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Communication – art or science? A success formula for Toastmasters Clubs? Experience as a Club President and Area Governor has helped me think through these two questions. Friends helping friends succeed As club members, we all play a part helping fellow club members and club officers succeed. Past International President, Joanna McWilliams’ motto was: “Friends helping friends succeed”. The Distinguished Club Program recognises club success in giving distinguished service to our members. We know the measures: club administration, membership growth and, of course, educational achievement. ‘Holy grail’ of Toastmasters This article describes a formula for how to fulfil the club mission and promote the benefits of Toastmasters more widely - the ‘holy grail’ of Toastmasters. Of course, no-one has a monopoly on right answers. What follows is like an evaluation - a personal view! The algebraic formula is designed to help us focus on our priorities as we move through the Toastmasters year, aiming for Distinguished Club achievement. Toastmasters Success Quotient Let’s start with the left hand side of my equation: the Toastmasters Success Quotient – TSQ. What are its key components? How do they interact? The right hand side of my equation gives some clues to the answers. The top line represents ‘outputs’. Excellent meetings motivate members to stay and persuade guests to return. First is meeting excellence (ME). Meetings that are imaginative, have pre-assigned roles (even if re-assigned at the start!), run to time with a wellsignposted structure and are peppered with humour are meetings headed for excellence.
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How is your Toastmasters Success Quotient ? By Robin Chawner, DTM Article date November 2005 TSQ =
Excellent meetings motivate members to stay and persuade guests to return. Next in the equation come speaking opportunity (SO) and evaluation quality (EQ). They are what our meetings are all about. People come to meetings to practice their speaking performance. So, maximise that opportunity – for newer and longstanding members. We improve through constructive feedback. Evaluation quality is crucial. Cue - evaluations. Their quality is crucial. I recommend using the ‘Evaluate to Motivate’ module – it stimulates that quality. So important are speaking opportunity and evaluation quality, they run to the power of 2 in my equation! The fourth ‘output’ is Public Relations (PR). PR within the club (newsletters, award celebrations, social get-togethers) builds what I call the three F’s – fun, friendship and fulfilment. New members = clubs’ livelihood PR beyond the club builds a positive club profile and attracts guests – the source of new members - our clubs’ lifeblood. New members also raise the ‘vitality’ reading on our club barometer. So far, so good. We’ve looked at the outputs, now for our five bottom-line ‘inputs’. Club Officer commitment
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ME +(SO+EQ)2 + PR____ COC + T + E + F + 2 x RA
Club officer goals, regular committee meetings and constructive feedback help further. The Club President plays a crucial role in these; so, too, does effective teamwork. Talent, energy and focus The next trio of inputs come from all all members – talent (T), energy (E) and focus (F). How do we mobilise talent? Good tools to use are the new member interest form and mentoring. Why not run a Table Topics session challenging speakers to ‘reveal’ a hitherto undisclosed talent? Giving people meeting roles and club leadership opportunity also develops talent. How do we ‘release’ energy? A club I belong to ran an Alternative Oscars meeting based on the Special Occasions Advanced Speech Manual. Members positively buzzed with new-found energy; it’s still at work many months later. With talent and energy on tap, all we need now is focus. Why not re-visit the club mission, hold a membership survey, run a quiz about the Communication & Leadership tracks? Celebrate success ! Last, but by no means least, recognise achievements (RA). In short, never go short on celebrating success! May your TSQ soar to ever greater heights!
Clubs need to harness and build contribution – beginningwith Club Officer commitment (COC).
Robin Chawner. DTM, Solent Speakers Club 5774. Robin is a freelance communication consultant. Reach him at robin.chawner@gmail.com or on 00 44 (0) 7798 638541. Total word count = 607; excluding headline and cross-heads
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