Archive for the ‘promotion’ Category


Markets Sausage Sizzles Uni Open Days

February 24th, 2010 by David Nicholas

A new opportunity for Public Relations in WA

Robyn Lloyd, the President of Western Founders, has proposed we pursue a new style of Public Relations to publicize Toastmasters in WA.  Of course it could be used anywhere in Australia, and probably most of the world.  It comes from Robyn’s highly successful project at Murdoch University Open Day on Friday, February 12, 2010.  You can read about the Open Day and the Canning Vale Sausage Sizzle on January 2nd & 3rd, 2010.

Robyn Lloyd
Robyn Lloyd

This is a summary of Robyn’s proposal, prepared from her recent email.

A marketing opportunity

With a community focus there is a marketing opportunity to promote WA Toastmasters clubs by using events such as Markets, Sausage Sizzles and University Open Days.
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Community Events Coordinator

This will be a new role.  It will be similar to the Speechcraft Coordinator function.
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The Coordinator’s role

This marketing strategy is aimed having a presence (stall) at local markets/ fairs/ festivals and various events that are held regularly  throughout the state or as annual events. The Coordiantor’s role will be

    To compile a list of such events and make it available to clubs.
    To store and make available a range of support materials for events – banners, handouts etc
    To prepare help files and make them available on appropriate web sites
    To publicise the available opportunities to Toastmaster members and officers

Coordinators relationship to WA Toastmasters Officers

The Coordinator would work with and alongside existing TM Marketing positions and strategies.  It is not intended that anyone’s role is to be taken over.  We need lots of strategies.

Contribute to the discussion

We need to engage in an energetic discussion to devise the best possible approach to this opportunity.

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Posted by David Nicholas Posted in Membership, promotion | 2 Comments »


Murdoch Open Day

February 12th, 2010 by David Nicholas

Toastmasters at Murdoch University Orientation Day

What a fantastic day we had at Murdoch University Orientation day today. This is part of Robyn Lloyds High Performance Leadership programme and wow what a hit it was.

As we were setting up we realised it was a good job we had several great props and I would urge anyone else setting up like this to pay attention.

MurdochBannerCrop
Ross Wilkinson’s Banner

MurdochStall
The Stall

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· The TM Banner. Bright and looks good BUT it blew over once too often and it kept swinging around.·

. Ross Wilkinson’s ‘pull up’ banner. At about 2 meteres this caught attention.   We would have looked dreadful without it because about half the other displays had them.  Every Division should have one to share.·

. Club Lights. This caught attention from heaps of people just out of curiosity.

· Promotional Video. We used the Cannington Communicators Promo Video on a laptop. This really made us stand out. Proably only 5 or 6 of the other 60/70 displays had these.

Robyn and I really worked the students. You don’t always get a response, but hey we were not shy in coming forward. We’ve both had experience in retail.

We ended up with 3 pages of an exercise book full of e-mail addresses full of leads. We PROMISED NO SPAM and will ensure we hit them once only unless they request a follow up. We actually signed up one person for Cannington Communicators and there are other options but that’s a tale for Robyn to tell!

We certainly exceeded expectations today.

Gerry Prewett
Gerry Prewett
W28 Area Governor

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Thanks to Gerry Prewett for the story and to Robyn Lloyd for the project.

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Posted by David Nicholas Posted in Information, promotion | 2 Comments »


Publicity for your Public Speaking Club

June 6th, 2008 by David Nicholas

A success story – Mark Richards and Canning Vale

Mark Richards
Mark Richards

Mark Richards has been attending Victoria Quay Toastmasters every Wednesday night for the past 7 years. Sometimes Robyn came along for social functions, but she wouldn’t join – they live in Canning Vale, which is almost half an hour away. “Why can’t we have a club in Canning Vale?”

So, this year, Mark’s year as Western Division Governor, he decided to start a club in Canning Vale – if Robyn would help. And of course she did.

Here is how they went about it. It’s a great story, with a lot of valuable advice on how to start a community club. But you can use the techniques as well to attract a lot more members to your existing club.

This is Mark’s story. Read his advice.

Get your funding in place

You are going to need money – it took about $800 to set up Canning Vale. See below for how he did it.

Apply to World Headquarters to Organise a Toastmaster Club.

That costs US$125 which is about A$135 at present (early 2008). For that you get a big box with 20 New Member kits, and a lot of other helpful publications.

Open a bank account

  • With no fees – yes, societies accounts still exist.
  • You use the Club Number supplied by World Headquarters.
  • You need a preliminary business meeting to appoint a temporary President, Treasurer/Secretary and Vice President Education. This meeting authorises the bank account.

Find a venue that is central to your target audience

Mark located (well, Robyn actually) the Canning Vale TAFE who were happy to let the new club use a big room with lots of facilities every Tuesday night for a very reasonable cost.

Set a date for the Demonstration meeting

  • Not too soon, because you need time for the publicity.
  • Not too far away, because your helpers will grow tired of waiting.

Recruit a team of helpers.

You will need

  • 2 Demonstration speakers – one should be a rookie and one should be experienced.
  • 1 Table Topics Master and 1 Table Topics Evaluator.
  • 1 Timer.
  • 1 extra helper to be a speech evaluator.
  • 2 experienced Toastmasters to be Mentors for the club for the first 6 months – they are very important – and of course they will fill some of the helping roles already outlined.

Market your meeting

  • Mark and Robyn used professionally printed flyers which they letterboxed.
  • Ask for a phone response so you have an idea of how many will turn up.
  • Contact a reporter from the local newspaper – in Canning Vale they were pleased to get the story.
  • Approach local schools to put into their newsletter to parents.

Have a look at the Canning Vale Flyer

Make the demo meeting the best and liveliest meeting you can.

  • Involve your audience by showing them some basic speaking skills in an interactive workshop – get them to stand up, show them good stance, where to put their arms and hands, and eye contact.
  • Get them involved in table topics.
  • Have a demonstration Icebreaker
  • Have a question and answer session at the end.

Have a look at the Demonstration Meeting Agenda

Keep a record of everyone who attended

Get their phone # and email address and follow up if you need to.

Bring application forms and ask people to join.

  • Get them to fill in the New Club Member Application Form – it’s different from the standard New Member Application Form.
  • Collect the money – or arrange for it to be collected next meeting

Complete the documentation and send it to World Headquarters


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Posted by David Nicholas Posted in New Clubs, promotion | 5 Comments »


Protected: Speechcraft 2008

January 4th, 2008 by David Nicholas

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Facebook and Toastmasters

December 16th, 2007 by David Nicholas

Facebook?

What’s that, you might say? Wasn’t that something Kevin Rudd used for his election campaign? Or was that MySpace? Anyway, what are they?

Facebook is a networking opportunity, a rapidly growing Internet facility to link people with shared interests, tastes and needs. So, it is an opportunity we can use to publicise the benefits of Toastmasters to potential new members.

The CEATS Group or Team Toastmasters @ Central TAFE

This is a group of 3 students – Melanie, Caitlin and Alisha – from TAFE who opted to study marketing on a practical level by preparing a Business Plan to market Toastmasters in WA to Generation Y, the 18-35 year olds in our community.

Presentation to WA Governors

The CEATS group presented to WA Governors at their December 13 meeting. There was a video and an oral presentation. It was an eyeopener to WA Governors members, most of whom do not belong to Generation Y, born between 1975 and 1991. Generation Y people are different from those before them, so we need to market ourselves in appropriate ways to interest them in our product.

Generation Y – what are they like?

Generation Y are the most connected generation in history – connected to each other, the ’system’ and the market. Think of the saturation of the internet and mobile phones, the power of virtual marketing and the proliferation of consumer blogs. The more communicative the technology (the faster, easier and cheapter it connects people, the more popular it is with Gen Y – just look at the growth of the internet and mobile phones.

ichat

Ceats proposed that we set up a sub-group of Toastmasters in WA named “ichat” They have designed us a snappy logo. Potential customers are 18-35 year old students at TAFE or universities wanting to develop their communication skills and help with their career prospects, and also young professionals who wish to improve their skills to get ahead in the work force.

What’s in it for us?

Each Perth club will have the chance to run an “ichat” session each month over a 3 month period. During the events, potential “recruits” will have the opportunity to interact with members of Toastmasters, whilst learning about the organization and creating networks.
This will be done in the form of speed networking with the event set out so that people will have the opportunity to sit down at their screen for a set time and interact with other guests and members and participate in group activities whether word games or presentations on a specific topic.

Promotion

Facebook will be used to promote the product by sending “ichat” applications to potential members. Users will be able to add the “ichat” application and connect to people wioth the same interests. This will lead to brand awareness and link them to the “ichat” website where they can access information regarding Speed Networking.

Where to from now?

Some of the WA Governors members are studying the Business Plan prepared by Caitlin, Melanie and Alisha. We will be consulting further with the CEATS group to plan how to take advantage of their proposals. In the meantime, if you have further ideas or suggestions on this marketing approach, please add your comments below so we can all benefit from them.

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Posted by David Nicholas Posted in promotion | 3 Comments »