Page 23 - October 2019

leave your club and not renew their membership? Don’t let your club become a ghost club-one

Has anyone reached out to them to find out why, of memory past but no longer vibrant and alive.
and what can be done to get them to renew their Strive to improve first your personal Toastmasters
membership? experience and then that of your fellow members
Secondly, take a hard and serious look at your and club. Just remember you are not alone in this

club’s program. Are you still doing all the same quest. You have your area director, your division
things that you did when Dr. Ralph Smedley director and everyone else in the district has your
was alive? Our culture is changing-our level of personal and club success as their goal and aim
interest is becoming complicated to the point that of service. Use the Moments of Truth, the Club

some people don’t have time for Toastmasters Success Plan, the WOW! Factor and a whole host
anymore. (That’s a argument for horror) Change of other tools and helps put out by Toastmasters
up your meetings a little. Spice up the table topics, International.
use weekly or monthly themes. Make it the best As for me, I don’t believe in Toastmasters

show in town! ghosts-the non-renewed memberships, the
Thirdly, take a personal inventory. Yes, that’s shades of inactive and suspended clubs and the
a scary and spooky thought. Look deep within haunting comment “it won’t work here”. But-for
yourself and ask these questions- do I value the things unseen, things that go bump in the

my Toastmasters experience? Have I learned night and feelings that cause the hairs on the
something new this week? Have I helped others back of the neck to rise, well I believe. That’s my
to achieve their Toastmasters dreams and goals? story, I’m sticking to it, and only the ghostly child
DOES MY CLUB NEED MY HELP in leadership and the box in the floor of my brother’s closet

whether long-term or short-term? Am I just can say otherwise!
attending the meetings and not preparing for
my role or speech?

Be a Voices! Contributor

All articles must be submitted before the 15th of the month or

they will be held to the following month. Most appreciated are
inspiration, motivational, or how-to articles that give members

an opportunity to learn something new, see a different world
view, or hone their leadership and communication skills through

your experiences. All articles are vetted for reader appropriate content and edited
for readability. If you have an article you would like published, contact the editor at

phyllis.harmon@d7toastmasters.org for more information.

VOICES! | OCTOBER 2019 23