By: Michelle Hanchey, DTM(x2) – Public Relations Manager
20 Quick Ways to Help You Get to 20 Members
Pick a few action items you can do each week. What’s more fun is to get your club members to join in.
1. Lead the Way – Renew your membership today.
• Go the Club Central at www.Toastmasters.org to submit your dues. You can also do this for any member in your club.
2. Contact Members – Nothing engages a member more than a personal connection. Call three of your club members each week to thank them for being part of your club and ask them to renew. You will have engaged 12 members by the end of the month.
3. Submit Each Member’s Renewal Immediately through Club Central.
4. Re-recruit Prior Members – contact prior members. Express how they are missed, remind them of the value of membership, invite them to come back and renew.
5. Host a Contest or raffle for members who renew early.
6. Create a Chart to track your club’s renewal progress.
7. Celebrate Current Members – when members renew, celebrate them at your meetings.
8. Find More Ways to Celebrate – A member finished their Competent Communications, helped in an Area Contest or joined in a District wide training. Plus, find other reasons to celebrate: job promotion, ran a 5K, finished their MBA, got their Black Belt, had a baby, or celebrated a milestone.
• VP of PR can take this a step further: https://old.d44toastmasters.org/pr-strategies-to-keep-your-members-engaged/
9. Benefits of Toastmasters – Highlight one or more benefits of Toastmasters at the beginning of each meeting.
10. Toastmaster Invitation Card – Create a business card size invitation with your club time, date & club address. Give them to members to use to invite co-workers, people at networking events, church, friends and family to a club meeting.
11. Free Brochures – Pass out free Toastmaster brochures to each member and encourage them to give it to someone they know who might benefit from Toastmasters, along with an invitation to the next club meeting. https://old.d44toastmasters.org/how-to-get-free-fliers/
12. Elevator Speech and Success Stories— Have a meeting where you train members to talk about Toastmaster. Then have each member practice using 1-2 minute timing. When it comes to inviting others to your club meetings or an Open House, your members will be ready, having trained in advance.
• VP of PR: This is also a fun time to video member Toastmaster Testimonials as part of the $25 incentive.
13. Make Renewals and New Members a Club Wide Goal – Let your members know about District Incentives available to the club.
• You can use the bookstore certificates to purchase membership incentives for club member renewals and for new members.
14. Membership Incentives – Bring a guest and you are entered in a raffle for Toastmaster items. If the guest converts to a member then give away a reusable Toastmaster water bottle, Ignite t-shirt, Toastmaster coffee mug, or another TM product to the new member and their sponsor at the next meeting.
15. Membership Bash – Host a social this month, where you get together current members, past guests and past members.
16. Special Meetings – are an excellent way to engage members and attract guests. It makes inviting a guest easier if your club has a guest speaker, is giving a speech-a-thon, or some other special meeting this month. https://old.d44toastmasters.org/kaboom-dramatic-open-house/
• VP of PR: Here are 21 free or low cost ideas for promoting your cub: https://old.d44toastmasters.org/21-free-or-low-cost-ideas-for-promoting-your-tm-club-open-house/
17. Visitor Day (Open House) – Each member sends out 10 invitations to a special meeting. Plan to make it FUN. Recruit 2 new members and receive $25 food refund.
• Guest information packet
• Warm greeting
• Assign a meeting buddy
• Make prospective members feel important
• Have a variety of snacks
• Ask guest to join – sit with them to fill out the membership application
• https://old.d44toastmasters.org/7-effective-ways-to-connect-with-guests/
18. Hold a special wacky and super fun meeting with food
• Chili cook-off with hot speeches
• Feb 26th is tell a Fairy tale day
• March 1st is Peanut butter lover’s day
• March 4th Night at the Oscars – members give acceptance speeches
• March 17th is St. Patrick Day – green food and green speakers (first timers)
• March 23rd is national chip and dip day
• More holidays: http://holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/march.htm
19. Spread the Word – Use the free Toastmasters brochures or past issues of Toastmaster magazines with your business card sized club information attached in dentist’s, chiropractor’s, doctors’ offices, hospitals, cafeterias, libraries, etc.
20. Follow-up with guests – After guests have gone home…follow-up. https://old.d44toastmasters.org/after-the-open-house-now-what/