Learning from Harvey Norman

Many major chains - Harvey Norman, Woolworths, Bunnings, Coles etc - use the Loss Leader system. Sell a popular item at a heavily discounted price - perhaps less than cost - to get the customers into the store. They might lose money on the one item, but the increased sales all around the store more than make up for it.

Our leaders at Toastmasters International have been doing some strategic thinking. They have come up with a brilliant loss leader.

Below Cost!!!

Your Second DTM

Unbelievable Value - While Stocks Last

Yes, its true. A second and subsequent DTM has just had its cost heavily slashed. Amazingly reduced. Compare these 2 tables for last year and this year.

Second and Subsequent DTM Requirements

Award	Required Last Year	Required This Year
CC	10 speeches	Not required
ACB	10 speeches	Not required
ACS	10 speeches 2 minor workshops	Not required
ACG	10 speeches 1 major workshop	10 speeches 1 major workshop
CL	10 projects	Not required
ALB	Club Officer Attend Officer Training 2 minor workshops	Not required
ALS	High Performance Leader District Officer Club Founder/Mentor/Coach	High Performance Leader District Officer Club Founder/Mentor/Coach

Look at the discount!! This year’s Second DTM “saves” 30 speeches, 10 CL projects, a Club Officer role and 4 minor workshops. Unbelievable value.

But it makes good sense
Our leaders at Toastmasters International have a strategy. They know that long term experienced leaders are an asset to our organization, and they want us to continue working productively for the organization. Giving a lot of speeches?? Come off it! Serving as District Officer? Yes! Founding new clubs? Yes! Yes!! Yes!!!

Second DTMs have not been popular
Look at the record of current District 73 members - only 5 multiple DTMs - Anna Riggs in South Australia, Vivienne Triplett in Victoria and 3 from Western Australia, all from the same club - Victoria Quay - Glenis Nicholas, Alan Smith and me. Second DTMs have not been the flavour of the month in District 73 - or the year - or the decade. But that is about to change. I know 3 members in WA who already have the requirements for their second DTM under the new conditions. And there will be others in South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania.

Is this a dumbing down of the requirements?
No, it isn’t. This is a powerful strategic move to attract experienced, skilled Toastmasters into the ranks of those who focus their experience and skill into repeated District Officer roles and even more importantly, into the founding of new clubs. All States and Divisions will benefit from this activity and in particular Western Australia, as we work towards setting up our own District.

David Nicholas DTM

First get your first DTM
That’s the catch! To take advantage of the Sale of the Century, with its unbelievable discounts and never to be repeated DTM bargains, you need the first one at full price. Buy one and get a second at less than half the price!! Come in now. Beat the rush!

David Nicholas DTM (5 times at the old price)
WA New Clubs Coordinator

The Humorous and Table Topics Contests

Claire Lacy

Claire Lacy from Victoria Quay won the Humorous Contest with her speech Move on Claire. Move on.

I’m never going to have children, she proclaimed, twitching violently. Do you want to know why? Because I was a matron at an all boys school - that’s why. But as her psychiatrist upbraids her, it was only for a month when she was 18. Now you’re 27. Move on, Claire. Move on.
The psychiatrist figured several times as Claire lurched her way through the terrible experiences she had at the boys’ school. It culminated in the terrible night when she was supervising showers, and she accidentally (?) turned the tap to very hot, scalding the boys. Well done, Claire, pronounced the psychiatrist. That’s your subconscious speaking. You have avenged yourself. Now you can move on. The audience knew she wouldn’t as the twitch came back with a vengeance. Claire thought she could, now that she had got it out into the open and confronted it publicly. Now she was ready to resume normal life, get a boyfriend, have children, hold down a job. Until she saw a little boy in the audience and ran screaming from the stage.

David Colson from Gateway was placed second.

Table Topics

Chief Judge Charles Fisher & Gillian Street

Gillian Street from Gateway won the Table Topics, answering the question “Does the end always justify the means?” Gillian recaptured a scene in a St Vinnie’s Op Shop where she bought a $750 pair of fashion shoes for just $3. To get them she had to behave in a disgraceful fashion. But she got the shoes - that end certainly justified the means for her that day.

Steve Barry from Gateway was placed second.

The Contest Organisation

Pascale

Sharon Wayland

The contest was organised by Area Governor Pascale Amberville-Colby and hosted by Gateway. Gateway President Sharon Wayland chaired the Humorous Contest. Three clubs from W21 were represented - Fremantle Gateway, Fremantle Gourmet and Victoria Quay. Amity in Albany will be sending its representatives directly to the Western Division Final

 

 

WA - New Horizons

David Nicholas

District 73 Parliamentarian David Nicholas DTM gave a presentation on forward plans for Toastmasters in WA. David claimed there was no new horizon. It is the same horizon, but now it looks new because it is much closer.

Toastmaster leaders in WA have a vision of a new District for WA alone. In the last few years we have gone from 30 clubs, through 36, and now to 46. At the same time just the one Western Division has grown into Western, Perth and Innercity.

 

 

Public Relations in District 73

Mark Richards

District Public Relations Officer Mark Richards DTM outlined his plans for publicising Toastmasters through the community. Mark is recruiting State based PROs to assist him. There are 2 in Victoria and now he has one in WA - Robyn Richards, cofounder of the new Canning Vale Club.

 

 

 

Western Division

Ross Wilkinson & Claire Lacy

Western Division Governor Ross Wilkinson was on hand to make presentations to the winners. Ross presented statistics which showed that Western Division is leading the District at this point in the Distinguished Club Program. In Western Division and the District as a whole, Area W21 has built up an amazing early performance. Only 3 Clubs in the District are Distinguished - Fremantle Gateway with 5 Goals, Fremantle Gourmet with 6 Goals, while Victoria Quay is Select Distinguished with 7 Goals.

Ross paid special tribute to our 5 new Distinguished Toastmasters in WA. There are Bill Hewitt and Judith Allen from Perth Division. In Western Division there are Alan Smith (Victoria Quay), Ross himself (Fremantle Gourmet) and Jeanette Farrar (Fremantle Gateway).

The Western Division Contest Finals

The Division Finals will be held Saturday afternoon, November 1st, 2008 in the same venue, the Fremantle Bowling Club. Claire and Gillian will represent W21 there.

Chris Ford DTM

Chris Ford DTM was Toastmasters World President for the 2007/08 year. He handed over to Jana Barnhill DTM at Calgary last month. In Perth we are lucky that he is here for a Mediation Conference as a lead speaker. Chris brings a wealth of experience from his time as a Brigadier General in the Canadian Army, from his consulting with major businesses since then, and of course from his year as World President of Toastmasters International

 

The reception at QV1

3 Toastmasters
Robyn Glenis & Diana

25 Toastmasters and business leaders came to QV1 to meet and hear Chris talk on his areas of expertise - Toastmasters obviously, his experience as a Brigadier General in the Canadian Army and mediation and conflict resolution - without weapons. We met on Floor 2 for a reception before settling in the conference centre. The catering was handled by Rising Stars, which meets regularly at QV1.

 

Lisa & Chris

 

 

And then Chris discovered a fellow Canadian amongst our Toastmasters - Lisa Hughes from Young Guns, the A Team and Marketers.

 

 

Mike Helm

Last year’s District Secretary, Jeanette Farrar, acted as Sergeant at Arms and opened the meeting. She introduced Mike Helm, our very successful District Governor from 2007/08, who spoke about the value of Toastmasters in a corporate setting.

He introduced Michael Malone, I40 Area Governor and the founder and CEO of iinet.

 

Michael Malone’s address

Michael Malone

Michael gave an enthusiastic and gripping account of his accidental discovery of Toastmasters in the building he worked in, joining Durack and then encouraging his employees to improve their own communication skills through Toastmasters. Recently iinet has expanded to South Africa, and Michael sketched in the difficulties his middle managers have in developing their communication skills without the education and business structures we take for granted.

 

Chris Ford’s presentation. - an abbreviated account

Chris Ford

Chris announced that he is a double failure. When he retired from the Canadian Army in 2001, he had two firm plans - never to work for anyone else, and never to to go back to the military as a civilian. 

That makes him a double failure, he said, because he is now doing exactly what he said he would not: he’s working for someone else, and he’s back in the military as a civilian!

 

 

 

Trust me

Trust me!

Corporations are in business to make a buck, and government organisations are in business to provide a service to the public. Come on, trust me, he said. I have a strategy for you to improve your bottom line and that strategy is to foster Toastmasters in your organisation. You have to invest a dollar to make it grow to a dollar ten, so you have to provide leadership and invest effort to get the benefits for your business or government organisation that Toastmasters offers. We have two vital products.

 

 

 

Our two vital products
Toastmasters Communication and Leaderships skills.

Pat & Chris

Working at a multi-national defence systems company, Chris had a revelatory experience when he dropped into an office across the corridor and had a 15 minute conversation with another manager. They discussed what they were trying to do, problems between them, and how they could resolve those problems. It seemed a great success until at the end as he was about to leave, the other manager said, “Can you send me an email, confirming what you said.” Emails! businesses are drowning in non personal communication through emails, instead of just picking up the phone to talk to the person, or sending a hand written note or best of all, walking down the passage and speaking directly to the person.

When communication breaks down, understanding is broken.

What Toastmasters offers can improve the bottom line, whether it is profits for the company or better service for the public. It’s not magic. It’s not rocket science. We learn by doing in a Toastmasters club or group - thinking, speaking, listening.

He recounted an experience as World President when he visited the Motorola Company in Penang, Malaysia. The President of Motorola told him that the first Toastmaster Club there had been such a success in developing communication skills in its members that he was initiating a program to start 10 Toastmaster Clubs in the organisation. Toastmasters works! What we offer you works!

Michael Malone

Questions and Answers.

Michael Malone joined Chris to take questions from the audience. One dealt with possible awkwardness in a corporate situation where employees might find it difficult to speak in front of fellow employees. Chris agreed there was sometimes such a problem, but in other cases it was a big plus that employees could socialise and work mutually on their communication skills. Another question dealt with the age range for Toastmasters - Chris agreed there was a need for opportunities for those under 18 but expressed support for that age barrier. A third question dealt with leadership development and both Michael and Chris contributed their endorsement of the leadership training opportunities available through Toastmasters with the administrative support structures involved in Area, Division and District operations

Some more socialising

PRO Mark & Chris

After the formal stuff we gathered again in the lobby for further discussion and general socialising. Mark Richards DTM, our District 73 Public Relations Officer, had an animated discussion with Chris concerning our drive for a WA District. Whatever his other Toastmaster memories from Perth, Chris will definitely take away an understanding of our powerful drive to become a District in our own right. Of course, he said, as an ex-World President, I have no influence. It’s hard to take that at face value after experiencing the powerful impression Chris made of his persuasive capacities.

Sue Kane

Chris and Lisa swapped more information about their mutual links in Ottawa and Winnipeg. Sue Kane and the Rising Stars contingent handled the catering with unobtrusively deft skill. Long experience with Club Officer Training sessions has taught us how important the catering and the background organisation is. The Rising Stars contribution to the evening was a major one.

Eventually it finished, but no, it wasn’t over yet. 12 people crossed the road to the Indian Restaurant 9Marys and enjoyed a formal meal together.

David Nicholas DTM
WA New Clubs Coordinator

Mike Helm plans to make this style of reception and promotion of Toastmasters a regular and vital feature of our New Clubs push on the way to our WA District. This was a brilliant start to the process. But it is only part of the total plan. We need also a string of new clubs in local communities in Perth suburbs. Mark and Robyn Richards showed how to do it with the founding of Canning Vale earlier this year. If you have ideas for a club in your community, let me know, and we will give you all the support you need to set it up. You can make a post on this page, or email me directly at davidnic@iinet.net.au

 

Restaurant

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At Western Founders on August 16, 2008

David

David Nicholas coordinated a Training course on behalf of Western Founders Toastmasters for members interested in coordinating or helping with Speechcraft courses.

16 Toastmasters from a wide range of clubs took part in the course, with a skilful group of Trainers - 7 from Western Founders and 2 other experts. They were Mida Liddle, the WA Speechcraft Coordinator, and Mark Richards, the District 73 Public Relations Officer.

The aim of the course was to provide information about how Speechcraft operates, to give practical advice in how to run the courses, and to advise in the process for clubs to set up courses directly or use Mika’s assistance in finding the participants.

As WA Webmaster, David has a Speechcraft page with lots of information, and a Bookings page, supervised by Mika Liddle.

Checkin

After the welcome and an outline of the day’s program, everybody checked in, revealing what they hoped to get from the course. Mostly the participants wanted to learn more about Speechcraft and how they could take part in it. Some wanted the Coordinator role, to complete their Advanced Communicator Gold award. Some wanted to take part as helpers to get the experience to later on act as Coordinator. Some realised that Speechcraft is a good way to raise funds for their club’s educational program. Others were just curious.

Overview

Alan Smith

Alan Smith did a general survey of the Speechcraft program. He distributed copies of the Speechcrafter’s Handbook and the Speechcraft Coordinator’s Guide. Alan took us through the index - always a good place to start - and then the various chapters. He particularly noted that recent editions of the Handbook and Guide have removed Powerpoint presentations from the course.

 

First Discussion Group

Glenis Nicholas

Glenis Nicholas introduced a discussion on participant needs. What do we think that Speechcrafters are looking for when they sign up for the course? The participants were divided into 3 groups with a mix of Toastmasters and Trainers. Each group appointed a leader and a reporter. The report back segment confirmed that each group had been energetically addressing the issue. Most groups had similar results, but each had some individual contributions to make. These were some of the suggestions
 

• Overcoming fear and anxiety about public speaking
• Learning speaking skills
• Specific work related presentation skills
• A short course with no ongoing commitment

Training Workshops

Charles Fisher

Charles Fisher presented a segment on the importance of workshops to demonstrate specific skills. He suggested that the Toastmaster Better Speaker Series provided material for these workshops and he demonstrated such a presentation. In the discussion following during the course, others suggested that shorter Workshops involving specific Speechcrafter involvement were very important.

 

 

 

Morning Tea

Resident chef Gawain Simpson prepared a sumptuous morning tea. The 20 minute break hardly gave enough time to do justice to it, along with the vigorous conversation that took place.

Meeting Styles

Sue Voloczi

Sue Voloczi gave a Powerpoint presentation on the kind of Agendas that were appropriate for the 2 kinds of courses we offer - the public courses, and the inhouse business courses. She distributed a handout relevant to the public courses.

Money!!

David Nicholas gave a brief exposition of the Toastmaster Fundraising Guidelines and had copies of the rules for those who wanted to study them in detail. Essentially, we can use Speechcraft to raise funds for educational purposes. This includes sending voting delegates to World and District Council meetings, as well as acquiring sets of Manuals for the use of Club members. We must not set up in competition with outside businesses selling public speaking training. Our current fee structure meets the requirement that it must be reasonable.

Getting participants for local courses

Mark Richards

Mark Richards, the District 73 Public Relations Officer, outlined ways clubs can publicise their Speechcraft courses. Of course, after the great success of the Canning Vale Charter, Mark strongly recommended a letter box drop as the most effective and economical way of advertising our courses in particular localities.

 

 

 

Getting participants for the central courses

Mika Liddle

Mika Liddle, the WA Speechcraft Coordinator, explained the extraordinary service offered to Clubs and members through the central courses she administers. We advertise the courses through the toastmasterswa.net website and there is a steady stream of eager participants. The 6 week courses are conducted at Caddencrowe where she works in West Perth. They alternate between Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings during the year. Mika handles the bookings and collects the fees. The net proceeds are distributed to the Clubs which run the courses, on a strictly proportionate basis, calculated by the number of sessions that members assist in, with the Coordinator getting a 3 times loading. The next course begins on Wednesday, August 20, and is being coordinated by Leonor Ragan.

Second Discussion Group

Robyn Lloyd

Robyn Lloyd led the final discussion session. What will I do about this? Again there was a break up into 3 groups, mostly with the same members. If anything, the discussion was even more vigorous as we all grappled with what we would do about Speechcraft now that we had all this information and help. Again there was a general consensus reported by the group spokesperson.

• Some had already spoken to Mika and offered their services for central courses.
• Some intended to negotiate with Mika.
• Some intended to go back to their clubs and propose a local course
• All groups felt inspired to do something, even if they didn’t quite know what yet.

Questions and Discussions

All the presenters gathered to stand at the front - no relaxed sitting here - as David invited questions. There was only 13 minutes allocated so it ran a minute and a half over time, with a great deal of further discussion after the course nominally finished. Most of the questions were directed to Mika - the service she offers is obviously very attractive to those who learn about it. Mark asked David to present a brief version of his 5 minute workshop on Basic Speaking Skills. Everybody had to take part, just as occurs in the first Speechcraft session in many of our courses.

Timing

Pascale

Pascale Amberville-Colby kept a careful eye and ear on the whole course, and we did very well for Timing. It was only the final segment that made the finish one and a half minutes over. Pascale thought that was pretty good.

 

 

 

 

Finish

David

David closed the course on a very high note. Naturally he referred to the toastmasterswa.net website for more information on Speechcraft and the courses being offered, as well as to email contacts to Mika and himself for more information. And naturally, he promoted the benefits of the Western Founders Club which meets at the George Burnett Centre on every third Saturday morning.

A New Year - a new WA Structure

WA has a new Division this year - Innercity. So, we have 3 new Areas. And recently we had some more new clubs. So we have a new Structure in WA Toastmasters this year.

Your club may now be in a different Area, and perhaps in a different Division.

Check the new structure and if you have a comment or a query, post it on this page.

To see the details of the new structure go to WA Toastmasters 2008/09

David Nicholas DTM
Email davidnic@iinet.net.au
08 9457 6468

A stunning improvement this year

Yes, our District went from No.46 last year to No.13 of 85 Districts in the world in this year.

Congratulations to District Governor, Mike Helm DTM

Mike produced a stunning vindication of his very narrow victory in the Council vote at Fremantle in May 2007. Could the District be governed from Perth? Or would the administrative burden prove too much for the WA leaders - Governor Mike Helm, Treasurer Alan Smith, Secretary Jeanette Farrar and Parliamentarian David Nicholas? The results speak for themselves.

And we could have gone higher had there been more effort to get our Clubs Distinguished. Look for the analysis below.

WA led the way

The figures tell the story. Not only did we have Mike Helm, the first West Australian District Governor, leading the way, but our stunning score of New Clubs propelled us up into the top group of Districts. And where did they come from? WA of course. Here is a breakdown of club numbers, State by State.

Club Numbers Analysis by State 2007/08

State	July 1, 07	June 30, 08	Net
South Australia	16	16	0
Tasmania	5	6	+1
Victoria	89	89	0
Western Australia	35	46	+11

The big points area for Distinguished District is in the net increase in Club numbers. That’s where WA led the way for District 73.

Points for Distinguished Clubs

This is where our District did very badly. There are 10 points available, but we got only 2. Here is a breakdown of where the Distinguished Clubs were located, Division by Division. Note that the Tasmanian Clubs are located within Metro Division, which is predominantly a Victorian Division. You won’t be surprised at the WA results.

Distinguished Clubs Analysis by Division 2007/08

State	Division	Clubs at July 1, 07	Distinguished Clubs at June 30, 08	% Distinguished Clubs
SA	Central	16	6	37%
Victoria	Bass	15	5	33%
	Eastern	11	5	44%
	Metro	18	5	28%
	Northern	18	7	39%
	Ranges	16	5	31%
	Southern	16	4	25%
WA	Perth	18	9	50%
	Western	17	11	65%
Totals		145	57	39%

What were the sources of the WA success?

Effective Leadership at the top

• District Governor Mike Helm worked tirelessly to encourage our local leaders.
• WA New Clubs Coordinator David Nicholas recruited an excellent team of motivated and innovative workers
• WA Governors, a new concept in advanced clubs, developed by Mike and David, brought together each month key WA leaders.

Resourceful and distinguished work at every leadership level

• Our Division Governors, Gil Alexander and Mark Richards were both President’s Distinguished and distinguished themselves by the amount of work they put in to lead their teams.
• Our Area Governors We had 8 AGs. Michael Malone and Steve Barry achieved President’s Distinguished. Judith Allen was District Area Governor of the year.
• Our New Club Founders 12 New Clubs were in one year! Lots of members worked to bring this about, and particularly the Club Founders

Persistent, effective work

At every leadership level there were willing and able workers. I will be publishing a brief history of the new clubs push early next week. Many members were involved.

What do we do now?

Our own District in WA

This was the first, highly successful year of our campaign to form our own District in WA. We need to reach a target of at least 60 clubs, with a powerful growth trajectory.

We grew last year

We put on 12 new clubs, grew from 35 to 46 clubs, and formed a third Division - Innercity has joined Western and Perth.

We aim to do better in 2008/09

• We have 3 talented, hard working new Division Governors - Bill Hewitt in Perth, Ian Pickens in Innercity and Ross Wilkinson in Western.
• We have 11 Area Governors determined to at least match the 2007/08 records.
• We have a team of talented and proven successful new club founders and mentors

Look forward to another stunningly successful year.

David Nicholas DTM
WA Webmaster
WA New Clubs Coordinator

Does your club have less than 20 members?

20 members minimum is the target Toastmasters International sets as the operational level for successful Toastmaster clubs. If you have less than 20, then your members are not getting the full benefit of their membership.

How can you recruit several new members in one campaign?

There are long term methods which really work - an active website is the best. But that takes time to kick in. You want something that will generate 5 or 6 new members in a 3 month campaign. This is the way it works.

Run a community based publicity campaign

This campaign style is based on the method developed by Mark Richards DTM in the chartering of Canning Vale Toastmasters. For his method for new clubs go to Publicity for New Clubs 

There are several important stages. Check them out.

Get your funding in place

You are going to need money - it took about $800 to set up Canning Vale. $800 - can your club afford it? Yes it can, with help, which is readily available. You will have to work for it, but you can generate that kind of money for such a purpose. For ideas, and help, go to Finding marketing funds in WA Toastmasters

Set a date for the Demonstration meeting

You are going to run a Demonstration meeting at your club, at its usual venue, on the usual day and time.

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

Recruit your team of helpers.

You will need club members to fill the usual Toastmaster meeting roles, like Sergeant at Arms, Toastmaster, Table Topics Master, Table Topics Evaluator, Speakers, Evaluators, Timer, and, very importantly, Workshop Presenters.

• Have 2 speakers - it is best if one is a fairly inexperienced rookie and one is experienced
• Have 2 five minute Workshops from 1 or 2 different presenters. The Workshops should be about basic skills, and involve audience participation.

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 - provide some preliminary information to get them intereste

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

Sign them up!

Yes, invite them to join the club.  Get them to fill in the New Member Application Form.  If they don’t have the money, which is likely, still get them to fill in the form, and arrange to collect the money at the next meeting.

Keep a record of everyone who attended

Get their phone #s and email addresses so you can follow them up, and invite them to attend further meetings.

It works for others. So give it a go.

Register for the course on Saturday, Aug 16

Speechcraft is a short course training program developed by Toastmasters International. It is a high quality program which can be of great value to your club and to you personally.

Why would you run a Speechcraft Course?

Your club needs more new members and more funds for educational purposes You want to acquire the skill and the experience to run public speaking training courses. You will need a Success Leadership Module for your Advanced Communicator Gold.

Register for the Speechcraft Train the Trainer Course

Venue: The George Burnett Leisure Centre, Manning Road, Karawara / Como
Date & Time: Saturday morning, August 16th, 2008 from 9-12 midday.
Cost: $20 (to cover the venue charge and the sumptuous morning tea)

Why would you attend the Course?

This course is being run by Western Founders Toastmasters. Right now there are many opportunities to take part in or coordinate Speechcraft courses. This training module will explain how Speechcraft operates overall, the structure of the course, and the skills required. You will get to practise many of the skills in the training session.

How to Register

Download the Registration Form trainthetraineraug08regofrom

and get it to David Nicholas. You can post it to him with the $20 cheque made out to Western Founders, or scan the form to pdf, pay the $20 by Direct Bank Transfer (066163 10398582 Reference your name) and email it. If you have some queries or want more information phone David Nicholas on 9457 6468 or email him.

Netmasters

A new kind of Toastmasters Club

The times they are a-changin
Bob Dylan’s song was prophetic in 1964 when he released it. It was true then and it is strikingly true now of my experience of Toastmaster administration and marketing since I joined in 1995.

Email

I didn’t have email then, and it wasn’t part of our member contact list at all - postal address and phone number - that was it. What about now? There are a few members in a few clubs who don’t have email. And they are a problem because clubs, District Officers and World Headquarters itself now use email almost exclusively to communicate with members.

The new communication frontier

It’s the internet of course. And of course it’s “of course” to most, but not all, of our members right now. Right now a powerful communication method is sweeping through the internet in a similar way to email replacing snail mail. YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. MySpace. Facebook - Prime Minister Rudd had great success in the election campaign with his Facebook site. There are many other examples springing up right now, across the net. They are coming in right now, and soon using them will be commonplace among many or most of our members, and, even more importantly, among our non members who might be persuaded to join Toastmasters.

Netmasters is showing the way

Netmasters Toastmasters Club has just been set up in WA to investigate, to trial and to use these new communication methods to recruit new members, to enhance club activities and to pioneer the setting up of online clubs.

An online Toastmasters Club?

WA is a very big state - 1/3 of Australia. We have recently chartered Touch of Gold Toastmasters in Kalgoorlie, but outside Kalgoorlie there are many mining centres. Workers there can’t get into Kalgoorlie to attend the meetings. Oh, that’s their tough luck! Isn’t it. We can’t provide any Toastmasters experience for them. Or to the tens of thousands now of similar workers scattered through the booming Pilbara mining region in the north west and south east of the state.

Or can we?

Michael Malone, CEO of Iinet and President of Durack Toastmasters, is one of our many innovative and visionary WA Toastmaster leaders. He thinks we can. No, he knows we can. The technology exists right now to conduct effective Toastmaster meetings that bring together members from all around our enormous state - and our enormous country Australia - and the world itself. They can’t physically come to a meeting next Tuesday evening from Port Hedland, Broome, Coober Pedy, Yallourn, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Devonport, Beijing, etc, but they can all meet online next Tuesday night.

It will be a bumpy ride

There will be technical problems, but they will be easy to solve, using today’s technology and tomorrow’s which will be even more efficient and user friendly. The big problems will be around mindsets. Some, perhaps many will claim - You have to physically attend a venue. You have to stand up in front of an audience to deliver a speech - otherwise it’s not public speaking. Toastmasters will never agree to charter an online club!!!!! We will see.

What do you think

Post your comment and join in the discussion.

First Perth

Perth Division reached President’s Distinguished Division last Friday, June 20, 2008. At that point Gil Alexander was the only President’s Distinguished Governor in District 73. Congratulations, Gil.

Now Western

And now today, June 25, 2008, Western Division has reached President’s Distinguished. Congratulations President’s Distinguished Governor, Mark Richards.

Plus a triumph for District Governor Mike Helm

Yes, District 73 has reached Distinguished status and may be on the way to Select Distinguished. More of that next week.