Toastmasters is usually know as the place to improve your public speaking skills… however, if you look a bit deeper, it is also a great opportunity to be a leader. This is why I often mention Toastmasters helps with your communications AND leadership skills.
We may not have opportunities to lead a lot of people in our lives, perhaps we lead our family members, or help our colleagues at work, but to affect change on a larger scale? Not so much!
At Toastmasters, leadership starts at the club level, by taking on club roles, when you are comfortable with those positions, consider taking on one of the seven club officer positions.
For example, you may be interested in a role as the Secretary or Sergeant at Arms to start off with.
The Secretary is responsible for taking notes at the executive meetings, usually held once a month, and for keeping any club letters and emails organized.
The Sergeant at Arms used to play a bigger role pre-pandemic, as they would be tasked with setting up the meeting room and welcoming guests. Now that many clubs are online only, there are less things to do for a Sergeant at Arms, though it is still a great role to get started on.
Then, consider one of the Vice President roles, like Public Relations, Education or Membership.
It really depends on your interests, like if you enjoy marketing, or want to learn more, then take on the Public Relations role! I recall coming up with posters and flyers, walking around downtown offices handing them out… we didn’t get many responses, but it was an interesting exercise and helpful to improve my confidence. For the Education role, you are helping decide the meeting themes as well as any educational speeches or programs held at your club. Toastmasters offers many ready to use templates, all you need to do is customize it with your own experiences, check them out here https://www.toastmasters.org/resources/the-better-speaker-series-set. Finally, Vice President of Membership is responsible for engaging with the members, to ensure they are getting the most out of the program. The person in this role does not do it alone, consider building a mentorship program if you do not already have one at your club. This pairs new members with someone more experienced, and that way, there is less of a chance people get left behind.
The last two roles, Treasurer and President, require a bit more effort and commitment.
As the Treasurer, you keep track of the clubs finances, this is a bit easier nowadays as most transactions are online. The main duty is to take membership fees in and pay them to Toastmasters International on time. This is particularly important during contest season, as members cannot compete, unless their dues are paid! The key to this role is organization, keep an online spreadsheet with all the transactions and be sure to pay the dues as soon as you receive them, this allows new members to access Pathways right away, and plus, there is less chance to forget!
I saved the most challenging role for last, the President works with all the previously mentioned positions and helps set the direction of the club. Because you work with the rest of the executive team, it is helpful to have prior experience with some of the roles, so that you can understand their responsibilities and give some guidance. It is important to let each of the roles have some creativity in how they do their duties, so unless they are totally out to lunch, let them experiment! And if they are out to lunch, perhaps join them and then gently bring them back :). As for club direction, usually this isn’t as big of a challenge, unless it is an extreme situation, like whether or not to merge with another club.
No matter what role you choose, it will be an opportunity to exercise your leadership skills and support a very worthy cause, helping others find their voice! You aren’t doing it alone, the executive team works together and even the President can ask their leader, the Area Director for advice.
Find out more here: https://www.toastmasters.org/leadership-central/club-officer-tools
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