Beyond the Club – A Personal Invitation

Beyond the Club – A Personal Invitation

By Dr. Shaun Jamison, DTM

(c) 2008

How do you encourage your club members to get involved beyond the club? There are many opportunities to expand and renew your involvement in Toastmasters including: conferences, speech competitions, district offices, club coaching (mentoring, sponsorship), and district speakers bureaus. What if the newsletter announcements and emails are not working beyond involving the “usual suspects?”

We explored that very question at Marshwinds Toastmasters Club No. 7179 in Minnetonka, Minnesota. We have a good base of “beyond the club” involvement history with speech contestants, presentations at district and regional events, and we have seven members that have held district offices. But we want to do even better. To facilitate the discussion, I held a workshop as project number five of the Advanced Communication Manual, The Discussion Leader.

First, we discussed the benefits of involvement beyond the club. The benefits of involvement beyond the club include: making friends, learning, best practices from other clubs, breaking out of habits, increasing attendance at club due to fresh ideas, networking, and sharing your ideas. Now that you know why to encourage involvement beyond the club, we need to answer the question of how.

We discussed a number of great ideas for encouraging involvement: personally inviting people, asking for support for your activities as an area governor, speech contestant, etc., giving speeches about your experience (our members have given reports on the International Conference), bringing in a guest speaker to talk about opportunities, finding out the members’ interests, and having a competition for visiting other clubs. At the end of the brainstorming session, it was time to choose which form of promoting involvement beyond the club is most effective.

We quickly arrived at a consensus that the personal invitation was most effective, so we decided to dig into the topic further. What makes an effective personal invitation?

* It must be personal, i.e., from you to another individual – this is more effective because it causes the person to think about it more and makes the invitee feel welcome. Also, someone they know will be there, so it is not as intimidating to try something new. If I had not been personally invited to be an area governor, I would not have considered volunteering for the role at 22 years of age. That invitation and my decision to accept gave me valuable experience and confidence I would not have otherwise had.

* It should be specific. The invitation for an event that will occur at a particular time and place will be more effective because it is a call to action. "We would like you to join us at the district six conference on October 25th" Ever had someone say “we should have lunch sometime”? It is too vague, unless someone sets date, it will never happen. So what happens if they cannot make it? Find out what they are interested in and make a note to talk to them the next time an opportunity comes up they might enjoy.

* It should be convenient. Make it as easy as possible for the person to get involved. "We are already driving down and would you like to share a ride with us?" Marshwinds has been recognized twice recently for high attendance at the District 6 TELI (Toastmasters Education and Leadership Institute). I helped the club achieve this by offering to mail in the registration of any member that brings it to the club. Not paying forty-two cents in postage, nor having to address an envelope is a more powerful motivator than one might think.

* Tailor the message to the invitee. What is in it for them? Knowing the person’s interests will help you tailor the message to the person. I know a person who wants to be an area governor next year, so he was invited to play a role at an area contest to be better prepared for the position. Look over the educational sessions at a conference to see if they match up with a member’s goals and interests. They may be willing to get involved to support you. Ask for members’ support in your beyond the club involvement.

* Share the experience. Give speeches, write articles, and make announcements about the opportunities and benefits of involvement beyond the club. "I went to a conference, picked up great tips and made new friends." As Craig Harrison said in VPPR: When You Promote It, They Will Come! in the October 2008 Toastmaster, talking about benefits you have received is the “most powerful endorsement.”

You have probably caught on by now that these tips can be easily modified for use in inviting prospective members. Should you have any doubts about the effectiveness of personal invitations, think about what it takes to get you involved. What works in your experience?

In addition to the workshop discussion at Toastmasters, I also did a survey for a church that included questions about volunteer involvement. You will not be surprised to find that personal invitations, rather than announcements in the bulletin are the most effective way to get people involved. Other strategies can work and do support personal invitations. However, nothing works better. Set a goal today to personally invite at least one member to participate beyond the club.