A Gavel Club is a club for people who do not qualify as a regular Toastmaster member. Those reasons can include:

• age
• inability to pay full dues
• circumstances which would prohibit full participation in Toastmaster activities, including incarceration

Annual dues for a club is around $50 and covers all members. A gavel club may classify its members as:

• Active
• Associate
• Honorary
• Inactive (if it deems such classification advisable)

Generally, meetings follow a format similar to that of a Toastmasters club meeting. There is an announced agenda and participants learn and practice parliamentary procedure during each meeting. Lecturing is minimal, but discussion is held during each session. Participants also deliver short impromptu and prepared speeches. In every meeting, participants learn to apply the principles of listening, thinking and speaking.

The purpose of a Gavel Club:

• help its members improve their abilities to communicate effectively
• encourage its members to read and to listen analytically
• provide for its members’ instructions, educational materials and the opportunities which will give them skill and experience in the preparation and delivery of speeches
• provide its members’ a fair and constructive evaluation of their efforts toward self-improvement
• afford leadership training for its members
• provide opportunities and encouragement for its members to appear before audiences and to express their thoughts creditably