Resources

Vice President of Education (VPE) Thoughts

"How do I ensure the club gets all the speeches in this year?"
or "We want 10 CCs by June 30!"

First of all, as with all goals, ask yourself, "Is this goal realistic?" 100 speeches divided by 3 speeches per meeting = 33 meetings. If your club meets semi-monthly, that's 24 meetings. So there will not be enough meetings to get 10 CCs in a single year. BUT there are ways it can be done.

• Schedule 1-2 speak-a-thon meetings: only speeches and evaluations. (See your VPE manual for details.) If you meet 1st/3rd or 2nd/4th weeks, add another meeting whenever there's a 5th meeting day in the month. That will give you about 3 more meetings during the year.
• Get your members on the schedule now for all 10 speeches. If they know exactly when they are to speak, they'll start preparing sooner.
• Find out who the go-getters are among your members; they're the first ones to put on the schedule.
• Urge members to have an "hip pocket" speech prepared, just in case a speaker cancels at the last minute. Don't waste that speaking opportunity.
• Encourage members to deliver at least one speech at another club. Struggling clubs welcome outside speakers. It energizes both the club and the speaker.

• Read, read, read. Read your VPE manual. It's filled with ideas and organizational tools.
• Recruit an assistant. Delegate specific things to your assistant (such as sending meeting announcements, recording members' progress, or chairing your speech contests.)
• Recognize your assistant for all that hard work! (and nominate as next year's VPE....)
• Communicate often with your members: email, club newsletter column, VPE report at the club meetings.

More Resources?

If you have a form, tip, trick, or suggestion from which other Toastmasters could benefit, please email it to the Lt. Governor of Education and Training.