In early July 2010 I participated in the WA Youth Parliament program. This program allows WA people aged between 15-25 to meet for a week at Parliament House to discuss youth issues, learn more about our system of government and to improve their public speaking and debating skills.
Before going I purchased a little Toastmasters pin from Toastmasters International. This pin cost me about $4.00 and can be pinned onto a suit or jacket. The reason I did this was that in February 2009 at Club Officer Training in Subiaco, then Western Division Governor Ross Wilkinson told the officers in attendance about this pin and how we should wear it at formal functions as a way to advertise Toastmasters. Before I went away to Youth Parliament I thought this would be a good opportunity to wear the pin and to see just how much interested it generated.
Throughout the week long program I got on my feet many times to speak on whatever motion was being debated. As someone who has been in Toastmasters for two years it should not surprise anyone that I was able to speak very confidently, clearly and concisely and was able to make my speeches interesting.
During our morning tea and lunch breaks many other participants came up to me and asked me ‘how did you get so good at public speaking?’ Naturally of course I gave them the talk about Toastmasters and how it had helped me and millions around the world.
However there were other times when I was having a casual conversation and the person I was speaking to would look at my pin and ask ‘what is that?’ This gave me another opportunity to spread the world about Toastmasters. Some people had heard about Toastmasters before and were glad to hear of what we can do. One girl got quite hysterical when I said Toastmasters because she was aiming to join Toastmasters when she came to UWA next year. She was delighted to find someone she can contact next year when she comes to UWA.
Overall wearing the pin was a huge success! It helped generate conversations about Toastmasters with about 25 people. Many of these people are aged 17 and are likely to attend UWA next year, so I took their details down and will follow up with them between now and next year. I was also able to generate great interest amongst current UWA students.
John Pawley
As the UWA semester begins we have already gained one new member from my Youth Parliament efforts with several more intending to come along for a visit. I was also able to direct a young man from Mandurah to the Mandjar club in Mandurah.
The lesson I learnt from this experience is simple: use every promotional tool you have to get new members! Promoting your club can be as simple as putting on a pin or a name badge at a professional function to get people asking questions. Publicity does not have to cost hundreds of dollars in flyers. It can come in the simplest ways. So go out there and seize every opportunity that comes your way!
John Pawley ACB, ALB is the 2010-2011 President of UWA and Swan Clubs
On the day that Perth’s cold clear days was broken by wild and windy weather a new venue was used for Club Officer training and very popular it proved too. The new Victoria Park Club hosted the event at their venue at The Homestead in Mackie Street in Victoria Park. An attendance of up to 100 was anticipated but Club Officers kept rolling in throughout the event.
The Hall is set up and ready
Sgt at Arms Maree Pickens got things underway introducing the Toastmaster for the evening Peter Law whose sartorial elegance set the tone for the night.
Toastmaster Peter Law and Mark Richards discuss the Agenda before the meeting gets underway
Robyn Richards conducted the first session, “Creating a Buzz” which emphasised how important it was to get that essential ‘something extra’ into your meetings to make them fun and enjoyable. Robyn provided lots of useful advice to all assembled.
Mark Richards followed his wife to the front of the audience and used the IT display set up by Martin Lindsay to show Club Officers how to log onto and navigate around the TMI Website. Mark’s presentation was especially relevant to Club Officers who have to log returns with TMI.
Mark Richards shows us how to Navigate around the TMI Website
Inner City Divisional Governor Kristin McIntosh then explained to us all what the 10 goals were in the DCP (Distinguished Club Programme) and why they were so important to running a successful club. Like Robyn Kristin gave some hints and tips as to how the goals could be achieved and illustrated how easy some of them were by pointing out that everyone present was contributing towards their club’s DCP by attending COT!
That's goal number two that Kristin is telling us about!
Martin Lindsay as the Perth Governor then presented a Workshop on how to run Speech Contests. With the Club, Humorous Speech and Table Topics contests due in August this was very timely advice for the many new Club Officers in attendance. Martin pointed out some of the extremely good resources available and advised Clubs on how they could get their own members ‘up to speed’ on acting as Judges.
The last presentation before supper was given by David Nicholas and David told everyone about toastmasterwa.net and what resources were available on the site. With only 15 minutes to present David was only able to brush the surface but he certainly whetted the appetites for information if not for food!
David Nicholas enthralled the audience with his sales technique for toastmasterswa.net
After a splendid supper, and you could tell it was splendid because there was nothing left, we were treated to an introduction to a “Swansong on the Swan”. Lynette Delane presented a talk about the 2011 District Convention, the last of District 73 with Western Australia included, which is to be held in Perth, hence the title.
Lynette Delane tells us all about the "Swansong on the Swan"
The meeting then moved on to a series of ‘break out’ sessions for each Club Officer Role. This proved to be the real ‘meat and veg'” for the new Officers as they were able to leverage off those who had performed the role before.
We were then welcomed back by Ross Wilkinson who told us all about “YOUR Future in Toastmasters” and Ross set out very clearly where the path towards becoming a better speaker, a leader and ultimately a Distinguished Toastmaster lay. Ross reminded everyone that by becoming a Club Officer they were on the first steps of this exciting leadership journey.
Ross Wilkinson reminded everyone of the importance of working to their Manuals and getting them signed off
Public Relations both within the District and within Clubs was covered by the ubiquitous Pascale Amberville-Colby, the man with more clubs than Tiger Woods. Pascale reminded everyone of the importance of their Website as a promotional tool and ensuring it was up to date. Pascale also related some initiatives that were being taken within WA.
Pascale sought an affirmation from everyone that they would promote their club
The information and fun packed evening was wound up by Mark Richards relating the future Training opportunities that were available over the coming year.
Overall a fantastic evening packed with  information and with Club Officers. Well done to everyone but especially to Robyn Richards for her wonderful organisational abilities.
It was brought home to me today just how important it is to get yout details correct everywhere that your club has left them. My own club received a query on behalf of another club where a member of the public wished to join. How good was that? The fellow didn’t want to just attend a meeting he wanted to join. The problem was he couldn’t find any contact details that worked!
The details at TMI were out of date as were those on the Contact Us page of the web site. It was fortunate that I knew members of the club and eventually we were able to pass on details.
It was a salutory lesson in how important it is to keep those details bang up to date. Remember where you have lodged all your contatact details too. It’s not just the obvious places like your web site but also maybe in Libraries, with Councils and Community Newspapers.
I just can’t emphasise enough how important it is to keep those details up to date.
TEEM is Toastmasters Enhanced Entertainment Membership
21 potential members were entertained, trained and challenged by Cliff Boer at the Demonstration Meeting held at the Fremantle Bowling Club.
Cliff Boer warming up the group
Why TEEM?
Cliff’s vision is that by enhancing entertainment for members and clubs we will reduce dropout rates and strengthen our new DistrictWA. It will boost membership generally across the State and in particular in clubs where TEEM members have a vital function.
A Different Kind of Club
Of course we will conform to Toastmasters International technical requirements for a club. However, we will interpret those requirements creatively. Here is an example of meetings this month.
Saturday afternoon, March 20
A select group will meet at Cliff’s house to be trained in special techniques to be used at the meeting on March 31.
Wednesday evening, March 31
The club has been invited by Victoria Quay to demonstrate exciting ways to liven up the club meeting. The TEEM VP Education will handle the program for the night, taking over from the Club’s VP Education. There will be demonstrations from TEEM members and Victoria Quay members will be challenged to have a go at the same entertaining and challenging techniques. There will be space for a club member to deliver a speech and be evaluated. Table Topics – with a twist – will be a major feature. Edit will certainly take members out of their comfort zone.
Where and when will we meet?
Our Demonstration meeting and the two meetings detailed above give the answer. We will meet sometimes at a suitable venue like the Fremantle Bowling Club – but not exclusively the Bowling Club in Fremantle. We will meet sometimes at members’ homes. We will meet sometimes at Toastmasters Clubs. There may be other locations which emerge over time.
Already in March we have scheduled a meeting on a Thursday evening, a Saturday afternoon and a Wednesday evening. Our membership is drawn from many clubs. Almost every possible time slot will clash with one of those club meetings. So it will be rare for all our members to be able to attend the same meeting. But that isn’t very different from all our Toastmaster Clubs with a 20+ membership. Have you ever attended a meeting when every member was present? I haven’t – though I have attended a full member rollup – but that was a club which was being revived and had only 6 members at the time.
What did we do at the Demo?
I will give you a few descriptive names and describe one in a little detail. If you aren’t a TEEM member and you want to know more about the fun we have, get your VP Education to contact me and arrange for us to visit.
These were three of Cliff’s exercises
There were two Table Topics exercises – Edit and One Word. Wow!
Then there was Mirror. It was in two parts. In the first we formed into pairs – A & B. A would do a set of body language movements, including facial expressions. B would have to mirror them. Then we swapped and B would do the movements and A would mirror them. With careful attention everybody got quite good at this. That first section was in the early part of the evening. Then, later, Cliff came back to it. We formed into pairs again – different pairs this time. We went through the mirror exercises again, but now the originator was instructed to move very quickly and with exaggerated movements. It was a hoot. The two photos illustrate the early practice and the later no holds barred time.
Who is joining?
After the meeting eighteen of those present filled in the application form. Cliff wan’t one of them. He explained that he sees his role as an inspirational one. He will provide his services free to the members, because he has a passion for it, not because it is his role as a member. We know of several more who couldn’t make it on the night because of other commitments. We will charter next month.
If you weren’t able to attend the Demonstration Meeting, but you would like to join, there is an opportunity up to March 28.
There is a joining fee
It will cost $90 for a year’s subscription. Download the Charter Member Application Form. Print the two pages and fill in your Last Name, First Name or Given Name, your address, your contact phone number and your email. Sign at the top of the second page. Don’t fill in the club detail information at the top of the first page. Scan the 2 pages and email them to me. I will send instructions for paying the $90 joining fee.
If you are interested and have any queries, ring me on 9457 6468 or email me at davidnic@iinet.net.au
Robyn Lloyd, the President of Western Founders, has proposed we pursue a new style of Public Relations to publicize Toastmasters in WA. Â Of course it could be used anywhere in Australia, and probably most of the world. Â It comes from Robyn’s highly successful project at Murdoch University Open Day on Friday, February 12, 2010. Â You can read about the Open Day and the Canning Vale Sausage Sizzle on January 2nd & 3rd, 2010.
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. blank
Community Events Coordinator
This will be a new role. Â It will be similar to the Speechcraft Coordinator function. blank
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.
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.
Ross Wilkinson’s Banner
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
W28 Area Governor
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Thanks to Gerry Prewett for the story and to Robyn Lloyd for the project.
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.
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.
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.
I was invited to join toastmasters by a discerning friend who felt that I would find it both interesting and enjoyable. It was more than that and I am eternally grateful to her.
Although I had been exposed to public speaking... Nicky Quekett Victoria Quay Toastmasters
