Attracting Guests

“ If you build it, he will come” is a line from the 1989 Kevin Costner movie "Field of Dreams."  That means if you create something that everyone needs/wants, then they will come to you rather than you having to go find them.  With all due respect to Kevin Costner, this doesn’t work as well with open houses.  Although I believe Toastmasters would be beneficial in everyone’s life, just the fact that you have an open house does not guarantee that people will come.  I  believe open houses need to be promoted by fliers, social media, and, of course, the best way is word of mouth. 

Most open houses that my club has are promoted very heavily. However, I remember a certain open house where we really fell flat on our face.  We had a member who was also a professor at a local college and he wanted to start a Toastmasters club there.  He was certain that all the professors would find the same value in Toastmasters that he had.  He begged the club to come do a demonstration meeting at the college.  He said he would promote it.

The day of the event was drawing closer and he kept assuring me this meeting would be well attended. He said we didn’t have to do a thing. Just show up and present the concept of Toastmasters to the group.   He was full of excitement.  The day came for the meeting and not one person from this college showed up.  I asked how he had promoted it.  He said he told a couple of professors about it and they seemed eager to come.  He hung no signs.  He did no follow-up.  That demo meeting was a bust and to me the main reason was lack of promotion.

In this era of online clubs, I have now travelled around and attended four online open houses.  One had no guests except  me and Steve, two had a few guests and one club had a whopping 13 guests.  In talking with members of some of the clubs, I found the difference was promotion.  

One club has only two members and really did need the open house.  I asked how she promoted it.  She said she mentioned it to a couple of people.  Did you put it on social media? Her answer, “Not really,  I don’t think people are really on Facebook anymore.”   Steve and I were the only visitors at that open house.  

The club that had 13 guests is what really impressed me.  Steve and I were the only two guests who were already Toastmasters.  The majority of the others were invited by someone in the club.  Most of them had never been to a Toastmasters meeting before and were eager to learn what Toastmasters has to offer. 

So I guess my next question is what is the follow-up after the visitors come?  But I will save that for another blog.

Balboa Park Toastmasters San Diego, California

 8/5/20

As the tune of "California Dreamin" played in my head, I was beginning to understand why The Mamas and The Papas wrote a song about California.  This is a club that all clubs should dream about having.  As Steve dressed in his prim and proper button-down shirt, most of these free-wheeling spirits dressed in beach casual with their tank tops and colorful attire.  We entered Zoom early and found seven members chatting away.  Laughter, and lightness filled the spaces.  We were greeted right away and felt some of that light-hearted spirit settle on us.   

Now I can’t speak for all clubs in California, but this one really has it going on.  They have 22 members and are currently President's Distinguished.  I was impressed that they had their Zoom information on their website and FaceBook page.  No one has to search to figure out how to get to their Zoom meeting.  The members were positive, enthusiastic, energetic and friendly.  They had one speaker who spoke for 21 minutes.  How can someone take a flaw, such as her blindness and turn it into a humorous, inspiring presentation?  Speaker Margaret was able to do that with ease. 

Megan,  who invited us to this meeting was Table Topics Master, gave some thought provoking questions and Steve ended up winning Best Table Topics answer.  Whoo Hoo!  That’s always a plus for making a good impression with guests. 

The meeting flowed seamlessly and the hour time flew by.  At the end of the meeting, members discussed having an upcoming virtual Happy Hour on 8/17.  I am so excited that people are figuring out a way to adapt to this new way of socializing.  Who knows I may even pop in on it?  I think this may be a good membership-building tool.  Our club will be doing a social event in a couple of weeks, Family Feud.  I am excited to see how it turns out.  I invited them to join us at the event.

During this COVID-19 pandemic when clubs are not meeting in person, Toastmasters will need to reach into the depths of their creativity and think of new ways to make their clubs sparkle and shine.  New ways to entice people to join their club.  What makes their club different than all the others?  I think Balboa Park is doing just that -- setting their club apart by having virtual social events.  They already have a top-notch meeting and an active Facebook page.  I wish all the best for this club.  I hope they realize what a gem of a club they have and they continue to get the word out.  Way to go Balboa Park!  And thanks Megan for inviting us.

Mountaineer Toastmasters Morgantown, West Virginia

7/16/20

 

West Virginia was a very difficult state to visit.  We wanted to visit a club outside our home district.  Many of the clubs in West Virginia are closed clubs.  We contacted one club that never responded to us.  This was our last state and then we will have completed our journey of visiting a club in all 50 states. 

Needless to say I was very impatient. I was afraid clubs would start meeting in person soon and I will have lost my chance of meeting my goal.  That impatience drove me to get on Facebook to see if I could find any clubs in West Virginia to visit.  This is how I found Mountaineer Toastmasters.  This club was also proving hard to visit.  

It’s like some Toastmasters are viewing their club as a secret club with a secret handshake and  password and only the elite get to be a part of it.  I just don’t understand the secrecy. There was no Zoom link on their website or Facebook page.  I sent a message to the president through Facebook and also in the comment section of their Facebook page but no one responded to me either. 

I felt like this secret club was giving me the message loud and clear “YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED HERE.” They meet on the 1^st and 3^rd Thursday of the month and the 3^rd Thursday was getting closer.    In exasperation,  I messaged the area director of that club the day before the meeting to see if she could help me contact someone to get the zoom link and password to visit their club.  I guess that’s what it took because very shortly, the VP PR contacted me as well as the President to provide the Zoom link and password.  Honestly, though, it shouldn’t have taken that.  But I admit I should have been more patient.  Maybe someone would have contacted me eventually.  

 

So that’s my rocky history with them, I entered the virtual room 15 minutes before start time with trepidation.  Would they be angry at me for contacting the area director?  Is this like tattling? Would they treat me badly?  Steve and I sat in the waiting room for about 5 minutes. Would they leave us there? I began second guessing myself for my impatient actions.   Ok,  I admit I was probably catastrophizing as my husband would say.  But that’s how I felt at the time.  The good news is none of that “would they” happened.  They did welcome us with a smile and were very friendly so us.  

In conversation before the meeting started I found out they have had 2 other out of state visitors doing the whole 50 state tour as we were and West Virginia  was their last stop too.  It got me wondering if these other fellow travelers have had as much trouble as we have visiting some clubs. One telling thing the president said when talking about a Toastmaster visitor they had from Washington “I don’t know how he got to us.”   I tend to agree, Mr President, I don’t either. You really have to jump through some hoops to get to your club.  

I do give credit to  Mountaineer Toastmasters for reaching Select Distinguished this year.  They have 15 members and the members are really working the education program.  They have 2 legacy awards and 7 Pathways educational awards.  One thing that stood out though is they have had 15 new members join this year.  This tells me there have been a lot of turnover. 

They have two club coaches, Peggy and Donna, who began November of 2019.  Donna was at the meeting we attended.  Kudos to these coaches for helping this club become Select Distinguished this year. 

At the beginning of the meeting, the president talked about Tim writing an article for the local newspaper promoting their club.  The article talked about the awards of the members and becoming Select Distinguished.  This promotion is what is missing in a lot of clubs.  You have got to get the word out there.  Toot your own horn.  Celebrate your successes. (The president sent all of us a copy of the article in Chat.) 

The members also discussed outreach techniques “boots on the ground” flyers across town and of course keeping up the Facebook page.  I am glad they are discussing ways to let people know about their club and these are all good ideas, however,  I as a visitor would like to give them some advice right now…make it easier to get to your online meeting.  Answer your “contact us” on your website. Respond to requests on your Facebook page in a timely manner.  If you can’t do it, get other people to do this.  Most people would have given up coming to this club, I would think, unless they were on a mission like us.

 

Steve and I had some positive experiences at the club.   Steve and I tied for first place in Table Topics and we also won the trivia contest about birds.  I say the general “we” but of course, Steve was the one who actually answered the questions.  One really good thing that Mountaineer does that I hope most clubs start doing is giving a best ribbon virtually.  Since Steve and I won Best Table topics they uploaded a ribbon in chat for us.  If we wanted, we could print it out and keep it.  I think that is a really a good idea adapting to how we do our meetings now.  Donna used the chat to tell Steve and me that we did a “great” job with our table topic answers.  I like when people put messages of encouragement in chat for other people.  

I applaud Mountaineers for embracing the theme of the day, Birds. Bird sounds, bird trivia and more facts about birds than I ever wanted to know were interspersed into the meeting.  But now if I ever need to answer the question of “What is the state bird of West Virginia?’, I know the answer…Northern Cardinal. 

 

Mountaineer Toastmasters has a lot of good things going for them. They were friendly and the president reintroduced us every time someone new logged on.  We did feel welcome in the meeting. However,  as mentioned above, they need to make their Zoom link more accessible. (ok now I am just beating a dead horse). Mountaineers also need to be respectful of other people’s time. Starting and ending the meeting on time is something I value.  The meeting time was over but the President kept on rambling “about birds” so Steve and I  had to go ahead and log off because Steve was now late for another meeting. I hate doing that but it had to be done.

 

All in all, it was worth the hassle of getting to the meeting.  We discovered some new things, had some laughs and definitely another chance to rant about the inacessiblity of getting to online clubs -- my new pet peeve.

Associated Speechmasters Toastmasters Club Indianapolis, Indiana

7/10/20

 

Talk about tackling a subject head on.  Associated Speechmasters did not dance around the polarizing issue of Black Lives Matter.  The topic was out in front for all to see, it was their theme for the day and all the table topics questions revolved around it.  

As soon as we began the meeting we each introduced ourselves and shared our observations of Black Lives Matter.  Aside from the Politically Incorrect Toastmasters club that Steve and I visited, this is the only club that took this subject and planted it right in front of us.  The Toastmaster of the Day told us her church is doing a 21-day challenge about Black Lives Matter and they are learning each week about structural racism.  This club had two black members that attended that day.  Every person had an opportunity to give their opinion on the issue of Black Lives Matter.  

I do applaud them for handling this current topic.  However, from my observations, it seemed like everyone was on the same side of the issue.  It would have been interesting to see other points of view and how they handled them.  I think conversations on all sides need to be heard.  The only way we can learn the real truth is listening to each other instead of the way the media is telling us how others think and feel.

 

Associated Speechmasters made a good impression with me right off the start with their website.  They had pictures of the members and I really liked reading the "Meet Our Members" section.  Another plus is that their Zoom link is right on their website.  I really wish more clubs would do this instead of people who want to attend meetings having to jump through hoops to get Zoom links and passwords.  Why are we making it so hard for people to come to our meetings?

 

This club has 12 members but only seven in attendance that day so Steve and I were asked to help out.  We each did a role that we had never done before.  We were Table Topics evaluators.  Guess this was an opportunity for me to grow. 

I am not sold on Table Topics evaluators at least not in the way this club handled it but with time I probably could get used to it and maybe appreciate it.  They had one prepared speaker for the day.  One member was asked to evaluate the prepared speaker and the 3rd table topics response, I was assigned to evaluate the 1^st and 4^th table topic response and Steve to evaluate the 2^nd and 5^th table topic response.  I was getting confused counting the speakers.  Luckily we ran out of time and had only 3 Table Topics responses so I only had to evaluate one person. 

 

Associated Speechmasters members have received six legacy educational awards but no Pathways awards.  I'm not sure why they haven’t embraced the Pathways program.  They greeted us as we arrived and asked us to put our email address in chat IF we wanted to them to communicate with us.  I would just ask the visitor to put their contact info in the chat because we DO want to send them a thank you for attending our club email.  No IF’s about it. 

 

This club does things differently than I have ever seen before.  This may be usual for them or it may be due to low attendance that day in how they performed this meeting.  Stefanee served as Table Topics Master and Toastmaster of the Day.  As Toastmaster of the Day she also called on all the reports and the evaluators.  The only responsibility the General Evaluator had was to give a general report of how she thinks the meeting went.  Stefanee also held the business meeting and closed the meeting.  However, that could be that they do not have a president yet and looks like no one is jumping up to take that position. 

 

So Kudos to Associated Speechmasters for confronting subjects that most clubs shy away from due to potential clashes.  I wish you much success in your future and get on those Pathway awards!  You can do it!

Riverbend Toastmasters Henderson, KY

7/08/20

 

A secret find!  

Riverbend is one of those hidden jewels tucked away in a small  unassuming town like my own club.  But its quality rivals any club set in the metropolitan areas. 

Although Riverbend meets in the middle of the day, There was no rushed feel to the meeting and each member seemed excited to meet up at their lunch time. 

 I logged on 10 minutes before the start time and there were already seven people there.  They were talking and laughing and when they saw Steve and me, they just drew us into their little group and made us feel so welcome.  I don’t know if it is custom or if they  did it because we were there but one of the first actions of the club was to have each person introduce themselves and tell something they have celebrated this year.  Steve and I have had a lot to celebrate this year so we were happy to join in the introductions.

 

Toastmaster of the Day, Debbie, took the first part of the meeting to celebrate how the club “accidentally” became President's Distinguished this year.  She discussed losing members, then gaining members. She discussed members doubling up on roles and trying to figure out ways to build membership.  Each member put the pedal to the metal and began earning awards in Pathways.  Debbie named each person by name and listed their contributions to the year's success.  She ended with all of us raising a glass to toast the club.  

I love that they are taking the time to celebrate their successes.  They have 12 members (14 last year) and members have achieved 11 Pathways educational awards and 1 legacy award.  I would like to correct Debbie though...  They actually did not achieve Presidents Distinguished.  They did meet the criteria in number of awards; however, the club had to have a gain of 5 members or have 20 members and from my calculations they did not do that.  Debbie did say that at the first of the year she was despondent that they had lost so many members and she even thought they would have to close the club.  If that’s the case, the club really did a great rebound and though attendance wasn’t met they have a lot to be proud of.  

My home club was just like that.  For a few years we were “President's” in the number of awards but never could reach that membership.  My club kept going though, each year adding a few more members, never giving up.  And with the enthusiasm I saw at today’s meeting, I think Riverbend may just hit “President’s Distinguished” for real in the coming years.  

 

Riverbend Toastmasters is doing so many things that stand out in my opinion.  Their business meeting is at the END of the meeting.  I am so in favor of this.  That way, visitors are not held hostage at a business meeting that they really don’t want to be a part of, especially if it gets a little “heated” and I have seen them get that way. 

Their website site is fantastic.  They have a short role-playing video of someone actually dying of public speaking.  It is hilarious and so creative!  I was told that Lewis, the VPPR at the time made this video for a contest the district was having.  It is no wonder that this video actually won in their district.  This is something so creative that I recommend all Toastmasters take a gander at.  I don’t think Riverbend will care if you steal the idea and put it on your website.  I already told them that my club will be stealing the idea and they seemed OK with it. 

 

Another PR tool that they use successfully is Facebook.  I enjoyed going onto their Facebook page and seeing all the current  pictures. I noticed that the picture of today’s meeting was already there.  Someone is really on the ball!   Looking at all the pictures of the activities the club had this past year told the story of a fun, exciting group.  If I lived a little closer, this is definitely a club I would consider joining.

 

Other than my club, I have never seen a club recognize its members accomplishments as much as I saw today.  One award that I guess I took for granted was the Triple Crown award.  My district recognizes those who get three awards in a year and we each get a Triple Crown pin.  Apparently the district of Riverbend does not do this and it was announced that Nicole got a Triple Crown and the club will be buying her a triple crown pin.  I guess I need to appreciate my district more in recognizing our accomplishments.  I did not realize it is not something that all districts do.

 

Another plus for Riverbend is before the meeting they asked Steve and me to be grammarian and ah counter.  I loved that they just jumped in and asked since numbers were low.  Of course,  this made Steve and me feel even more a part of their family.  And that hits the nail on the head.  This club had a family feel.  You could tell from listening to them how much they appreciated each other and have become friends.   

 

One more thing that stood out was the speaker, Brian.  He had had a stroke and his speech was affected.  Giving speeches in Toastmasters has helped him enormously and he really did a great job.  There have been two others that I know about who were members of my club that Toastmasters helped them when they lost their ability to speak well.  Who knew Toastmasters can even help a person after they have had a stroke. 

 

This was definitely a great find and in my own home state!  There was high energy and enthusiasm.  Definitely a club people should visit to see how a midday club does it right!

St Augustine Toastmasters Washington D.C

7/5/20

 

“Evaluations are the hallmark of Toastmasters,” as my husband likes to say. (He is full of pithy sayings like that).  Evaluations are what sets Toastmasters apart from being just a speaking organization like the national speakers association or even Kentucky Storytelling Association which Steve and I are members of.  We are an educational organization to help speakers get better, not just give them opportunities to speak.  

St. Augustine's evaluators today knocked it out of the park.  They focused on the mechanics instead of content.  They talked about things the speaker might want to consider and then challenged them on future speeches.  The speakers also wow’ed me.  Bernadette's speech about not making assumptions about a person was very relevant today as well as Lesia’s speech about prayer/meditation.

 

St. Augustine had a dubious beginning.  They chartered in 2018 with 21 members.  However, by 2019 their numbers had dwindled to 11.  I am just speculating but it seems as though the originators may have started the club with members from other clubs just to get to the requisite 20 members so they could start a club. Then what many times happens,  those members leave.  Of course, I may be wrong but I have seen it occur more than once with other clubs.  To me, this does not set these clubs up for success for the future.  St. Augustine currently has 12 members.   However, handicapped their beginning, it has not stopped them from jumping in with determination and with the help of club coach, Bernadette, to increase their membership.  They did end the year with seven Pathways awards which shows members are working the education program.  That is a great indication of their commitment.

 

The members were very welcoming when we logged on and we all had a great conversation together.  There was a lot of laughter and smiles.  This club definitely has a makings of a great club and I am sure Bernadette is helping get them on the right track to increase membership. 

 

I love that they started and ended on time.  They had the agenda nailed down with all roles filled before the meeting.  There were seven members in attendance.  Which is pretty average.  I have observed that most clubs have half their membership attend meetings.  

 

Since the main issue with St. Augustine is membership,  I want to share a few things I have learned from traveling to different online clubs.  These are things I never would have thought was important until I saw it from the eyes of a visitor.  I notice a lot of Toastmasters are becoming dual members of clubs around the world.  So this advice is for St. Augustine as well as my club to help Toastmasters visitors feel at home in our online clubs.  So much at home, that they may consider joining our clubs.

1. Are we including the guests in the meeting?  Whether by participating in roles or in table topics.  St. Augustine had seven members in attendance so they doubled up and tripled up on roles, instead of asking Toastmaster visitors (Steve and me) to help.  Table Topics is a great way to get visitors involved in the meeting.  I mean visiting Toastmasters, not non-Toastmasters (not sure how they would feel). St. Augustine asked for volunteers for table topics responses (which I am not a favor of anyway-rant in another blog). Members who had other roles answered.  Finally Steve raised his hand and the Table Topics Master seemed surprised, almost stunned. Do they not ask visitors Table Topics questions or do they not usually get visitors?  I don’t know but I would have liked to answer a Table Topics question too. It would have made me “feel” more like I was a part of the meeting.
2. Are we inviting guests to join the club during the meeting?  (OK, this is not necessarily about St. Augustine-just something I realized in visiting all these clubs.) A couple of clubs said they would love for us to be members of their clubs during the meeting. None of them told us how to join the club or who to talk to.  And only a handful of clubs sent an email after the meeting thanking us for visiting. No clubs sent us a visitor packet or asked us to join their club.  A few sent upcoming agendas.   My husband still gets sent emails from Clearwater Sunday Speakers in Florida letting him know they have roles open/speakers needed and he has gone back there to speak on occasion. (Kudos to you, Sunday Speakers!) The more a person visits, the more he connects with the members and are more likely to join.  In my opinion, of course.
3. Does our website draw people to our club?  Before I visit a club, I like to do research.  I look at their number of members, their education awards, but most important their website.  Some clubs make me think “they look fun!  I’d like to be a part of that!”  Some clubs make me not want to even visit.  St Augustine needs to think about its website.  It’s very bare, almost useless. No club pictures, nothing about their club, nothing about what Toastmasters is or why I should join their club.  There are no pictures of members or group shots.  I did not expect such a friendly group from viewing its website. It almost made me not want to even visit their club.  So to all clubs, my advice is to look at how you can make your website inviting to visitors.  Research other clubs and their websites if you aren’t sure what to do. (I have to admit my club's webmaster does a great job with our club website.)   St. Augustine has a lot to crow about.  Put it out there for all to see.  Make everyone that looks at your website take a double take and think, now that’s a club I want to join!

Again this is a great club.  I really enjoyed it, but the club does need to increase in membership so, these might be some ways that can help them do that.  Good luck St. Augustine.  You have a lot of great speakers, your meeting flowed well, and you were very friendly to us, guests.  Keep up the good work.  I wish you all the best. 

 

I will end with Bernadette’s quote from her speech.

 

“Make the most of yourself….for that is all there is of you.”

--- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Let’s Talk Toastmasters Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

7/2/20

 

Let’s Talk has a lot to celebrate!  They had 3 members achieve DTM status this year.  They are President's Distinguished. New members are embracing Pathways and receiving awards. Long-time members are giving presentations and mentoring other members.  This is a club that knows how to run a successful club. 

 

Let’s Talk has 20 members and has reached all 10 goals.  They have their Zoom link on their website to make it easier for people to attend their club.  Members have received awards in both the legacy and Pathways program.  Let’s Talk has a new president, who was aided in the business meeting with Roberts Rules of Order.  The Division C Director served as Toastmaster of the Day and brought the meeting to life.  Was she a cheerleader in a past life?  I don’t know but she really got all of us psyched up with her upbeat, energetic manner and music. 

 

Let’s Talk has members who have been in Toastmasters 20+ years.  One member was even a member of the original Toastmasters club in California.  Wow!  What changes he has probably seen.  They have a traveling trophy to bring awareness to their club and to Toastmasters in general, of course, during this sheltering in, the trophy has been on hiatus.

 

One difference I saw in this club is they call roles such as timer, grammarian, ah counter, ballot counter and evaluators technicians.  I had never heard that term used before. 

 

I really enjoyed attending this meeting.  This is the type of meeting all meetings should shoot for.  So give yourself a pat on the back and a big round of applause, Let’s Talk Toastmasters.  You have a lot to celebrate!