Page 20 - 2016 MARCH issue

SUCCESSFUL CLUB
The Three Fs help Flying Toasters soar in Salem
by Ken L. Smith, ACB, Area 41 Director
The Flying Toasters is a Thursday noontime
club that meets on the Capital Mall in Salem. The
club was chartered in 1997 and grew to a peak of
17 members in 2009. Over the next few years, due
to a variety of issues, the membership dwindled
down to the minimum allowable membership
of eight in 2013. Since then the club has been
working very hard to rebuild by focusing on three
core tenets.
We call them the Three Fs.
Fun – The number one goal of our club is to
keep it fun. Nothing attracts others like a group
of people having a good time. All of our meetings
have themes, often with a quirky twist. Just some
examples include backward meetings, “talk like
a pirate” meetings and Tall Tales Throw-down
contests with another club. We honor members
with awards for progressing in the Competent
Communicator manual: Ice Breaker candies
are awarded for your first Ice Breaker speech,
3 Musketeers bars for completing your first
three speeches and a Toastmaster International
name badge for completing your Competent
Communicator Award.
Friendly – The next goal of the club is to keep rebuild and thrive. We currently have 23 members
it friendly. In many ways, the club is more of a
family than a community group. We have Pizza
Night two times a year for families and members.
We encourage members to welcome and engage
The Flying Toasters
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with guests. Guests are always encouraged to
return as often as they would like. Once a guest
decides to join, we have an active mentoring
program and try to match new members with
veteran members very quickly. Twice a year we
have an open house and/or membership drives
where members are encouraged to invite friends
and co-workers.
Focused – There is more to Toastmasters than
friends and fun. The next goal is to keep it focused
on membership goals. We all have personal goals
that we want to reach in Toastmasters. Our VP of
Education solicits member goals every year and
helps members create a plan to achieve them.
Club meetings always have time for two manual
speeches as well as Table Topics. Should members
have difficulty signing up for a speech in a timely
manner, we change to a speech-a-thon format that
allows for four speeches and evaluations during
a meeting. In addition, our meetings are always
timely and effective.
By keeping things Fun, Friendly and Focused,
we have been able to come back from the edge,
and are on track to be President’s Distinguished
by June. Things are definitely looking up for the
Flying Toasters!