Toastmasters International's Membership Building Contests

Are you familiar with the membership building contests sponsored by Toastmasters International?

Three times a year Toastmasters International has three membership building periods in which they reward your Club for adding 5 new members.

Smedley Award
Program Dates: August 1 – September 30
It all began in 1924. Ralph Smedley invited a few men to meet in the Santa Ana, California YMCA where he conducted the first meeting of what would eventually evolve into Toastmasters International. One person initiated a program that would go on to affect millions of people. In his honor, can your club add five new, dual, or reinstated members between August 1 and September 30? By doing so you’ll qualify to receive a "Smedley Award" ribbon to display on your club’s banner. Effective July 1, 2009, in addition to the ribbon, qualifying clubs will also earn a special discount code for 10% off their next club order.



Talk Up Toastmasters!
Program Dates: February 1 – March 31
Toastmasters love to talk? So take advantage of it. During the "Talk Up Toastmasters!" membership contest, you can encourage your members to invite guests to a special meeting where regular procedures are augmented by a discussion of Toastmasters' many benefits. Add five new, dual or reinstated members to your roster between February 1 and March 31 to receive a special "Talk up Toastmasters!" ribbon to display on your club’s banner. Effective July 1, 2009, in addition to the ribbon, qualifying clubs will also earn a special discount code for 10% off their next club order.



Beat the Clock
Program Dates: May 1 – June 30
Toastmasters are taught to run meetings on time, finish speeches on time and make membership goals on time. "Beat the Clock" is about finishing the year on schedule -with a bang! Here's a wonderful new club goal: Earn the "Beat the Clock" award! Plan a contest in your club to motivate every member to get involved. Clubs adding five new, dual or reinstated members during these two months receive a "Beat the Clock" ribbon to display on the club’s banner. Effective July 1, 2009, in addition to the ribbon, qualifying clubs will also earn a special discount code for 10% off their next club order.

Individual members are rewarded for their efforts as well:

Individual Member Sponsors
Program Dates: July 1 – June 30, of the following year
Membership growth is important to ensure club success. As a sponsor of five new members, you will qualify to receive a unique sponsor's pin. As an outstanding sponsor of 10 new members, you will qualify to receive a special star pin. Effective July 1, 2009, as a sponsor of 15 new members, you will qualify to receive a special discount code for 25% off your next product purchase from Toastmasters International World Headquarters.

You’ve also made a significant contribution to your club’s long-term success. To receive credit as a sponsor, your name must appear on the application for Toastmasters club membership (Item 400) along with your home club number. Please print or type information legibly. No changes can be made to the applications once they are received by World Headquarters. New, dual and reinstated members count for credit; transfer and charter members do not. The new members join dates must fall within the July to June range. All applications and payments must be received at World Headquarters no later than June 30.

Source: Toastmasters International

Signs of Trouble

Any one or two of these things in a club does not necessarily mean that that club is going to die, but these are signs that maybe we should keep an eye on those clubs a bit more than others.

Toastmaster program

• Non-manual speeches or speeches to address a specific need (ex. practice a presentation for work)
• Lack of prepared Agenda
• One or more meeting role being filled "from the lectern"
• "Breaks" being called during meeting to organize it
• Whitewash evaluations, general evaluations, Ah Counter, Grammarian, etc. reports.
• Meetings start late
• Members seem unprepared for the roles they are filling

Attendence and guests

• Drop in attendance over time, not due to seasonal fluctuations
• No new members in a 6-month period
• A club and count fewer than 1/3 of membership roster in attendance
• Any meeting with single-digit attendance regardless of the membership size
• No non-Toastmaster guests in attendance
• Guests are not invited to either join, consider joining, or at least asked to return.
• Guests are given a cold shoulder, or otherwise not made to feel welcome
• No active membership building program
• Corporate downsizing (This applies to corporate clubs or community clubs with a large percentage of members for a single club; it suggests the membership number could take a serious hit.)
• The club doesn't have a fixed meeting room or building (tends to make the club harder to find, especially for unexpected guests)
• Senior executive, particularly the President, are routinely absent

Participation outside of the club

• Officers don't attend training
• One or more officer positions unfilled after annual elections, especially President or one of the VP's
• The Club is not represented in the form of a Contestant at every one of the Area Speech Contests
• One or more Members fill more than one Officer position (except Secratary/Treasurer which is often combined)
• The Club is not represented in the form of a Member attending every District Conference
• Other than Treasurer (when it could be sometimes advantageous to do so) an officer repeats an office more than 12 consecutive months

Administration

• Semi-annual dues report is late
• The club seems short of critical supplies like ballots
• Annual club officer list not submitted prior to June 30th (added by V.B.)
  

Source:

This list was based on an on line discussion between Eric Matto, DTM (LGM-elect, Chicagoland District 30 Toastmasters), Dan Durishan, AbleTM, CL (Area Governor, District 63) and John Fleming, ATM-B, CL (VP-Ed, Rooster Rousers Toastmasters). The list was edited and added to by Rick Clements, AbleTM-S (VP-Ed, Daylighters Toastmasters)

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Rick's Toastmaster skills page http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/3558/Achiever.htm

Dues time is right around the corner!

No matter your club's size - sending in dues in a timely fashion is vitally important to keep your charter in good standing. How?

The Upside: Paying your Club's dues on time is one of the features of the Distinguished Club Plan. Your Club earns one point towards Distinguished Club for paying their dues on time!

The Downside: When a Club does not pay their dues on time (September 30/March 31st) they lose their good standing and eventually "the membership status of and services to individual members of these clubs will be suspended, including the mailing of The Toastmaster magazine. "
Source: Toastmasters International Policies and Procedures, C 4 Suspension of Non-Paying Clubs and Reinstatement of Inactive Clubs .

Keeping your member's dues up to date ensures they receive credit for their educational achievements, keeps them qualified to participate in contests and keeps their Toastmaster magazine subscription active. Example: Member's speeches can't be counted towards their CC, ACB, ACS, ACG or DTM when a club is in delinquent status - Egad!

As you can see, paying your Club's dues on time affects your entire membership and their standing with Toastmasters International!

Here are the steps to collecting and paying your Club's dues:

According to the Toastmaster International's calendar: Dues renewal notices should be sent out by August 15th for the Fall dues and February 15th for the Spring dues.

Always indicate to your members that their check should be made out to their Club - NOT TOASTMASTERS INTERNATIONAL. The club should then issue one check payable or submit one credit card number to Toastmasters International.

Collect and send all dues to World Headquarters to be received by March 31/September 30th. There is no longer a 10 day grace period so be sure they are paid by those dates.

Does your Club have a freetoasthost website? Do you know about the dues renewal feature included in your software? You can send a dues notice invoice to all your members with one click. Contact me if you would like more information on how to do this.

You don't have to have ALL the dues collected for your entire membership to meet the requirement! You merely need to send in dues for SIX MEMBERS - at least three of whom were members of the club during the last renewal period. The remainder of your member's dues can be paid to TI (Toastmasters International) as they are collected.

Paying Dues Online: Dues can be paid with a credit or debit card at www.toastmasters.org.

Beginning Monday, July 26, 2010 all members can log in to toastmasters.org using a Single Sign-On. This means that club and district leaders will no longer need different user names and passwords to conduct club or district business.

To log in, simply enter your individual ID and password. If you are having difficulty, please watch this helpful tutorial or consult the new Single Sign-On FAQ.

Once you are logged in the link to conduct Club or District Business will be on the left side of your screen with the title Club Central.

Still need some help collecting your dues? Your Club's Area Governor is ready and willing to assist you with any Club issues. You can find out your Club's Area Governor by visiting the District 13 website: www.d13tm.com. Just click on the "About TI & D13" link on the top menu, choose the Division and Area Governors link, scroll down on the locate your Club's name and your Area Governor's name will be listed to the side. Their name is a link to their email. Or you can just click on the "Area and Divisions Governors" link in this paragraph. Simple!

Collecting and paying your dues to TI is really pretty easy, now isn't it? Why not get started today!