The list of districts are those that followed a progression — the DG had been LGM and LGET in the two immediately preceding years. That was the hard part (including dealing with name variations); getting a list of distinguished districts is relatively easy, TI publishes that list every year.

For districts WITH progression, LGM->LGET->DG ending in 2010-11:
59 districts average ranking is 43.2.
31 out of 59 districts were distinguished, or 52.5%.
Districts: 2 3 5 6 8 9 11 13 14 15 19 23 24 26 27 28 30 31 32 33 34 35 37 38 39
40 42 45 46 47 49 53 54 55 56 58 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 74 75 76
78 79 80 81 83 84 86

For districts WITHOUT progression in 2010-11:
23 districts average ranking is 37.0 (higher, closer to #1, is better).
14 out of 23 districts were distinguished, or 60.9%.

Is it easier for large districts to be distinguished, or small districts?  It doesn’t seem like it, there’s essentially no correlation between district size (paid clubs on June 30) and ranking (R-squared is just 6%).

Here’s the scatterplot graph for all districts from 2004-05 to 2010-11 (large districts that ranked highly are at the top left, small districts that ranked poorly are at the bottom right):

If we group districts by year-end size into 50-club buckets and look at the average DDP ranking for the last seven years, we get this:

It looks like a trend of higher ranking (smaller number) as the districts get bigger. But I suspect the average hides a lot of outliers that we see in the graph.

Is this because the largest districts tend to be where Toastmasters is growing fastest, outside North America?  If so, might that explain the higher ranking for the larger districts, because there’s lots of potential for growth where there are very large populations and relatively few clubs in proportion to the population?

In some cases, but certainly not all — for example, D14, Georgia, has 310 clubs, D47 (southern Florida and Bahamas) has 284 clubs. And some overseas districts are rather small, like D76, Japan, with 110 clubs.

Some of them have “right” answers per the rules, some have “right” answers per most peoples’ understanding of fairness … and some have no good answer at all.  Regardless, they are likely to start a good conversation at contest training.

Contest program & preparation

Do you include contestant names on the program?  Speech title?  Their club name and number?  Educational award level (like CC or DTM)?  Title (like club president or past district governor)?

For the evaluation contest, do you include the model (target) speaker’s name, speech title, objectives, and/or club information?

For the evaluation contest, is it better to have a model speaker who is relatively new, moderately experienced, or a highly-polished speaker?

You want to include the judge’s ballot in the program for the audience.  Can you do this?  Is there anything special you should do?

You’ve set a date for the contest several weeks out and publicized it heavily.  There’s only three contestants, and one of them tells you that they can’t make it that day.  Can you, should you, change the date or time?  What if it was one of two contestants, or one of ten?  Does the reason for not making it that day matter, such as a child’s surgery vs. an unspecified vacation plan?

Sergeant at arms & logistics

Before the contest, a contestant asks you to help with their props (e.g., put a chair on stage).  Do you?

Should contestants be allowed to wear their Toastmaster name badge or similar when competing?

The contest venue has a portable stage with a few steps.  At the contestants’ briefing, you realize one of the contestants has mobility limitations (maybe a wheelchair), and cannot possibly get up the steps.  What do you do?

A contestant asks if a friend can video record their speech.  Can they?  What if they want to record the whole contest?  What if they didn’t ask and then you see someone recording?

A contestant wants to use PowerPoint.  What do you need to do, if anything?

It’s time to begin, and a contestant hasn’t arrived yet.  When is the contestant disqualified?

It’s time to begin, and a contestant hasn’t arrived yet.  Someone says the contestant called, is caught in traffic, and will be there in 10 minutes.  Do you wait?  30 minutes — do you wait?  An hour?  What if the contestant told you the day before that they would be 30 minutes or an hour late?  What if it was the only contestant for that contest?

The room has been brought to order, we’re ready to begin, and it’s time to introduce the dignitaries.  Except one of the dignitaries is a contestant!  What do you do?

Should evaluation contestants be left in silence while waiting for their turn to speak?

The holding room for the table topics contests is right next to the contest room, and you can clearly hear the contest master through the thin wall.  What can you do?

You’re monitoring the table topics or evaluation contestants in a room down the hall as they wait for their turn.  One pulls out their phone and begins to tap away on it.  What do you do?

For the table topics contest, where should the contestants be when they are introduced?

Are audience members allowed to enter and leave during the one minute of silence between speeches?  During the two-plus minutes after the last speech, while judges are finalizing their ballots?

During a contest speech, you notice someone in the front row discreetly holding their phone for the contestant to see, with a timer apparently showing how long they’ve been speaking.  What do you do?  What if you were a judge?

Contest master

There’s only one contestant.  Do we still need a contest?  What if they go under or over time?

You’re planning the area contest, and it’s going to be a very small affair (just a couple contestants).  A neighboring area has the same problem.  Can you combine the contests?  What special steps do you need to take?

While preparing for the division contest, you send a the list of the area contest winners to WHQ to confirm their eligibility.  They respond saying one of them hasn’t paid their dues and is ineligible.  Does this affect their title of area contest winner?  Can they be in the division contest?  What if there was no runner-up in the area contest?

It’s time to draw for the speaking order, and a contestant is still missing.  Do you draw for them, or do they just get last in the order?

At the contestant briefing, the speaking area has been defined as the area in front of the first row of chairs.  One speaker says they wanted to walk around the whole room as part of their speech — can you change the speaking area?  Do you?

Can the speaking area be defined as the whole room?  Is there any reason to make it less?

It’s the table topics contest, and after reading it (twice!) to the first contestant, you realize it’s much too long.  Can it be shortened (or even just read once) to the subsequent contestants?

Should there be a printed version of the table topic to show the contestant?  Can they hold onto it during their speech?

During the speech contest, the sound system fails completely halfway through the first contestant’s speech.  What can you do?

During the speech contest, the building fire alarm goes off halfway through the first contestant’s speech.  What can you do?  What if it was during the last contestant’s speech?

There’s two contests being held back-to-back, the same evening.  One contestant is in both of them, and the agenda has contest interviews after each contest.  Do you interview that contestant twice?

Your club holds a contest for two speakers, and both go over time.  What can you do?  What if there’s a third person who wanted to compete, but couldn’t be there that day?

There are 5 contestants, 1 is disqualified over time.  Do you present the planned 3rd place award?

Timers

You’re in charge of the contest timing, where should you set up your equipment and sit?

There are two timers and you’re given two timing devices.  Should you both actively time the speeches?

You are one of two timers, and you are each actively running a timing device.  At the end of a prepared speech (international or humorous), one device says 7:30, the other says 7:31.  Is the speaker disqualified?

For the evaluation contest, should you time and signal the model (target) speaker?

When a contestant is introduced, some audience members start chanting.  When do you start the clock?

Contestants

The speech contestant mentions their club name, or their educational award level, or a title, or winning the contest last year, in their speech.  Is this a problem?

Two members want to give a speech together, as one speech, a dialog.  Is this against the rules?

Can a contestant have friends planted in the audience to react loudly and hysterically to their humorous speech?

You’re the first evaluation contestant, and the sergeant at arms cannot find your notes that they took away.  What do you do?  What if they have them but misunderstand the rules and refuse to give them to you?

Judges

The contest master forgets to allow one minute for you to mark your ballot, and instead immediately starts introducing the next speaker.  What can you do?

The contestant clearly leaves the defined speaking area during their speech.  How does this affect your scoring?

Near the end of the second speech out of five, you realize you’re becoming urgently in need of going to the restroom (and it won’t be less than a minute).  What do you do?

You’re chief judge and happen to casually observe one of the judges isn’t making any marks on their ballot at all during the speeches or the one minute of silence.  Should you do anything now, or after the contest?

You dutifully fill out your ballot, tear off the bottom, and give it to the ballot counters.  What do you do with the top part?

After the district contest, you discover that one of the judges is a member of the same club as the winner.  What can you do?

Ballot counters

You’re the chief ballot counter, and you know that 7 judges got ballots at the briefing.  The contest is over, you’re collecting the ballots, but you’ve only gotten 6 so far, and have no idea who has the 7th one.  What can you do?  What if you get 8 ballots but only expected 7?

It’s time to count the ballots, there were at least three contestants, and one of the judge’s ballots lists only one name.  Or lists two names on the same line.  Or isn’t signed.  What can you do?

Feel free to add your own scenarios, or comment on how you would handle these situations!

300,000 members is the same size as the population of Cincinnati, Ohio (the site of the 2013 international convention).  If everyone were lined up holding hands in a human chain, we would reach from Chicago to Detroit.

The biggest country with no Toastmasters club is Bangladesh, the 9th largest by population, 142 million potential members.  Next is Vietnam with 87 million, and Iran with 76 million.  The U.S. has the most clubs, about 8,400.

The most popular meeting day is Wednesday, over 3,500 clubs, followed closely by Tuesday and Thursday.  I would estimate that on any given Wednesday night, there are over 1,000 clubs meeting simultaneously.

The city with the most clubs is Singapore with 178, followed by Toronto (138, not counting metro areas), Washington (136) and Houston (134).

There were about 37,000 CC and AC awards issued last year, that’s an average of about 1,000 manual speeches a day.  Adding in a rough estimate of speeches from members that don’t result in an award, and it’s more like 1,500 a day.  At an average of 7 minutes each, that’s 175 hours of speeches per day, or 7 simultaneous speeches 24 x 7 x 365 (though I bet it’s much higher in June!).

With more than 1,100 DTMs awarded each year, that’s over three every day!

Toastmasters is over 88 years old now.  Back in 1924, when it was founded, IBM was also founded, Macy’s held their first Thanksgiving Day parade, Tutankhamen’s sarcophagus was found, the Dow Jones was at 100, and the first-ever winter Olympics games were held.

Despite a dues increase and a rebranding (or perhaps because of the rebranding?), membership payments are up 3.7% and paid clubs are up 5.3% compared to the same date a year ago (from the Executive Director’s report).

So there’s another perspective on Toastmasters!  What examples would you use to illustrate how big Toastmasters is?

Mike: Good evening, Shael!  So tell us about your club?

Shael: Langley Morning Toastmasters is in Langley, British Columbia, Canada, and we meet at 7 AM on Tuesdays.  We’re known for educational awards!

Mike: Educational awards?  How so?

Shael: LMT earned 57 Educational awards in the last Toastmasters year!

Mike: WOW!  That’s amazing — out of how many members?

Shael: LMT has a cap at 27 active members.  During this year we were mostly at full strength.

Mike: So about two awards for EACH member, on average.  How do you get new members to commit to this pace?

Shael: The pace is set by the club — most new members know nothing else so they fall right in with our program.

Mike: They have no idea other clubs take a more relaxed approach, they think this is how it works.  Nice.  What do you do to help them move along so well?

Shael: We schedule and assign all meeting roles in fair rotations — members do not volunteer or sign up for meeting roles.  This propels all members forward with educational achievements such as the CL and CC.

Mike: What’s your typical meeting like?

Shael: LMT meets weekly.  We typically have 3 prepared speeches and 1 mini-ed or education session per meeting.  We also have 4 table topics participants but limit the time for all roles tightly to complete a 90-minute meeting on time … usually.  Each LMT member is scheduled to complete their CL in 5-6 months after joining the club.

Mike: Do you have a special agenda to help you assist all these people working on CLs?

Shael: Yes, LMT has a regular printed meeting agenda for each meeting.  LMT also has on the back side a CL Agenda for each meeting.  This CL Agenda (sample PDF attached) lists all members who have a CL Role at the meeting (that is a CL Role that they still need to complete their CL).  This CL Agenda also lists an assigned CL Evaluator and the page in the CL Manual where this evaluation is to be made (as many CL Roles occur multiple times).

The Chairman of the meeting ensures that the CL Agenda is reviewed at each meeting and that all CL manuals are exchanged.  Members are asked to always bring their CL Manuals as they could get a CL Role by default at a meeting.  The completed CL Roles are tracked in a “Member Progress” spreadsheet by the VP Ed or by the CL Coordinator and used to prepare the next week’s CL Agenda.  This way all member progress through their CL Manuals rapidly and earn their CL pin.

Mike: Do you have speechathons too?  Do some of your members speak at other clubs?

Shael: Yes, we do have speech-fests and hold speech showcases instead of contests.  A showcase allows anyone to speak with no eligibility rules applicable.

Mike: Do you still send contestants on to area contests?

Shael: Yes we do.

Mike: How long does it usually take a new member to earn their CC award?

Shael: CCs usually take 1.5 to 2 years.

Mike: So you just keep them going, in the pipeline, you must be very good at member retention?

Shael: Yes, we have had several 100% renewals as members feel that they are really progressing with speeches and meeting roles.  AND … the club rewards EVERY achievement with an official pin presented at the meeting when the award is earned.

Mike: A lot of good practices there!

Shael: Thank you!

Mike: The club is just three years old, were you a founding member?  Has it always been this strong?

Shael: Yes, I was a founding member along with Robert Stone and Lois Wilson.  LMT became strong as soon as we had the critical mass of members to Charter.

Mike: How many Area Governors or other district leaders came out of your club last year?

Shael: Three — two Area Governors, Paul Keeris, Sandi Lawlor, and one Division Governor, Melanie Holloway.

Mike: Tell me more about what you personally achieved last year — you were VP-Ed?

Shael: Yes, I was VP Ed last year.  I achieved 22 educational awards including my second DTM.  During my year as Division Governor, the year before, I spoke 107 times which was a wonderful experience!

Mike: 107 times, over twice a week!  You obviously visited a lot of other clubs?

Shael: Yes, I have visited over 60 other Toastmasters clubs.  I am always interested to see how other clubs do things.  AND I always went prepared to give a manual speech — VERY often this did in fact happen.

Mike: “Every speech a manual speech”, right?  How do you prepare a speech in just a few days?

Shael: I have now given over 320 Toastmasters speeches.  I no longer need to write them — I can think them.  Yes, I still prepare, but I can speak for 5-7 minutes on many topics with no preparation.

Mike: Impressive.  What’s the farthest you’ve travelled to visit a Toastmasters club?

Shael: So far all have been here in the lower mainland of British Columbia.  I have thought of attending in Oregon or Seattle but it has not happened.  I have club mates who have attended meetings in Bavaria and Scotland.

Mike: Do you have a mentoring program in the club?

Shael: Yes, a mentor is assigned to each new member on day one of their membership.  We choose members who need to complete this CL role and we only require that they have been a member for a few months and have given a few speeches.  A mentor for a new member does not have to be an expert.  For questions beyond the knowledge of the assigned mentor, other club members can be asked.

Mike: How long have you been in Toastmasters (any club)?  Who is your mentor?

Shael: I have been a member for 5 years.  My mentor is Dave MacLean.

Mike: What are your goals in Toastmasters this year?

Shael: My goals are to promote my book on nutrition to as many clubs as possible by speaking and presenting — especially to the clubs that are designed to propel their members to be professional speakers and entrepreneurs such as All Pro and Just Pros Toastmasters advanced clubs.

Mike: Tell me more about these advanced clubs?

Shael: These special-focus advanced clubs provide intense 10-minute advanced evaluations with less sandwich than the usual TM evaluations.  These clubs are generally for more advanced Toastmasters who do not need or want the full sandwich any more.  They want to become professional speakers or good speakers as entrepreneurs.

Mike: With so many CLs, how do you find a membership or PR campaign for each one to chair in project 8?

Shael: LMT has a monthly membership contest so that as many members as possible in the year can be the CMCC — Club Membership Contest Chairman.  The Contest Chairman for that month keeps track of the members who bring guests and guests that become members.  That LMT member who brought the most guests gets a prize — a $10 certificate off the next club dues.  That member who brought the most guests that became members gets a $20 certificate.

Mike: Some great opportunities for your members to step up and become leaders there.  They may be small, but that’s where it starts, especially for new members who are afraid to chair a meeting of 20 people.

Shael: Yes!  We had one new member several years ago named Ning Thosanthiah.  She was afraid of her own shadow.  After being a member of LMT for about 8 weeks she was scheduled to be Chairman of a meeting.  When I saw her name appear on the schedule of the Club Scheduler, I wondered if I should postpone this.  I decided to wait for her email saying that she was not ready — NO email came.

She chaired the meeting of 20 adults!  Her knees were quaking through the whole meeting, but she DID IT!  After the meeting I went up to her and put my hand on her shoulder and said: “Ning, you just chaired a meeting of 20 adults!  There is no difference between chairing 20 adults here and anywhere out there in the business world!”  Ning replied: “I did, didn’t I!” with an enormous smile of empowerment on her face!

Mike: Now THAT is what Toastmasters is all about!

Shael: YES!  IT  IS!

Mike: What are your club’s goals for this year (2012-12)?

Shael: To continue supporting and encouraging all members of LMT to advance each week in the Communication AND Leadership tracks that Toastmasters has to offer to get the maximum benefit possible from this GENIUS PROGRAM for gaining Leadership and Communication skills so vital in every aspect of life!

Mike: Any words of advice for club leaders who would like to help their club do as well as yours?

Shael: Club Leaders!  Ask yourself — “How can I as a member and how can we as a Club SERVE our members better to achieve their Leadership and Communication goals during their Toastmasters journey?”  Going out of our way to SERVE our members is the key to membership retention and to member achievement!

Mike: That IS the key, remember the member!  Thanks for your time today, Shael, and good luck with your future endeavors!

Shael: Thanks Mike!  A pleasure!

• Keeping costs down certainly makes sense. This is expressed through rules like no hospitality suites and limiting the attendance of Toastmasters events outside one’s home region. I understand that up to 10-15 years ago, candidates for international office sometimes threw extravagant parties at the conventions with immense amounts of food and drink.

• Leveling the playing field makes sense to a limited degree as well. But if the intent is to “level” the field by limiting the use of current technologies to communicate, or by preventing candidates from interacting with voters through some forms of communications that other candidates might not be comfortable with, taking it to the lowest common denominator, I don’t quite get it. Or if it’s because some candidates may not have time to participate, I think that showing commitment and having the time are perfectly valid criteria for the voters to consider. Leveling the playing field also appears to be the goal of another policy, which is that candidates must use separate social media profiles for campaigns, presumably with a whole new set of “links” and “friends”. However, this causes Toastmasters to lose out on tremendous potential public relations from the candidate to non-Toastmasters. It also goes against the whole ethos of social media by forcing a split personality approach.
• Avoiding implicit endorsements is another goal addressed by prohibiting images of any other person on the candidate’s materials (web site, brochure, signs, etc.). Yet, with modern social media, anyone can “tag” a photo or video with someone’s name, and it shows up on their profile/wall, entirely outside of the candidate’s control. Merely appearing in a photo with someone does not constitute an endorsement. Adding words in praise of a candidate is clearly an endorsement, and should only be done with the endorser’s permission.
• Too much contact is also a concern. With as many as 20-30 international director and officer candidates all trying to contact the District Governors, Immediate Past District Governors, and some other leaders (by phone, not electronically!), it could be quite annoying to the recipient. Unfortunately, to a large extent, that’s one of the hazards of the office; as a voter (and especially the LGETs who will become DGs and hold hundreds of votes at the August business meeting), it is their responsibility to become familiar with the candidates. And hopefully, they’ll do more than just listen to the 10-minute segment for each candidate at the showcase, or a 15-minute interview.  Unfortunately, I know at least one DG who prided herself on skipping the showcase and avoiding any interviews.

There’s some specific oddities in the current policy I want to highlight, though.

• Candidates can make unlimited phone calls to anyone (other than the month of June), but only two unsolicited electronic communications the whole year (including social media “invites” to link or friend). Now, if I were a voter receiving all this attention, which one is less disruptive, a phone call or an e-mail? Furthermore, given our growing international nature, which one is cheaper to send? It seems clear that this inconsistency should be changed.Something as simple as wishing “happy birthday” to a fellow Toastmaster on their “wall” or by e-mail counts as one of those two unsolicited communications, even if that person is in their own club, a coworker, or spouse! I, like many, sometimes wish friends a happy birthday on Facebook, and when a name shows up in that birthday list, I sometimes don’t even know if they’re a Toastmaster. Or perhaps a friend posts some big news, and everyone is adding comments with congratulations (or sympathy) — but not candidates. One key concept we need in policy is “opt-out“. If a contact recipient requests no further or limited further contact, it must be respected; ignoring this would be a campaign policy violation.
• Participation by candidates in Toastmasters-related discussion groups in social media is entirely prohibited. This is intended to include district and club-focused discussion groups as well. What is the candidate serving in a club office supposed to do, when the club has its own Facebook discussion group? Or if the candidate is a new club chair for the district? What exactly is “social media” in this context; does it include Yahoo groups? An e-mail list? Does the term “discussion group” include postings on a candidate’s own profile or “wall” or blog? Furthermore, aren’t the current LGM, LGET, Second Vice President, and First Vice President candidates for the next year’s office, and thus also prohibited from participating?  Social media are one of the most effective ways for the many voters to get to know candidates, through the public give-and-take.
• Current board members and officers cannot have a Toastmasters-related web site (including blogs). This presumably arises from the “one voice” concept, where every board member supports the decision of the board, despite any earlier disagreement, and that the International President is the only authorized spokesperson for the whole organization. It’s also intended to prevent “perpetual campaigning”, e.g., by a board member planning to run for Second Vice President. Yet, the board members act as spokespersons at every district conference they visit, making presentations on the latest in policy developments (like Proposal A) with no ill effect. Candidates are expected to have campaign web sites, and many of those sites have been remarkably valuable resources for ordinary Toastmasters and district leaders alike. Yet as soon as the candidate is elected (or loses), the web site is forced to be taken down (not even converted into a non-campaign resource). Plus, once you put something on the Internet, it’s there forever. The Internet Archive Wayback Machinehas been archiving web sites since 1996, and now holds two million gigabytes of data. You can find any previous campaign web site on there anyway.Blogs are remarkably efficient at helping to distribute information to constituents, and are often used at the district leader level to great effect.

I have faith in the voters to be able to tell the difference between a candidate who is just posting junk to build name recognition, and a genuine effort to participate and help in the community, whether on-line or off-line. The difference between “famous” and “infamous” comes to mind.

We’re a communications organization. Why would we deliberately prohibit modern means of communications, like social media, when selecting and evaluating our leaders?

Mike: Good morning, Anne!  So D49 did something last year that no other district achieved — you renewed every single club in the district, no clubs lost.  How did you do it?

Anne: We can look at two areas of focus, one is the new clubs that are formed and the other is the existing clubs, like other districts.  I believe the biggest success we have in not losing clubs is that for new clubs, we focus on prescreening new clubs to ensure they are able to be sustained for the long term and not just a short term fix for a situation.  Case in point, we had a corporate contact approach us where the group only wanted to form for help in doing some short term presentations.

We encourage corporate clubs to really think about being an open club so that when there is a membership lag they are able to sustain themselves.

Mike: What do you tell a company that wants a TM club, but you think they won’t be able to sustain it in the long run?

Anne: We can offer to help them by meeting with them.  We can help to understand their goals and it may not be forming a TM club.  This way it is a win-win for them and us.

Mike: Something like a Speechcraft?

Anne: An example of doing a needs assessment, a company had ten in a management group that wanted to have sessions just to improve their presentation to upper management. I did have the contact come to a club meeting to observe what happens in a club and after that she decided not to pursue forming a club as she was looking for a very quick fix.

Mike: What do you see as good indicators that a company will be able to make a TM club work for them?

Anne: The key is the one key contact person – without that the company will never go forward.  That person has to understand what Toastmasters is all about.  Sometimes it takes some courting time like a few months and to see if there is real interest.  Assess the long term goals of the company.  For some companies, the time is not right.  The companies are just too busy in the company’s life cycle to devote time to a club.

Mike: Sort of a spark plug.  Have you had to go back into an existing (but maybe struggling) company club and re-sell management on the value of TM, and why they need to support it and continue?

Anne: We had a club last year that was struggling and possibly not continuing on.  However, our Lt. Governor of Marketing had strategized to get a letter out to upper management that the Toastmasters club was in trouble.  This helped to revitalize the club.  The turnaround was that the club members needed the support of management and getting the letter out did that for them.

Mike: Turning to community clubs, what’s the secret to long-term success there?

Naturally, we focus on the health of the clubs.  However, Cat (Carolyn Sawai, District 49 Governor for 2009-10, just before Anne) says that looking at the number of members of a club does not tell the whole story.  It is going out to the clubs to see how they are.  Try and understand the difference between clubs in trouble and ones with small numbers.  Is there a core go to person?  Be positive and don’t try and get rid of clubs.  There are two clubs that have low membership.  However, they go out into the community to do Youth Leadership and are devoted to having their club serve the community they live and work in.

Mike: Is the actual attendance rate at club meetings a good measure?

Anne: Yes, but there are other factors.  There are clubs in the community that have low numbers but they meet every week no matter who is in attendance.  They also do community outreach to try and attract more members.  And, clubs also accommodate members with their needs.  There are clubs with high attendance rates that sometimes may not always put the members first.

Mike: Tell me more about what they do to accommodate members?

Anne: Personalized attention.  I have seen this at a particular club.  The leader recognizes that a member has to do some briefing.  Then, she would prepare table topics questions and fire them at the member for a few minutes to help the member with her situation.

Mike: Is there any easy answer on how to identify struggling clubs that need help, besides low membership or attendance?

Anne: The Area and Division Governors stay close with the clubs and if there are clubs in trouble we spring into action.  Not too quickly though as timing is always key.  We have a one-on-one conversation with the go-to-person as it is not necessarily the club president.  Then we identify what the problem is, and try and address the problem.  Common problems include not enough corporate management support, meeting time or place, conflict within the club, or lack of time or energy.

Mike: Have you been able to use the club coach program to turn clubs around?

Anne Myers: We don’t do much club coaching in the district though our current DG is looking seriously into this.  When I was an LGM, I did assign 2 club coaches and they were successful.  However, one club reverted back to low numbers.  So, I don’t know what long term solution can be put into place.

Mike: Anything else that helps keep the clubs strong and growing?

Anne: Personally, keeping in contact with the clubs but it is more than that. It is knowing that the key leaders in place understand the TM programs.  The best leaders in the club are those that have transitioned into knowing it is all about the members in the club and how they can help them and in turn help the communities they live in.  When the realization strikes that it is not me, it is we, that is when you know that the club will remain strong because of the commitment of the individuals in the club.

Mike: What do we do with a club that doesn’t have a key member, a leader, a spark plug, like you describe?

Anne: Ask one of them to become an Area Governor.

Mike: What a great idea!

Anne: In District 49, it is a habit of not losing very many clubs.  In fact in the past five years, we only lost six clubs.  It is a habit.  We identify clubs that are in trouble and usually it is a long process to work with them.  To let a club go is the easier answer but working with them to continue on is the most rewarding thing to do.

Mike: Quite a strong foundation that keeps things working so well over the years.  Anne, thanks for your time this morning, I appreciate all that you’ve shared.  Have a wonderful weekend!

Anne: Aloha and we here in District 49 are truly blessed with such wonderful, giving people who truly exemplify the word ALOHA.

The year before (2009-10), just one district did it as well, D33 (central California and southern Nevada), but they lost 4 clubs this year.  (Here is my post on this topic a year ago.)

What’s rather interesting is that of the three districts presented with the President’s Extension award last month (August 2011) in Las Vegas (for the largest net club increase), they had some rather dismal retention rates.  They were closing clubs in large numbers.  The full report is here: http://mikeraffety.com/NoClubLoss.html.

D82 (India and Sri Lanka, which just spun off a new D41), built 71 new clubs (in 64 areas) last year for a net gain of 49 clubs, putting them on top of all other districts for the fourth year in a row — but lost 22 clubs along the way, for a rather dismal club retention rate of just 90.2%.

D79 (Middle East, which  just spun off a new D20) built an amazing 74 new clubs last year (in 77 areas), raising them to #2 in the world and President’s Distinguished — but at the same time, closed 26 clubs, producing a club retention rate of just 91.3% (17th from the bottom).

D85 (China) built 44 new clubs (slackers! just kidding!) in 41 areas, but closed just 8, for a decent retention rate of 95.0% (about the middle of all the districts).

At the other end of the spectrum, we have 10 districts in the 87-90% club retention range.  Some of them appear to be in economically depressed areas, like Michigan, Tennessee, and Arkansas, but others (Singapore, Massachusetts) are less easy to explain.  These districts closed more clubs than they started, they shrank.

 Member retention is something a lot of people focus on, and rightly so.  The same web page above also gives an estimate of the member retention by district, with a range from 66% to 90%.

What is different about these districts that appear to retain nearly all their members?  The five with the highest member retention rates are in overseas districts, starting with D76 (Japan).  Yet the #6 district is D16 (Oklahoma) at 81%, so it seems clear that “mature markets” are capable of retaining members too!

The districts with poorer retention are scattered around the country; the lowest non-U.S. district is D67 (Taiwan) with 72.5%.  (BTW, club retention and member retention do not appear to be closely coupled.)

Is there a lesson here?  I don’t think districts have much influence over membership retention.  But, they do have a lot of influence over club retention by providing motivated and trained coaches to clubs that need them, and by helping clubs even before they get to the threatened level that qualifies them for a coach.

Some districts just don’t participate in the coaching program; one district has NO coaches currently appointed, despite dozens of clubs that qualify for a coach.

Existing district recognition is focused on net club growth, which is a combination of retaining clubs as well as growing new ones.  By creating recognition for districts based on club retention, we’ll help our district leaders focus on helping those struggling clubs, more than just calling them up on the phone and asking for their dues payments.

We also need to learn from the districts that are doing well.  Interviews and explanations of what worked well could be shared with other districts, helping spread best practices world-wide.

Perhaps we could even have an award for the district that has the most successful club coaches!

The first step was the announcement at the end of the August 2010 convention.  I was an outgoing director, so the convention registration and hotel costs were reduced; most would probably not count that as part of the campaign.  However, I had announcement cards to hand out on Saturday night, since that would be my only chance to see most of the voters before the next annual convention.  2,500 cards cost $126 (M13 Graphics is great!).

I made a strategic decision to not attend any district conferences other than my own district.  The campaign rules limit me to attending only Toastmasters events in my home region, and I already had good relationships with the leaders in all eight districts.  I felt the expensive weekends that might be spent on those would be better used to reach out to other districts with phone calls.  This meant I had essentially zero travel costs (other than the convention itself), a sharp contrast to my ID campaign (which was mostly travel costs, within the region).

The November mailing (International Officer Candidate Survey, IOCS) was an e-mail, so no costs there.  I also avoided some costs by working with a talented campaign committee member to create the graphics, instead of hiring a designer.

For some fall and spring district conferences, I sent out tabletop signs (11×17 inches with folding wings, FedEx Kinko’s does a nice job of printing and dry-mounting on foamcore board) and announcement cards.  That’s an area where I could have done more.  The ones I did cost about $300 (with postage).  I also had 5,000 more announcement cards printed in preparation for the spring conferences, that was another $126 (yes, same price, they lowered prices and I ordered with more advance notice).

I hired a photographer friend to shoot some more photos to use ($250) — I didn’t end up doing much with them besides rotate them through my Facebook campaign page.  I primarily used the very nice professional photograph I did from my ID campaign.

I attended the February 2011 mid-year board meeting in Portland, Oregon, to hear the nominating committee (ILC) announcement first-hand, but it probably wasn’t necessary (neither of the two nominated candidates attended).  I thought it was a good chance to network, and a good excuse for a weekend getaway to a city I always wanted to see.  That was about $900 for airfare and hotel.

There was a lot of phone calls to trio members, but I did most of them on the weekend (free nights and weekends on my cell phone plan), and for the international calls, I signed up for a discounted international call program with my carrier, as well as using Skype.  This was maybe $200 total added cost.  My campaign committee was also making a lot of calls, but they used a similar strategy to control costs.

The August mailing to 600 voters (trios, IPDGs, and PIDs/PIPs) had three pieces in a customized envelope:

• a cover letter
• a trifold color campaign brochure
• a B&W biographical sheet (since as a floor candidate, that wouldn’t be included in the candidates brochure WHQ was providing at the convention)

That was $290 for 2,500 brochures (the rest were for the convention), and I printed the rest myself.  The postage was $400; maybe a third of the recipients were overseas and more expensive to send.

For the convention, I did a full registration, though didn’t get to attend any educational sessions.  That was $630, plus about $500 for the hotel (seven nights with some room service and restaurant charges), and the hotel also (unexpectedly) charged me $125 to receive the ten boxes with my campaign materials.

I found an on-line appointment booking service to handle trio interview requests, that was $36 for three months, very much worth it.  It worked well to access it on my smartphone, and it handled confirmation e-mails and rescheduling.

The main candidates corner handouts were the trifold color brochures and bio sheets that were included in the campaign mailing.  There were also 1,000 customized pens ($264) and 300 campaign pins split across 1.5″ and 3″ (with photo) sizes ($231).

Each district got a printed copy of the 2010-11 district directory (I’ve created these for four years now, and they were very popular the first year, when I ran for ID).  It also included a CD-ROM in the back.  I had a FedEx Kinko’s in Las Vegas near the hotel print those, that was $385, plus $130 for the report binders and CD-ROMs (I burned those myself at home).  12 districts didn’t meet with me, so I mailed those out afterwards for $49.

The key giveaway though, which was mainly for the trio members, was the 300 page-a-day calendars with Toastmasters tips and anniversaries and deadlines on most every page, which cost $2,244.  Not cheap, but very popular and widely appreciated.

Campaign workers had 25 printed vests to wear in an assortment of sizes, those were $300 with printing, but really looked professional and increased our visibility in the crowds.  The candidate corner tabletop had a poster for $197 (again, the local FedEx Kinko’s, much easier than trying to ship a 30″ x 40″ board, same as I did for ID in Calgary).  I also bought some plexiglas brochure display stands for the table ($30).

Grand total: $7,713

Was it worth it?  Yes, I think so, even though I didn’t win.  It did cost somewhat less than my ID campaign (back in the regional nomination days), despite having far more voters to cover.

I learned a lot about leadership in this past year, more than at any time previous in my Toastmasters experience (and I include service on the board when I say that).  It would have been nice to win, sure, but no regrets.  What would I have done differently or better?  That’s a different post.

1. We need some form of club officer training for distant clubs.  I believe we could set a policy limiting it to clubs 50 miles or more from any district-sponsored training (so the majority of clubs would continue to attend the existing face-to-face training).  The distance training could either be an interactive videoconference with existing district training (as D21 has been piloting for three years), or it could be WHQ-produced computer-based training.  For the latter, it would need to be participatory, asking questions of understanding along the way (but not a “test”), so someone doesn’t just hit “play”, go do their laundry, and come back an hour later, all “trained”.  Also, I think it would be reasonable to require that all seven officers be trained if the club chooses this option.
2. We need much more transparency and openness.  The board needs to announce what is on their agenda (“we’re looking at a possible dues increase”), we need to know promptly when decisions are made, we need to know the details about the decision, and we need to know why the decision was made.  The dues increase is exhibit A here, and while there’s been a sort-of acknowledgment that it should have been announced much earlier, I haven’t seen an actual apology from the powers-that-be.  Learning how to accept blame and acknowledging a mistake is a very important leadership lesson.
3. There’s no huge concern about the dues increase itself, just in how and when it was communicated, and the lack of clear reason for it.  A few districts in particularly hard-hit areas are going to be most troubled by it.
4. Providing materials on-line, and quickly.  People were excited to hear that the contest materials were soon to be available on-line, but they wanted more, if not everything (it’s trivial to produce a PDF version and post it on the web site, as is already done for visually-impaired members).  The planned online availability of contest materials was given very short notice (like the dues), and this has led to unnecessary expense, since many clubs and districts had already ordered them on paper.  (I recommended asking WHQ for a refund on recent contest kit orders.)
5. We need to become truly global with local contract printing of materials for members who don’t want to or cannot download and print their own (with faster delivery at lower cost), and setting dues in local currencies with local banks collecting them (our members and clubs and districts should not have to shoulder the currency exchange risk).  This would also enable us to easily subsidize clubs in developing countries, like Papua New Guinea or Rwanda, as an investment in the future (like Youth Communications).
6. Many were interested in reduced dues for students, the unemployed, and perhaps senior citizens, like many other organizations do.
7. An alternative academic calendar option is needed for college clubs, with different deadlines for electing club officers and making dues payments (perhaps paying for a full year at a time).
8. There was a lot of concern about member retention, especially with the dues increase.  My best recommendation to address that is to ensure clubs have strong mentoring programs — someone taking a personal interest, asking the member “What’s your next speech topic?”, “Can I hear you practice it?”, “When are you giving it?”, is the best way to keep members coming back.
9. The rebranding is generally pretty exciting, though there’s concern that, for the ordinary potential guest who is looking to improve their communications skills, the new Toastmasters tagline (“Where leaders are made”) will not immediately tell them we have the solution.
10. Many people asked how I could get the most International Officer Candidate Survey (IOCS) votes, but not be nominated.  I have long believed we need to reassess how the ILC works (before I was even a 2VP candidate), with a few options coming to mind.  One is to provide a detailed scoring system (like our speech contests) so the ILC members can objectively consider the candidates.  Another is to abolish the ILC, and either let everyone run (we really need to use preferential voting to avoid the revotes when no one gets a majority at the August business meeting, just like speech contest scoring), or take the top three from the IOCS (others can run from the floor), essentially turning the IOCS into a primary election (probably need to add the Lieutenant Governors to the IOCS voters).  Another indication of the need to reform the ILC is that there were originally two candidates for Region V International Director, both well-qualified, yet the ILC nominated just one of them.  When is one candidate ever better than two?  We need to devolve the nomination of director candidates to Regional Leadership Committees (RLCs), where they’ll be much more familiar with the candidates.
11. WHQ could facilitate candidate interviews at the August convention by making sure there’s some sort of appropriate place to hold them, and perhaps even provide a centralized appointment system.
12. We need to strengthen the district nominating committees with appropriate training.  All too often, the Division Governor and Lt. Gov’r of Marketing races are uncontested.  The nominating committees need to understand that seeking out good candidates is part of their mission, not just screening people who have already stepped forward.  Stronger district leadership will produce better districts that can more effectively help their clubs and members.

Aside from the above, I have to wonder what the other 12 districts were busy doing.  I know at least a couple said they were too busy attending educational sessions at the convention to meet with me.  I wish they understood that one of the key reasons their trip was paid for was so that they could assess the candidates and make an informed vote.

The daily Toastmasters calendars I handed out (with the big red bow on the cover) were very popular.  I had printed 300 of them, primarily for the trios, but towards the end, on Friday, we started giving them away to people who asked.  Perhaps the TI store will produce something similar in the near future.

There’s a lot of ideas above, some easy, some complicated, but I think they all are important concerns that need to be addressed in the near future by the board of directors with world headquarters.

The ILC slated Mohammed Murad and Jim Kokocki.   The reasons for the ILC’s choices will never be known as its deliberations are secret.  That’s OK with me.

I was honored to receive the highest number of votes in the IOCS, and as a result, I decided in February to continue my campaign with a run from the floor.  A floor candidate won the contested officer position for each of the last two years, so we’ll just make it three consecutive years!  It does mean that:

• My name isn’t included on the TI web site where the candidates are listed.
• I am able to campaign like a nominated candidate (e.g., my web site and phone calls), including a one-time mailing next month to voters.
• I won’t be included in the pamphlet of candidates and their statements that will be handed out at the candidates’ showcase at the convention.
• I will have a table at the candidates corner at the convention.
• I will be in the candidates showcase at the convention.
• Someone will nominate me from the floor at the business meeting, instead of being part of the ILC report.
• Members who want to vote for me will need to write in my name on the ballot at the business meeting.

But this doesn’t explain WHY I’m running.  That really goes back to my PASSION for Toastmasters, and continuing to practice  and enhance my leadership skills.  This organization really does change people’s lives, and I’ve seen this first-hand, in myself and in other members.  We give people confidence to succeed, try something new, and not be afraid to fail (though of course, we help them succeed).

The leadership track has always been my stronger interest.  Of course, being a good leader requires being a good communicator as well, though not all good communicators are leaders.

I served as a club officer (VP-PR) in my first full year as a member, and as a club president and Area Governor in my second full year.  During that year, I also served as the district summer TLI dean, which I ran as a High Performance Leadership project.  For a few months, I was a CTM/AL (to use the old designations; this would now be called a CC/ALS).  I had completed the entire leadership education track before completing my first ATM (AC now).

I’ve worked my way through the organization leadership in a very direct way, without skipping any offices.  After AG, I was elected Division Governor, then served in all of the district trio offices. My home district was distinguished when I served as Lt. Gov’r Marketing and District Governor.

I then announced my candidacy for International Director (which is a year’s campaign itself), and served two years on the board.  Now I am running for Second Vice President, and that election will be next month.

I love helping our members succeed, whether it’s by mentoring a new member with their first speeches, serving on an Area Governor’s HPL advisory committee (hi Bill!), coaching a club, mentoring a district trio member, or helping another director with their board agenda item.

In my home region V, 5 out of 8 districts were distinguished both years that I served as a director.  Prior to those two years, the region had 5 distinguished districts only 3 times in 15 years.  The success continues … this year the region again has 5 distinguished districts.

Now I want to expand my wings even further, to serve the global organization as an international officer, and to help set and achieve the objectives that will further our mission of bringing the Toastmasters program to more people around the world.

We’re at an inflection point, a time of major change, starting with our new strategic plan (which I helped write), rebranding (which was initiated while I was on the board), and new district goals (the new Distinguished District Program starts in a year, another area where I contributed).

I’m not content to create meaningful plans.  I intend to be a part of helping to implement them, bringing them to fruition, and of course, fine-tuning and adjusting them.  I’ve received a lot of strong encouragement from many of my fellow leaders around the world (both board and district level), as reflected by the IOCS results.

Toastmasters has a clear purpose, one that I passionately believe in.  With passion and purpose, we will progress toward our goal of becoming THE premier and best-known organization for communications and leadership training in the world.

To convert this passion and purpose to progress, I ask for your vote for Second Vice President on August 20 in Las Vegas.