Our new president at First Oakville Toastmasters has published his first post on the club blog.
As President Dave Webster’s points out, First Oakville is a very successful Toastmaster club with a terrific new executive but we have some challenges.
For example, normally Toastmaster clubs expect a 30 per cent drop in membership from one year to the next. That turnover is filled with new members joining by year’s end.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, First Oakville which ended the year with 50 members saw only five members deciding not to return (and three of those five left us because they have moved out of town).
So that leaves us with a club that has 50-plus members and often sees five or more guests visiting nightly.
A “normal” Toastmaster club has somewhere between 20 and 40 members. These clubs will see around 25 members attending meetings on a regular basis and thus can meet all of their members’s demands for speaking spaces.
At First Oakville with 50-plus members we can’t do it. Or at least we can’t do it and end on time.
So it comes down to a decision about whether or not to have four speakers (at a minimum of 5 to 7 minutes of speaking time each) plus four evaluators (at three minutes each) plus all the extra seconds of getting up and sitting down that involves or do we keep to three speakers and end on time?
In his presidential address Dave has acknowledged that ending on time is an issue for the members (as determined by a member survey) however he concludes by saying “so with the structure of our meetings, there will be times we run over.”
This isn’t really an acceptable answer IMHO.
If it’s the structure that is causing the issue then let’s change the structure.
But it’s not really the structure is it? First Oakville has too many members. That’s the issue.
If we try to provide speaking spaces for all these members every meeting will end at 10 pm on a regular basis and that is not acceptable to many members – myself included.
Besides if we try to accommodate every person who shows up at the door with a cheque in hand where will this end?
No, the answer IMHO is to keep to three speakers per night.
Those of us who are not getting their education needs met will have to make a decision about whether to stay at First Oakville or go and join another club.
Besides this added pressure might help motivate some of us to contact the area governor and start or mentor a new club (or two) in the Oakville/Burlington area. That’s the real answer and it’s an issue for the club leadership to reconsider.
If you agree that ending when we say we’re going to end is both important and an issue of showing leadership (which is what Toastmaster’s is all about) then please let the executive know your thoughts.
