Toastmasters,
Attached are the two files I promised you -- a copy of my presentation from
last night (Moments of Truth Report), and a copy of the raw data from the
survey (MomentsOfTruth_FormattedOutput). The presentation consists of 5
pairs of slides, each showing the goal for our club according to
Toastmasters International guidelines, and then what we did right in
meeting that goal, and where we have opportunities for improvement.
I specifically called out on slide 1 that we achieved 100% at creating a
welcoming environment for guests and new members. If you recall, we had
been told by our Area Director that we had a very unwelcoming environment,
in that we were hard to find, and we have focused on the past year on
changing that, by adding signage, creating the Guest packets, having
greeters stand outside the door, and prominently displaying the guest book.
So this is kudos for our excellent efforts over the past year.
I didn't have a chance to say it during the presentation (on slide 4), but
the evolution of the Secretary's "You Should Have Been There" email from
something that is only sporadically done and largely ignored, to something
that 100% of our members at least skim every week, and most (47%) always
read, is phenomenal growth. Credit for this goes to past Secretaries Alan
Wong and Colette Smith, as well as current Secretary Jonathan Kolber. You
turned a tedious, thankless piece of administration into a vital, valuable
club resource. Thank you all.
A small box has been placed inside the club box, for people to leave their
badges in between meetings if they choose. For people who do not have a
dedicated "Toastmasters Bag" that they bring to all meetings, this will
make it easier to wear your name badge.
NextDoor is a location-based social media app which communicates with the
people nearby only. The VP PR will explore using it to advertise our
meetings and events to attract more local guests.
The Secretary will take on the administrative role of making changes to
EasySpeak on behalf of the club members who refuse to use it. That way,
they don't have to use it, and the information is still accurate for the
members who do. So, if you're one of those people, please inform the
Secretary of planned absences, or requested changes, when you receive the
monthly role assignment email.
In the Q&A portion of the presentation, we determined that it made more
sense to roll the mentor coordinator role into VP Membership, rather than
VP Education. (Action item on Slide 3)
Here are the results of the five discussion points:
1. Fewer Roles. This was the bulk of the discussion, and the general
consensus reached was that the VP Ed will only assign members to the
primary roles (Toastmaster, Table Topics Master, GE, Speakers, Evaluators,
Timer/Joker, Ah-Counter, and Grammarian). It will be up to the individual
Toastmaster to decide whether the roles of Greeter, Inspiration,
Quizmaster, and Gesturemaster are assigned for their meeting. (If the
Greeter role is not assigned, the earliest members to arrive will act as
Greeter -- we're not eliminating the role, merely the assignment of it.)
We'll see if this impacts club participation and/or member satisfaction
before making a permanent decision.
2. Inter-club interaction. Since we are going to be having more educational
events, it was suggested that we work with other clubs to make these
multiclub events -- combining membership attendance and/or drawing from
other clubs for speakers. Our VP PR will be running with that idea.
Probably, there will be a committee formed to flesh it out.
3. Purpose of the Facebook page. The club agreed that the Facebook page is
primarily a PR tool, rather than an interactive hub for club communication.
Therefore, members are not expected to post to the page. However, it is
helpful if members "like" posts.
4. Create house objectives for evaluations. Since everyone wanted
evaluation training, and the general consensus is that the Pathways
evaluations do not provide a good basis for creating an oral evaluation, we
will be creating a form to help members with that. It will be developed as
part of developing the evaluation training. There will be more
communication with the membership about wants and requirements as that
training is developed.
5. Change layout. The treasurer is being authorized to purchase "picnic
table clips" to attach the table cloths to the tables. Hopefully, this will
improve satisfaction with the tables and chairs.
Thank you everyone who participated in the survey, and who voiced their
opinions and suggestions in the discussion. We have a great club, and
although Moments of Truth can be hard, as a club, we're using it to grow
and improve. Yay, us!
Jennifer
--
*ROAR: Overcome Obstacles in 3 Simple Steps *
Available from Amazon in print and ebook
Attachment:
MomentsOfTruth_FormattedOutput.pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document
Attachment:
Moments of Truth Report.pptx
Description: Binary data
