among clubs.

PR Tip: Every day in your newspaper are articles or brief blurbs about people who have been promoted or who are opening professional offices. How about clipping the article and sending it to them with a note about how Toastmasters could benefit them in their career?

TIP: After faxing two flyers to a sales group who shows mild interest -- and who need TM! -- I’ve decided to fax another flyer listing dates of the next six meetings. It’s not enough to say “first and third Tuesday.”

--Ann Bloch, Area E-1 Gov. and Assistant to Club Coach Chair