Editor’s Note
Very few people would be willing to climb Mt. Everest. Many more people would be willing to climb a trial-size Mt. Everest, or enjoy a free sample of the exhilarating experience or take a test drive around the Nepalese countryside. After tasting a little part of the experience, some people may awaken the inner adventurer and decide to climb that mountain. These marketing concepts all attract potential mountaineers, the same marketing concepts may attract potential Toastmasters. The C.U. at Yappyhour Toastmaster Club developed a Lunch and Learn meeting to demonstrate Toastmasters. This 45- minute meeting featured free food and a fabulous demonstration of the benefits of Toastmasters. As Kenny says, “They ate, they learned, and it worked.”
Assessment
C. U. at Yappyhour held its demonstration meeting in June 2007 and chartered in early January 2008 with 20 members. All but two of the members were new to Toastmasters. The club held morning meetings before work. During the first year, the club canceled several meetings due to weather and other unexpected events. As a result of their inconsistent meeting schedule, membership gradually declined. By 2009, C.U. at Yappyhour was down to eight members on the books and seven of them were active. The club had not added any members since it chartered C. U. at Yappyhour faced three challenges that are common to Toastmasters clubs. The first challenge was low membership. This was primarily due to attrition, but also a result of failed recruiting efforts.
The second challenge was morale. When there are too few members, the leadership of a club can quickly become overwhelmed by too much effort and little reward. The momentum was on a downward spiral. The final and most critical challenge was a failure to focus on the fundamentals. Officers did not attend training regularly and the club had never achieved any communication and leadership awards in its first two years. On a positive note, because it’s a corporate-based club and the management is friendly to Toastmasters, the club is able to communicate with all employees easily. Although few in number, the members were strong in their desire to build a successful Toastmasters club meeting.
Planning and Implementation
Our first step was to provide immediate positive feedback to reinforce the things that the club was doing well. This boosted the overall self-esteem and helped us to form a good working relationship. During the year, several members visited other clubs to gain a fresh perspective on how to run a successful club. As the club coach, I presented How to Be a Distinguished Club from the Successful Club Series. This helped the members to realize that these goals were within reach. They scheduled the speeches that were critical to success and increased their focus on specific objectives; increased membership and communication awards. Finally, to address the low membership, the members planned a “Lunch & Learn” event which was designed to attract visitors. They invited employees in three ways: (1) they advertised the event in the company’s electronic newsletter, (2) they posted advertisements on bulletin boards around the office and (3) members invited many of their co-workers face-to-face. The club meetings are only forty-five minutes long. The agenda included a speaker doing project #8 (Persuade With Power) form the Competent Communication Manual, a presentation from the Better Speaker Series and time for the guests to ask questions. The icing on the cake for the “Lunch & Learn” event was – of course – the food. It served as bait on our Toastmaster-hook to attract visitors. They ate. They learned. It worked.
Results
In the past, C. U. at Yappyhour had never been Distinguished. This year, the club qualified as Select Distinguished and was one new member away from its 8th DCP point. The club went from zero communication awards during its first two years to four Competent Communicator’s Awards during one year. Although we lost two members this year, we added seven and finished the year with thirteen members. Six of those new members came from the “Lunch & Learn” event.
The club members also extended their Toastmasters experience beyond the club. One of the members delivered the pattern speech for the Area Evaluation Contest. In contrast to years past, all of the club’s officers attended training. As reflected by the fact that they even carpooled to training, there was an overall sense of teamwork and forward momentum among the club members.
Lessons Learned
In reviewing this term as a club coach, I realized that I gained as much value as anyone. For starters, I earned credit toward Advanced Leader Silver recognition. In addition, I gained valuable experience in helping a group of people to achieve significant, measurable improvement in a relatively short time period. I am happy to have met the members of C.U. at Yappyhour.
The most valuable lessons I’ve learned are:
- Recruiting must be regular – adding members can boost momentum and morale.
- Always focus on fundamentals – see the Distinguished Club Program for details.
- Create an environment of encouragement – not false flattery, but positive descriptive feedback.
In conclusion, I would highly recommend the role of club coach to anyone who wants to develop their leadership skills. It can be rewarding to both the coach and the club.
A Letter of Praise
It’s a pleasure to have the opportunity to sing the praises of Kenny Mitchell, our club’s coach. I’m the immediate past president of CU at Yappyhour. Kenny began coaching our club right after my term started, when we were a “small but mighty” club of just eight members. We had an advantage over many clubs in that the members we had were committed, but we had not signed up a new member since our chartering nearly three years previously, and we didn’t have a clue where to begin. Kenny was a great cheerleader, motivator, critic and champion. His listening skills and leadership drew us up to a level we couldn’t even have imagined. He was able to help us envision a better future for our club, and he “held our feet to the fire” when our commitment and enthusiasm began to waver. Thanks to him, we not only achieved Distinguished status for the first time ever, we even managed to become a Select Distinguished club. Working with Kenny has been one of the greatest pleasures and opportunities I could imagine, and I’m grateful to him, and to Toastmasters, for making it possible. Contributed by Jennifer Flexer, Immediate-Past President C.U. at Yappyhour Toastmasters Club