Speaker 1 0:08

You're listening to the Talkative Toastmaster podcast. I'm your host, melanie Surplus. In this podcast, we explore how Toastmasters can help you to polish your public speaking skills, communicate with confidence and amplify your authenticity. You'll hear from my fellow Toastmasters and I how this global organization has impacted our lives for the better and how it could impact yours. Now let's get talkative. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to episode 46.

Speaker 1 0:42

This week I'd like to talk about a couple of different types of specialist Toastmasters clubs, and this is really a lead-in to a bit of a series about specialist clubs. But the two I want to talk about today are gavel clubs, which are mostly for youth and corporate clubs, which are typically closed or restricted and sometimes open, but specific to a company or an organization. And, just as a reminder, there are something like 13,800 Toastmasters clubs around the world, across 150 countries, and we are, of course, going to find these specialist clubs. So that's going to be the focus today. I've got a couple of interviews coming up over the next few weeks with different representatives from a couple of these different clubs, so it's always interesting to see what other opportunities are available in Toastmasters and, particularly, you know whether you're wanting to get your kids involved in Toastmasters, or your employer In this instance. What we're going to talk about this week are those opportunities.

Speaker 1 2:02

So let's talk about gavel clubs first. These are a way of providing the Toastmasters experience to groups of people who may be ineligible for regular membership due to age, so that is kids and, as a recap, you need to be 18 years or older to join a normal Toastmasters club, and the gavel clubs are very much aimed at following Toastmasters protocol. They use club officer titles like president and vice president, education and secretary, and they work through a, I guess, a cut down version of the education pathways process. Like anything in Toastmasters, there is a definite process that you need to follow if you're interested in starting a gavel club and absolutely if you are looking to start one. The club must have the approval of Toastmasters International and there is a fair bit of paperwork to fill out to ensure that, firstly, Toastmasters International is aware of the club and also that the clubs recognise that they do have limited access to the leadership track awards and the pathways programs and can't participate in Toastmasters area or district speech contests. That said, the Gavel Clubs can be a fantastic way for parents and it's mostly parents who do start the Gavel Clubs as a way of helping their child to get into Toastmasters or to get that experience of public speaking and evaluating and all the types of activities that happen in a regular Toastmasters club. But certainly, as we'll hear about in an upcoming episode, gavel clubs do tend to be started by parents who are looking for that kind of education and community for children who are interested in developing their communication skills. I personally think the idea of gavel clubs is fantastic and it's providing a great community service to kids who otherwise would not be eligible to go into the Toastmasters programs. It's going to set them up with such a level of confidence that they would otherwise really not be exposed to in a school program or really any other environment. So I just think it's a fantastic idea.

Speaker 1 4:39

One of the stipulations of gavel clubs is that they actually must meet in a physical location and can't be run online, so that's one of the particular rules that applies to them. Also, each gavel club must have a counsellor, that is, an overseeing adult who is required for the certification and good standing of the gavel clubs and this role acts as an administrative point and a general contact for the club. So the counsellor can't be a voting member of the club and cannot occupy officer roles. And, by all accounts, if you've got a club for kids run by kids for kids, if you've got a club for kids run by kids for kids, really the role of a supervising adult should be just that just helping the meeting tick along, helping the kids do their thing, but ultimately turning it over to the kids. In doing a bit of research about gavel clubs in Australia, it's actually quite difficult to find information on where they're running and how often, and often one of the challenges with gavel clubs is that they will only run in a school term, so they might appear as a temporary event or they're not going to be just within the dates within a school term.

Speaker 1 6:02

So if you're looking around your area about whether clubs exist, it's worth absolutely reaching out to your local adult Toastmasters club and just inquiring if there are any gavel clubs. I know there's certainly one in Brisbane, in the Wynnum area, and I'll be speaking with the coordinator for that club in a couple of weeks. And I'll be speaking with the coordinator for that club in a couple of weeks. Also. When I was doing my research, I found that there are definitely a couple of gavel clubs in Sydney, so in Rhodes looks like there's one in Lumiere and Reavesby just different areas. So they're not going to be as prevalent as your typical adult Toastmasters club, but they are around. It's worth reaching out, you know, if you've got a child who you feel would benefit from it.

Speaker 1 6:55

What I would absolutely recommend is joining a Toastmasters club and getting the benefits of Toastmasters yourself and then perhaps enlisting a bit of support from club members to start up a gavel club. And you might start that process by running a youth leadership program, which is a compressed six to eight week program, and then seeing if there's interest amongst the local youth community to carry on regular meetings through a gavel club. Further into my research, I found a group on Facebook called the Global Youth Gavel Clubs Group, and that's where, from the looks of it, managers of gavel clubs can get together and discuss whatever issues they may have. It looks to be predominantly based out of India, but it does talk about gavel clubs in the US and other countries, from what I can see. So I think one of the other aspects, like most things in Toastmasters, is that you're typically not going to be doing something for the very first time. There are other people around, whether it's around the state or the country or around the world who have started these types of clubs, so I'll put a link in the show notes to that group and it may help to put you in touch with other managers of gavel clubs. As I said, I think the idea of a gavel club is a fantastic community service, and you'll hear about one in a lot of detail in coming weeks, so stay tuned for that episode.

Speaker 1 8:34

The second type of club I wanted to talk about is a corporate club, and this is a club that sits within the structure of an organization. Typically, the meeting place of the Toastmasters Club is a meeting room in the organisation, and this is a fantastic programme I feel that organisations could offer employees. Tell me an employer that doesn't want to see all of its employees improving their communication, getting more articulate, being able to present more effectively and confidently, and this is exactly where the corporate club comes in. Now, according to the Toastmasters website, some of the very biggest companies have Toastmasters clubs within them, so Amazon, lexmark, microsoft, oracle, toyota, the Project Management Institute all of these organizations can see the benefit of having a Toastmasters club and inspiring their employees to improve their communication skills. Employees to improve their communication skills. Again, I think this is a fantastic program. I would love to work in a company that had its own Toastmasters club, because not only does it foster networking amongst colleagues who you may otherwise not have a lot to do with, but I think there's something to be said for mutual ongoing learning within a company, and certainly companies that foster that continuous learning are going to do better for it.

Speaker 1 10:14

Toastmasters talks about the return to corporations being how these programs can foster better employee retention and performance, creating a clear culture of communication, encouraging cross-cultural awareness, team camaraderie and internal networking, and offering a really trusted program and a flexible education program that is recognized around the world and it's effective at what it does. So you know why not take advantage of that kind of program that exists. I think one of the other major benefits for corporates to sponsor a Toastmasters club is the cost savings and the productivity gains. Trade-off Toastmasters talks about how an organization can spend less than $3,000 to train 20 employees for a year. That's the cost of those employees joining a Toastmasters program and their semi-annual dues and the fees to Toastmasters dues and the fees to Toastmasters. $3,000 for a conference is almost nothing in today's corporate world, and so, again, this proves the value of the Toastmasters program and not just training one person for a one-off three-day event or conference, but actually you could get 20 employees trained for the cost of sending one person to a conference.

Speaker 1 11:47

So I just think from a value perspective, the corporate clubs make so much sense. Of course, like anything, it takes a bit of work to organize and you're going to need 20 members to charter a club in your organization. You're going to need support in terms of setting up the roles in a club, like president, vice president, education, vice president, membership all of the roles but that support is available and certainly, if you're looking to set up a corporate club in your area, you can reach out to your local Toastmasters club who will put you in touch with the area division and district club growth representatives and they'll be able to help you to set up this process. It is quite a well-established process and, yeah, it's happening in Fortune 500 companies and other companies and councils and government organizations around the world. I was just reading a stat, actually, that nearly 300 of the Fortune 500 companies have clubs in them. So if that's what the top companies are doing, you might want to think about whether your club could as well.

Speaker 1 13:02

One slightly different spin on the corporate club is industry-based clubs, so it might be the project management types of associations who will allow members and representatives from different companies, but it might be that they're all within the same type of industry and might want to talk about specific things like project management. For example, I know there's a couple of clubs in Brisbane that are geared up for more of the industry slant rather than the corporate slant, and again, it just depends on who's available to help you set up the club how many members do you think you can get in the local area and how committed those members are. So, whether it's the industry association or a corporate, I think, again, one of the main benefits is not only helping members in the club to develop their communication skills, but also their leadership skills as well. Any corporate club or industry club that starts up will have access to the full Pathways program. I've talked about that in previous episodes, and this is an online multilingual learning tool and development program that provides employees or members to leverage over 300 practical workplace skills and that's all packaged up in the form of different pathways. So you know the pathways, like visionary communication, leadership, development, persuasive influence, dynamic leadership, are all very relevant to members, whether they're in a corporate club or a community club. So, again, it's just really looking at how corporates can take full advantage of an already well-proven, well-executed program that's available around the world.

Speaker 1 15:03

If starting one of these types of clubs is of interest to you, there's plenty of resources on the Toastmasters website and I'll put a link to the show notes, but the URL that you want to be looking for is wwwtoastmastersorg.

Speaker 1 15:19

Slash start hyphen, a hyphen club, and that's going to give you the information you need to how to build a Toastmasters club, which is a step-by-step guide that's got tips and information on how to do that and how to connect with a Toastmasters leader in your area. Once you do that, the process will start and you can have conversations with someone that is going to be there to be able to help you. And then the next step is to recruit 20 or more prospective members in the case of corporate clubs over the age of 18 and, in the course of gavel clubs, under the age of 18 who might want to join the group. Then it's about finding a venue, working out when and where your club is going to meet and how often, and whether they're again, in the case of corporates online or hybrid or in-person meetings and for gavel clubs, where that meeting is going to be held in person. And then there is the paperwork plenty of paperwork to fill in. The website explains all of that and, again, there's resources there if you need more assistance. So I think both the gavel clubs and the corporate clubs provide a niche that serves beyond what a typical Toastmasters club can do. I think there's a lot of benefits to companies being able to host a Toastmasters club in-house and really foster that networking between employees, and, similarly, the Gavel Clubs is a fantastic community service for kids wanting to delve into the world of public speaking and improving their communication and leadership skills.

Speaker 1 17:07

So, as I said, there'll be some case studies of this and some interviews with guests from different types of clubs over the next couple of episodes and, yeah, I'm really just looking to show you some different alternatives.

Speaker 1 17:22

That said, as always, if you're interested in checking out a normal kind of Toastmasters meeting, you can head to the Find a Club link on the Toastmastersorg website, the link of which is in the show notes, and you can find a club near you. There's clubs everywhere, so there's no reason not to head along and check out your local Toastmasters club. Thanks for listening to today's show. Head to talkativetoastmastercom, where you'll find the show notes for this and all other episodes, as well as links to some awesome Toastmasters resources. If you found value in today's content, I'd really appreciate if you could share it with friends and colleagues who may be interested, or leave a review on iTunes. This helps more people to find us. Until next time, remember the words of DH Lawrence be still when you have nothing to say, but when genuine passion moves, you say what you've got to say, and say it hot. Have a great week.