Retain Existing Members - All Types of Clubs

• Good Team: Work towards making the members feel like they are part of a really good team (i.e. the club).
• Have Fun: Make the meetings fun.
• Reach Goals: Assure that the members feel like they are accomplishing their goals within Toastmasters.
• Ice Breaker Soon: New members should be scheduled for their Ice Breaker speech by their fourth meeting.
• Reading Material: Assure all members are receiving the monthly Toastmasters magazine and the district bulletin/newsletter. Encourage everyone to read these two publications.
• Printed Agenda: Assure a printed agenda is used at every meeting. Copies should be available for any guests. Make it the responsibility of the Toastmaster of the Meeting to provide the agenda for the meeting.
• Note Achievements: Whenever possible, point out to the club the specific achievements of individual members (e.g. milestones achieved, awards received, special tasks accomplished, first member to win Best Table Topics five times, speech contest achievements, etc.)
• Meeting Variety: The VP Education should occasionally schedule different meeting formats (instead of the same routine): five-speaker meeting, an all Table Topics meeting, a once-in-a-while new meeting role (joke master, quiz master, round robin master, etc.), training sessions on a specific subject, panel discussions, debates, picnic or similar special event, etc. Ask the club members what they would like to see happen.
• Backwards Meeting: If you really feel like a challenge, try a Backwards Meeting.
• Theme Meeting: Have a meeting theme. All speeches, table topics, the word of the day, the joke of the day, etc. are based on the theme. Themes can be: cartoon characters, a holiday, television shows, movies, a current event, imitating a certain person, a sport, etc.
• Special Event: Celebrate some special event: someone's birthday (a member or a famous person), a promotion of a member, a holiday, the club's birthday, etc.. Base the meeting around this special event.
• Grab Bag Meeting: Plan a meeting where everyone walks in the door and draws a role for the meeting. Thus, they need to be prepared to serve all of the meeting roles.
• Serve All Roles: Have a standing challenge for all members to serve in every role at least once per six months. Keep track.
• New Table Topics: Challenge the Table Topics Masters to come up with something brand new - a running story where each speaker picks up where the previous one left off, a murder mystery, a television newscast anchor calling on the various reporters to give their stories of the day, alien observers looking at specific human activities and trying to describe them to their superiors, etc.
• Meeting Minutes: If possible, the Secretary should record and publish specifics of every meeting. This includes attendees, who served in what roles, length of times of all speakers, the persons voted "Best", number of times each person used the word of the day, number of speech pauses made by each member, table topic question per speaker, title and speech number of the manual speakers, comments/suggestions made by the General Evaluator, business items announced/discussed in the meeting, special events done within the meeting, names of guests and their comments, etc.
• Training Modules: The President, VP Education or another member should occasionally present a module from the Successful Club Series or Better Speaker Series. Or, have someone from outside the club (e.g. district officer) give the presentation for a specific subject selected by the club.
• Periodic Speeches: Challenge all members to give at least two manual speeches per six months.
• Speeches Chart: Chart the manual speech progress of all members. Assure they all understand the meaning and purpose of the various award levels (e.g. CTM, ATM-B, etc.)
• Member Survey: Survey the members on occasion to see what they like and what they want changed. Most questions should be multiple choice so each member can respond quickly. Always leave room for specific comments.
• Member Mentor: Assign each new member an experienced member to serve as the mentor of the new member. The mentor explains how Toastmasters and the club works. Additionally, the mentor guides the new member through the first three manual speeches.
• Be Club Officer: Encourage all members to serve as a club officer for at least one term. The commitment level of a member to the club usually grows while serving as a club officer.
• Trained Officers: Assure all officers are thoroughly versed on their office duties and how to perform them.
• Officer Training: Assure all officers attend the twice-yearly district sponsored officers training session (aka. TLI). The sessions are usually offered on a Saturday in January and June.
• District Officer: Encourage officers to seek appointed district-level offices (area governor or division governor or an assistant to either of those office holders). Holding these offices expands the member's knowledge of Toastmasters. It also counts as a credit towards the Advanced Leadership (AL) award.
• Speech Objectives: Before each manual speech, assure that the audience understands the objectives of the speech. These objectives either can be read by the evaluator or published in the agenda.
• Club Website: If possible, have an intranet web site or an Internet web site for the club. It could have such things as: schedules for upcoming meetings, minutes archives of past meetings, membership list, forms (e.g. new membership, attendance sign-in, Timer report, Ah Counter and Grammarian report, Word Master report, agenda template, meeting flow flowchart to show to new members, etc.), documents that explains the duties and tips for serving each meeting role, etc.
• Knowledgeable Toastmasters: Make use of district knowledge and expertise. This includes district officers (past and present), district contest winners, persons with exceptional talents (e.g. speakers, evaluators, creativity, etc.), officers of other clubs, etc.
• Visit Other Clubs: Encourage members to visit the meetings of other clubs, especially the open clubs. Toastmasters clubs always welcome fellow Toastmasters and often offer a meeting role. Experiencing a different club often gives new insights and new knowledge.
• Joint Meetings: Try to schedule a joint meeting with another Toastmasters club. The meeting roles are divided among the members of the two clubs. New insights and knowledge are usually gained by all attendees. It also makes the members feel a part of something larger than their own club.
• Everyone Evaluate: After someone gives a manual speech and the speech evaluator has given the evaluation, have the evaluator open the floor for 2 - 3 minutes (the Timer keeps track) for anyone to offer any comments or suggestions as they see fit to either the speaker or the evaluator.
• Food at Meetings: Occasionally bring in some surprise treat: pizza, popcorn, peanuts, sparkling fruit drink to present a toast to someone, etc. (A Kansas City club had a marriage proposal at the end of a meeting in June. One member actually proposed to another member. She accepted.)
• Special Guest: Bring in a special guest or mystery guest.

Gaining New Members - Corporate/Closed Clubs

• Members as Recruiters: The best resource to recruit new members is to assure that the current members enjoy their club and see the rewards/benefits it brings them. Thus, they will want to invite others to join to "share the experience".
• Tell Everyone: All club members should be encouraged to talk to their co-workers at every opportunity and invite them, with no obligation, to a meeting as a guest.
• Company Advertizing: The VP Public Relations should always be on the lookout for ways within the company to "advertise" Toastmasters. This could include: corporate newsletters, corporate intranet web site, training department instructors, etc.
• Approach Committees: If the company has any special groups (e.g. training committee, entertainment committee, quality of work life committee, arts council, etc.) that meet on a regular basis, ask to be on the agenda to make a brief presentation about how Toastmasters will benefit them.
• Handout Ready: Always maintain a one-sheet handout sheet about your club. Include meeting information and any web site links available. Also include the name and contact information of the appropriate club member. Every club member should have several of these handout sheets available.
• Guest Packets: The VP Membership should have a promotional packet to give each guest. Include a new membership form and a copy of an old issue of the Toastmasters International monthly magazine. Information should be included to explain how Toastmasters works in general and how a meeting specifically runs, especially an explanation of the various meeting roles. Direct the guest to any pertinent web sites for more information.
• Guests as Royalty: Assure that all guests are treated special. Every club officer should individually talk to each guest.
• Guest Introductions: At the beginning of the meeting, have each guest introduce himself/herself and explain why they are at the meeting.
• Explain Meeting Roles: If guests or new members are present, have each role player briefly explain the duties of the his/her role. Otherwise, to save time, these role explanations can be skipped.
• Guest Impressions: At the end of the meeting, have each guest tell the club his/her impressions of the meeting. Ask if the guest has any questions or other comments to make.
• Information to Guests: Assure all guests have the name and contact information of a club member from whom they can seek further information.
• Followup with Guests: Within a week, the VP Membership should follow up with the guest to see if any additional information is needed by the guest.
• Membership Contest: Hold contests to see who has the most guests attend a meeting within a certain time period. Be sure to have some type of prize of recognition for the winners.
• Open House: Have a special "open house" meeting at least twice a year. If possible, include refreshments. Instead of a regular full meeting, the open house session could be like a demo meeting - 30 minutes long with one speaker and three table topic speakers.