D53 Leadership News and Letters
- November 2005: A Letter from District Governor Paul Young, DTM
- November 2005: A Letter from LGET John Lynch, DTM
- November 2005: A Letter from LGM Will Ryan, DTM
- November 2005: A Letter from Jim McNearney, PRO
November 2005: A Letter from District Governor Paul Young, DTM
This letter is the first of a series of bi-monthly letters from your District 53 Governor, Lt Governor Education, Lt Governor Marketing, and Public Relations Officer. I feel that direct communications from your senior leadership is essential in order for us to ensure that you are getting the benefits that come with the TI Program. My special thanks go out to all of the volunteer club officers that are helping members to find their voice by attending officer training and participating in their club meetings. A healthy club has well-trained officers; there is no doubt about it. A healthy club has a full meeting with speakers, evaluators, table topics and all of the supporting roles, the members and guests learn something every time they attend, that is why we come back time and time again.
Our International President Dilip Abayasekara’s theme for this year is “Find Your Voice, Serve Your World”. Do you have your CTM already? I ask you to serve your world by mentoring a new member or managing a mentor program at your club if there isn’t one now. There may come a day when we accept an officer role and simply drift away without minding the details for club and member success. There may come a day when the district team fails to deliver on the responsibilities that the membership voted them into office to complete, it is not this day, renew your commitment and let’s ride together out into the world that needs to hear about and experience the confidence that Toastmasters meeting participation brings to all!
There are many exiting things happening in the very near future to help your club and its members;
- Website for each club program chaired by IPDG Rich Couture and PRO Jim McNerney.
- Toastmasters World Champions of Public Speaking Night on December 17 in Hartford.
- District-wide web based electronic membership survey.
- Web-based survey for non-renewing members (I will be asking club presidents to direct your non-renewing members to complete this survey).
- Targeted Advertising in Business newspapers around our district.
These tools and those that you will read about on the following pages will enable your club to deliver a quality meeting where people learn something every time they attend. I am focused on keeping the District 53 Team well trained and ready to help you find your voice and serve your world!
MINDING THE GAP
Paul Young, DTM
District 53 Governor 2005-06
November 2005: A Letter from LGET John Lynch, DTM
Calling all Club Officers! Do you want to make your club meetings more exciting? As a member of a club we want you and every one of your members to reach their goals and the most effective way to do this is with well trained club officers.
Can you believe that we are now entering the second club officer-training period? In the past we have labeled this training session the “Halftime Huddle” because it is designed to be more interactive for you. You will not be sequestered in a room and lectured to for two hours; rather each and every one of you will be participating in “Mid Winter Leadership Networking” session. This is your opportunity to share your successes along with your challenges. What you will find is that you are not alone. There will be at least one person who has experienced your current club environment.
We have designed the training around your needs and the feedback received over the past couple of years. You should be prepared to spend 30 minutes with your fellow Division officers discussing a specific officer roles, 30 minutes in an interactive Table Topics Session and 30 minutes reviewing you club DCP. We have planned the sessions to run no longer than two hours. We are asking you to bring a couple of very important items with you. The first one is an open mind to actively participate in this interactive training. The second would be your Club Success Plan along with the Distinguished Club Program to see how you are doing through the first half of the year. The third item would be in question format one question that reflects your clubs biggest concern to your team.
Now for this to be an effective training session we need your participation. Visit your District website at www.district53toastmasters.org for the most up to date training dates along with all of the most recent district news. It is your one stop site for all of your Toastmasters’ needs.
On December 3rd and 4th Paul, Will and I will be attending our Mid Winter training with all of the other District leaders in our Region. We are committed to each and every one of you reaching your goals and being successful. Talk with the rest of your executive team and continue to honor your commitment to your club and get to training session.
Remember to LEARN, Lead by example, Energize others with your enthusiasm, adopt a positive Attitude, take Responsibility for reaching your goals and Never give up on your dreams.
Together we can all reach our goals.
John Lynch, DTM
Lt. Governor Education and Training (LGET)
November 2005: A Letter from LGM Will Ryan, DTM
What’s in it for me? That’s the question we each ask ourselves before we buy into anything in life—a process, a product, a family, an organization. In my 20 plus years in Toastmasters, there’s been a lot in it for me. I’ve grown as a speaker, a leader and a human being. Consider your time in Toastmasters. I’m sure you’ve received great benefits. And those benefits have caused you to take a leadership role in your club and help district leaders to support and advance District 53. Thanks for all you’ve done.
Over the four months I've been in office, I've read club visit reports from your Area Governors and have spoken with many of you at contests and at the District conference. Over and over, you've told me that you're challenged by the task of attracting new members. You've also said that retaining current members is a formidable task. I have no magic pill to solve this problem; however, I can offer you hope in the form of some facts:
- Exciting and meaningful meeting programming is attractive to both current members and guests. It's a prerequisite for membership growth and retention.
- Club web sites have proven to attract more guests.
- At least 50% of our guests become members. This is a great statistic—one I would have been overjoyed with when I was in professional sales.
If we look at our membership goals from a high level, they look simple. All we have to do as club leaders is to establish a nurturing environment where members feel it's safe to risk speaking in public. Next, we have to encourage all members to get enrolled in membership growth so that at least two guests attend every meeting. Guests need to be introduced at your meeting and encouraged to speak during Table Topics. Finally, we need to get their feedback (evaluation of the club) and invite guests to be part of our club.
As an officer of your club you can either do the membership task on your own or you can enroll everyone in your club in the process. Obviously, it’s easier to get everyone enrolled. We've developed the District 53 Membership Kit as direct support of your membership efforts. If you don’t already have a copy, please download the elements of the Kit that are needed in your club. http://www.district53toastmasters.org/pafiledb/pafiledb.php?action=category&id=3.
As you count your blessings and give thanks later this month, remember to be thankful for the gifts of Toastmasters. One significant way to express your gratitude is to volunteer to be a club coach where you'll have the satisfaction of helping another club achieve distinguished status. With your gift of leadership, you'll feel really good about yourself and you'll earn points toward your advanced leadership award when the club you're coaching becomes distinguished.
So it all comes back to “What’s in it for me?” or WIIFM (pronounced wifim). Once prospective members see the WIIFM’s of toastmasters, you'll be delighted as your membership roster grows.
Minding the Membership Gap,
Will Ryan, DTM
Lt. Governor Marketing (LGM)
November 2005: A Letter from Jim McNearney, PRO
While each of us may have had somewhat different reasons for initially joining Toastmasters, I think you’ll all agree that one of the main objectives of any Toastmaster is self-improvement. Personally, I believe that in the area of self-improvement there is no such thing as the status quo; you’re either pushing forward or you’re drifting backward. I think the very same thing holds true for our Toastmaster clubs. Our clubs remain vibrant and alive through a steady infusion of speakers, each of whom presents us with new ideas, different perspectives and their own unique style of delivering a speech.
To keep gaining maximum benefit from our Toastmasters experience we must keep adding new members to our clubs. And what is the best way to do that? In my opinion, the best way to grow our clubs is through word-of-mouth. The more people with whom we share the benefits that Toastmasters has to offer, the more people we’ll get to visit our clubs.
Even industry giants like Coca-Cola and McDonalds experience ebbs and flows in their number of sales based upon their current levels of advertising. Coca-Cola offers soda and McDonald’s offers fast food. What does Toastmasters offer? How about these delicious little goodies:
- Increased communication skills,
- Increased self-confidence,
- Make new friends,
- Learn leadership skills,
- Greater success in your profession,
- Open doors to new career opportunities,
- Learn to a run successful meeting,
- Become a better listener,
- Learn to better think on your feet; and
- Learn about new and interesting subjects through other member’s speeches.
I’ve created Public Relations marketing strategy documents for both open and closed clubs. The documents are available on the District 53 website in the “Resources” filing cabinet. I urge both you and the VPPR to look them over and pick out a couple of ideas to try. If you have any questions, or if I can be of help in any way related to PR, please feel free to contact me.
Thanks,
Jim McNerney
Public Relations Officer
(PRO)