Sundial Toastmasters
Membership Contest

Speaker:  Dion Hatcher, Sundial Toastmasters VP Membership

Speech:  #3 Organize you Speech

Presented:  September 14, 2004

Good afternoon fellow Toastmasters and most welcomed guests. TM’s International recommends a minimum of 20 active members to effectively support a TM program and to be recognized as a Distinguished Club. We currently sit at half that number and risk dropping even lower. In order for this club to survive, we need to add new members. My speech today outlines a membership contest and some things that we can do to work towards the goal of 20 active members. That is the challenge we all face.

As most of you know, I am the current VP of Membership for the Sundial Club. The primary goal for the VP of Membership is to turn guests into members. At TM’s we need a steady influx of new members into our clubs as people routinely leave because they move, change employment or reach their speaking objectives. On average a club losses 1 member per month. That means that you need to gain 1 member per month just to maintain status quo. Slowly overtime we lost members and unfortunately have not replaced them at the same rate. When I joined just over a year ago I recall meetings when this room was full. It was a little nerve racking for my first speech but in the real world that is what we face – a room full of people. There are other advantages to a larger group. You hear more speeches, meet more people and hear a variety of ideas and speaking styles. These things are important to the development of our public speaking skills. A larger group also shares the workload at meetings as more people are available to fulfill roles.

One tool to help us increase membership is to have a contest. It is a fun way to work towards our goal of 20 members. We will split the club into 2 teams, each with a captain. The team captains are Carmen and Jill. The teams will engage in friendly competition to obtain more points than the other team. Team Carmen includes Julie, Colleen, Kuikui, Laara, Gerald and Sylvester. Team Jill includes Aaron, Frank, Jenny, Brian, Norma and Bill. I tried to ensure each team had the same number of active members. Please feel free to change your team name to something more creative. The rules are simple; points are awarded for the following:
- guest attends a meeting - 5 points
- guest returns after initial visit - 1 point
- guest becomes a new member - 5 points
- new or team member gives a speech - 2 points
- new member participates in a meeting (other than speech) - 1 point
For example, if team Carmen attracts 2 guest who later become members that totals 20 points. Don’t worry about the math as I love to crunch numbers. Note the majority of points are awarded for guests attending a meeting and becoming a member. You all have a copy of the teams are the rules in your handout and I will forward it to those not in attendance.

The contest starts today and will run until the end of November. My role is to track the points and provide updates every few weeks. Finally, what does the winning team receive? Of course bragging rights are the most important. In addition, the second place team will toast members of the first place team. Remember the intent is to have fun and increase our membership.

So how do we attract more guests to our meetings? The vast majority of people come to TMs by hearing about it from a friend or co-worker. That is how I became a member. I worked with Aaron and noticed the information outside his office door. It actually took me a few weeks to commit to attending. My wife sent me a quote one day at work – “Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow”. That quote was the gentle push that I needed but the spark was the TM information in the office. A simple thing like posting a TM brochure at your office or chatting to friends and co-workers about TMs is a great place to start. Please feel free to try other things to bring guests into the club.

At the meetings it is very important to set a good example for our new members and guests. In order to maximize the benefit to you and everyone else, giving a speech is one of the best things you can do. This is an area that I need to improve and therefore committed to 3 speeches this fall. Our VP of Education, Carmen will be more than happy to schedule you in for a speech. Note you get 2 points for completing a speech.

In conclusion, we face the challenge of increasing our membership to 20 to ensure the viability of the Sundial club. I propose a membership contest as a fun way to meet this challenge. Team Jill and Carmen will battle it out until the end of November at which time a winner will be declared. Please let your friends and co-workers know about TM and the benefits it provides. I ask you follow Toastmasters to rise to the challenge of increasing our membership. The future of the Sundial club lies in our hands.

CONTEST SUMMARY

TEAMS
Team Carmen                         Team Jill
Julie                                          Aaron
Colleen                                     Frank
Kuikui                                       Jenny
Laara                                        Brian
Gerald                                       Norma
Sylvester                                    Bill

POINTS
Action Points
Guest attends a meeting 5
Guest returns after initial visit 1
Guest becomes a new member 5
New or team member gives a speech 2
New member participates in a meeting (other than speech) 1

CONTEST DATES
Start 14-Sept-04
End 30-Nov-04

WINNING TEAM IS THE ONE WITH THE MOST POINTS ON 30-NOVEMBER-04.
- In the event of a tie, the team that signed the most new members or secondly completed the most speeches is the winner.

WINNING TEAM MEMBERS WILL RECEIVE A TOAST FROM THE SECOND PLACE TEAM MEMBER.

LETS HAVE FUN !!!