To say Carolyn Ayson’s club “Speak Up at TD” finished the year on a high is an understatement. The club achieved Distinguished status and more importantly, healthy membership numbers! Let’s find out more about Carolyn and some secrets of her club’s success.
Carolyn Ayson, DTM, joined Toastmasters in June of 2006. Carolyn has seen many clubs and many changes whether it be the education program or the way speeches are delivered, but through it all she retains her enthusiasm for the Toastmasters program. She is currently a member of Speak Up at TD.
Question: You have been a member for 17 years. While some may that’s a long time to be learning communication and leadership skills, what is it about Toastmasters that keeps you engaged?
Great question! The only thing that is constant is change and in this ever-changing environment, we always need to adapt and grow. I was asked to take on an executive role in my first six months, VP Membership of Toastmasters at TD, but I was slow and steady in earning my Distinguished Toastmaster. Took me seven years but I did it in 2013. I never felt I was ever done with the Toastmasters program. I know my speaking voice got rusty, or should I say creaky, when I didn’t go to meetings. I started feeling really nervous when it was my turn to speak so I continued to actively participate. And who would have thought we’d all be presenting online? Nuances of presenting online are different from in person – usually, we’re only head and shoulders onscreen. By attending club meetings, I had a captive audience who could give me feedback!
Question: What are you most proud of?
I’m very proud to have helped District 60 meet its mission in 2015 to found a club for people with disabilities (PWD) and allies. It was the first known club in the greater Toronto area to be dedicated to PWD and I was ecstatic to enlist full-fledged support from our corporate sponsor.
Question: What are some of the challenges you’ve seen club face and how were they overcome?
In my first club, we built it up to be so successful – like a snowball that just kept getting bigger. Why is that a challenge? Well, we had to find ways to satisfy the demand. We made the decision to cap membership at 50 and create a wait list. It was genius because demand was created and membership numbers never dropped at renewal time. The other challenge was we didn’t have enough speech slots to accommodate members over a lunch hour. As soon as we’d release our booking calendar, speech slots would be filled within two days. What a problem, right? We got creative by scheduling speech-a-thons and even extra meetings.
However, I think a more familiar challenge is one we recently experienced. Many clubs faced challenges with membership dwindling during the COVID-19 pandemic. As people moved on, our renewals drastically dropped and we attracted very few guests. Last year, we undertook a drastic publicity campaign partnering with several employee resource groups (ERGs) to hold “demo” meetings. We went from 9 members to 24 members in six months, and continue to attract new guests at each meeting.
Question: Can you share some details about your publicity campaign?
We devised a PR strategy that included our partner Toastmaster clubs at the organization, as well as working with ERGs on joint events. We filmed club member video testimonials and posted them to the corporate intranet. We organized a presentation to a group which had reach across North America and also ran a demo meeting tied to the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, given that we are a club for PWD. That event had tremendous support from executive leadership and reached many colleagues across all levels of the organization.
Execution is important in turning guests into members. There is great follow-through by our VP Membership, who sends an email with info on how to join the club. We encourage prospective members to add the Toastmasters program into their career development plan and this drives further commitment, especially as they obtain support from their manager.
Question: Thanks for sharing your strategy. Any other advice for club leaders dealing with membership challenges?
To me it’s as simple as making your guests feel valued by encouraging them to participate in Table Topics and giving feedback to speakers. I remember attending one club as a guest where I asked for a pen and was asked “What for?” and truly, none of the guests were asked to complete evaluations for speakers. Guests left during the break and didn’t return…If your club shows its appreciation to guests, there’s a good chance they will come back and eventually sign up as members.
