Page 42 - May 2020

FIELD NOTES

BurnsMasters Toastmasters: 90 days to Charter Status (Part 4)

Marv Serhan, DTM

When Marv Serhan was asked to serve as the sponsor for a new corporate club in Vancouver, Washington, he elected to apply a project management approach on how that club establishment and charter would
take place. Parts I, II, and III outlined the first series of key tasks in the project plan. Part IV will present the final key steps that helped to keep this project moving forward toward charter status. All projects are team
efforts and this club-charter initiative was certainly that with Patrick Locke, DTM, Bob Hall, EH5, and Greg Hawkins, MS3 coming aboard as co-sponsor and mentors to support this project implementation plan.

to the club’s operation. Specifically:
Here is a continuation of the task/deliverable • Project plan retrospective: “A retrospective
listing from Part 3 of the BurnsMasters new-club is a methodology that analyzes a past
project plan: project event to determine what worked and

what didn’t, develops lessons learned, and
Coordinate with the club and Toastmasters creates an action plan that ensures lessons
International (TMI) to monitor the progress learned are used to improve management
of the application process. Anticipate when of future projects.” The Sponsor/Mentor

charter designation may be forthcoming and team and the club’s officers will help to
plan a celebration meeting to acknowledge that review the successes and the areas where
milestone. improvements can be made as it relates
Keep District 7 leadership apprised of to the club implementation process. Note

progress and extend an invitation for them to the project plan should incorporate a
be present for the celebratory meeting. In this look back at what worked and what tasks
case the District 7 Trio agreed to be present. In could be improved. In the military and
addition, the D7 team presented a club banner to project management world, retrospectives

BurnsMasters which was a terrific and generous are an imperative. The retrospective
gesture by D7’s leadership. for BurnsMasters has been planned and
will take place in the coming weeks. It is
Post-Charter actions: Once chartered, the anticipated that the primary participants in

club is still in need of support. In order to this meeting will be the sponsors, mentors,
ensure the sustainability of club quality, energy, and all seven club officers.
and commitment, sponsors and mentors are still • Continue to coordinate with TMI: At
needed to offer guidance and quality assurance the end of sponsor and mentor activities

42 ONE COMMUNITY