Episode 18: Exploring the many leadership opportunities in Toastmasters

Discover the transformative power of leadership roles in Toastmasters, and how they forge skills you can apply in every facet of your life. 

In this episode, I take you behind the gavel to reveal how taking on a leadership role at Toastmasters can provide invaluable experience. From the skill of decision-making to the finesse of meeting facilitation in a volunteer organisation, I'll share aspects of the journey of personal growth I've encountered so far in the President's chair. 

We also unpack the mentorship and organisational acumen that come with the Vice President of Education's territory, offering a window into the diverse avenues for development that are the hallmark of Toastmasters.

Step into the world of club leadership with a spotlight on roles that can refine your expertise—whether it’s managing finances as Treasurer, facilitating member satisfaction as Vice President of Membership, or mastering events in the role of Sergeant at Arms. These positions are more than mere titles; they're a training ground for financial stewardship, organisational prowess, customer service and event coordination skills that you'll carry well beyond the club's doors. 

Join me for an exploration into how embracing these roles can shape you into a more strategic leader, effective communicator and adept team manager, primed for success wherever your career may lead.

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Transcript

Speaker 1 0:08

You're listening to the Talkative Toastmaster podcast. I'm your host, melanie Serplis. In this podcast, we explore how Toastmasters can help you to polish your public speaking skills, communicate with confidence and amplify your authenticity. You'll hear from my fellow Toastmasters and I how this global organisation has impacted our lives for the better and how it could impact yours. Now let's get talkative. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Episode 18.

Speaker 1 0:43

This week, I'd like to explore the various leadership roles that are available to members of Toastmasters clubs and how these roles can provide invaluable leadership experience that's directly applicable not only to work, but to other areas of your life. As I've mentioned a number of times in previous episodes, toastmasters International is a globally recognised organisation that empowers individuals to develop effective communication and leadership skills. At the heart of every Toastmasters club are its dedicated volunteer leaders, each with a unique role contributing to the overall success of the club. In this episode, we'll explore the seven key leadership roles within a Toastmasters club, detailing the responsibilities of the President, vice President of Education, vice President of Membership, vice President of Public Relations, the Treasurer Secretary and the Sergeant at Arms. We'll also delve into the transferrable skills these roles cultivate, providing valuable experience for your own personal and professional development.

Speaker 1 1:52

Firstly, let's look at the President. The President is the captain of the ship steering the club towards success with strategic vision and effective leadership. This role involves managing the overall club activities, presiding over meetings and fostering a positive club environment. As I've mentioned in previous episodes, I'm currently the President of Mount Gravatt Toastmasters, and I had been a President in another club when I first started Toastmasters many years ago, so it's great to be back in that current role. The responsibilities of the President of a club include leadership and decision making, so the President is responsible for leading the club's executive team and that's who we're going to talk about during the rest of this episode making any decisions that need to be made and assuring that the club is aligned with Toastmasters international guidelines. There's also meeting facilitation. The President presides over club meetings, setting the tone for a positive and inclusive environment. They facilitate the smooth flow of the meeting and encourage member participation. And, as I've mentioned in a previous episode, my role as President I choose to speak at the beginning and end of the meeting and not only is this extra speaking opportunities for me each meeting, but I do get to engage with members and guests and certainly my intention is to set the tone for every meeting to be positive and uplifting. One of the other roles of the President is motivation and team building. So it's really about motivating club members and fostering a sense of community, which is a critical aspect of the President's role. Also, building a strong team ensures that not only club goals are met, but that we're supporting our members in their personal development.

Speaker 1 3:56

Some of the transferable skills from this role to elsewhere include strategic leadership. So Presidents have to develop strategic thinking and decision making skills as they navigate the club towards its goals. And Toastmasters international sets out a series of goals that clubs can aim for, and they're around educational goals, so a certain number of members working through the educational program, having a certain number of members in the club and a few other criteria. So there's actual club goals. But beyond that, some of the aspects that a President might need to decide over are if the venue that they meet at suddenly becomes unavailable or they have to look at a new venue, it might be that the President will go out and source a new venue. The President can also choose to run ad hoc events, so whether they're social events or just events outside of the actual Toastmasters program, the President can take responsibility for that. Each club and each President will do it differently, but there is certainly an opportunity to make your mark on the club and again set the tone for that club.

Speaker 1 5:16

Also, effective communication is one of the very transferable skills for presidents. By presiding over meetings and motivating members, presidents tend to enhance their public speaking and interpersonal skills and abilities. I'm finding personally in my role as president this year that I'm really trying to connect with all the members, and not necessarily every week, but over the course of the time I'm president. I want to understand what people are trying to work towards and how I can best work with the team to support them in doing that. And similarly, team management. So there's a required ability to lead and motivate a team. Again, it's a team of volunteers and everyone's got different time constraints and priorities, and so managing that outside of a corporate environment where you might have a little more control over people's diaries and their motivation for being there, can really be an important skill to develop. So that's the president.

Speaker 1 6:22

Now let's look at the vice president of education. And this is a massive role, certainly in terms of the responsibilities that come with it, and is sort of seen as the two IC to the president. So the vice president of education, or the VPE as we affectionately call them, plays a pivotal role in the development of club members by overseeing the educational programs and ensuring that members have access to a variety of learning activities. So, most importantly, the responsibilities for the VPE role are the educational program coordination. Typically it's the VPE that coordinates the agenda each meeting and really allocates who is doing what and the who is doing what determines how many speeches you do as a toast master, what type of roles you do, and the VPE's got to have a really close eye on, you know, ensuring that the members are getting what they want and that each member has access to speech projects, evaluations and feedback. Also, mentorship is an important part of this role and we've talked about mentoring in toast masters in an episode 16, I think it was and really the VPE's role here is to collaborate with the mentors and to help match new members with experienced members to foster that supportive learning environment and, as I mentioned, the meeting agenda. This very much drives the toast masters meeting each fortnight or each week, depending how often a club meets.

Speaker 1 8:06

And so much work goes into this actual component of toast masters If you can imagine trying to schedule 15 to 20 people in specific roles and making sure that they're not doubling up week after week or meeting after meeting and that everyone's getting a fair shot at doing a speech or having a go at evaluations or being the timer or doing whatever role it happens to be, and dealing at the last minute with people pulling out or changing their mind or suddenly not being available for a speech. This is a massive role and my hat goes off to anyone who's ever been a VPE, because I know how much work goes into it. In terms of the transferrable skills of this particular role, certainly we're looking at things like program management. Vpes develop skills in organizing and managing educational programs which can absolutely be applied to training and development in various professional settings. Also, there's the element of mentorship and coaching and it's up to the VP a lot to facilitate mentor relationships and provide constructive feedback which translates into effective coaching and leadership in professional contexts. And time management Certainly all the VPEs I've ever talked to in my time in Toastmasters have said how much time and organization the VPE role requires. As I said, it's a massive role. It's a very hands-on role that needs tailoring every single meeting throughout the year and it's really a matter of balancing time and getting things and the agenda out in a timely way.

Speaker 1 9:58

Then we have the vice president of membership and the VPM is the club's ambassador. They're responsible for attracting and retaining members, and they tend to do this in conjunction with the vice president of public relations or the VPPR. But the VPM's role is about creating a welcoming environment and actively recruiting new members. They tend to get really busy when a club has guests and the guests may be asking questions about how to join or what Toastmasters is about or what membership entails. So their responsibilities include things like member recruitment and that's, you know, promoting the club to potential members, showcasing the benefits of joining Toastmasters. Then we have new member orientation, so that's about welcoming new members and providing them with information about the club Toastmasters International and helping them to get their pathway in progress once they've chosen to join. And the other important part here is member retention. So the VPM works to retain existing members by fostering a sense of belonging and addressing any concerns or challenges that they may face.

Speaker 1 11:16

Toastmasters is a membership-based organisation. It's about the people in the clubs that make the clubs what they are, and so really the VPM is about trying to ensure that people's goals are being met, and that might look like the fact that some people want to work through their speeches faster than others. Others are quite happy to take a slower pace, and that just becomes a scheduling discussion with the VPE. Similarly, if with any group of people conflicts may arise, it's about addressing those in the most compassionate and logical way and just making sure people's needs are being heard and where you're met where appropriate. Now the transferable skills that come out of this role are skills like sales and marketing. The VPMs can develop skills in promoting or selling the benefits of club membership, which can then be applied to marketing roles or marketing aspects in professional settings. Also, there's relationship building. Often it's the VPM that members will talk about any issues they have with the club or, on the odd occasion, issues with other members. Where people are involved, conflicts can arise, so the VPM can help to smooth things over there. And customer service. So in the way that a VPM addresses member concerns and tries to work towards helping their satisfaction with their Toastmasters experience, this can actually cultivate excellent customer service skills for other uses.

Speaker 1 13:02

Then we have the Vice President of Public Relations, the VPPR, and this is the club's storyteller responsible for promoting the club's activities and successes to the wider community. This role is really about creating awareness and maintaining a positive public image. Some of the responsibilities of the VPPR include managing the club's social media presence, promoting events, achievements and member spotlights. Also, the VPPR is responsible for creating whether it's publicity material or updating the website or whatever it happens to be, to continue to attract interest in the club and club branding. We're obviously part of a global organization that has brand guidelines, so Toastmasters Clubs can't just pump out any old content. It's gonna be within the Toastmasters branding guidelines. And all of this provides some great transferable skills for anyone who's thinking about wanting to create some marketing experience or get experience in managing a social media profile or a couple of social media accounts and again, a very transferable skills. So you know, in today's world, being able to show some proficiency in managing social media accounts is definitely a valuable skill to have in various professional settings. Similarly, some clubs go particularly hard in the aspect of public relations and getting articles published in local publications, which, for a community organization, is a great way of getting exposure. And again, this is a transferable skill that, if you're trying to break into marketing and you want some experience with showing what you've done, then putting your hand up to be the VPPR of your local Toastmasters Club might provide you just that experience. One of the other transferable skills out of this role is that of creativity, and whether it's designing promotional materials or flyers, or social media posts or photography of events, all of that is really cultivating creative skills that you might not have the opportunity to use elsewhere or to cultivate elsewhere.

Speaker 1 15:31

Then we have the role of Treasurer, and the Treasurer is the financial steward of the club. They're responsible for managing the club's budget and ensuring financial stability. This role involves handling club funds, financial reporting and budget planning. In terms of the responsibilities here, we have budget management, so it's the Treasurer who creates and manages the club's budget, ensuring that the funds are allocated appropriately to the club's meetings. With clubs being both not-for-profit and community-led clubs, there's not a whole lot of expenses, but some clubs may need to pay for their venue hire, they may need to provide supper or food or whatever the case might be. They might need to buy equipment like lectins or microphones or video gear, just depending what the club votes on doing. So the Treasurer helps to manage all of that. In the budget there's also financial reporting, and it's up to the Treasurer to provide regular financial reports to the club, including income, expenses and the budget status and, similarly, dues collection. So the Treasurer oversees the collection of membership dues and ensures timely payments to Toastmasters International. Anything to do with money is up to the Treasurer.

Speaker 1 16:56

Looking at the transferable skills, here we've got financial management. Even though it's quite basic and the expenses can be quite limited, the Treasurer develops skills in budgeting, financial reporting and fiscal responsibility, and this can absolutely be applicable in various professional roles involving financial management. Similarly, attention to detail. Andaline financial transactions and maintaining accurate records requires a keen attention to detail, and this is a valuable skill in many professional situations. And then there's the issue of transparency and accountability. The ability to transfer financial information transparently fosters the culture of accountability, which is crucial to any leadership position.

Speaker 1 17:47

Then we have the Secretary, and this is the record keeper of the club, responsible for maintaining accurate and comprehensive records of club meetings and club activities. This role involves administrative tasks that contribute to the smooth functioning of the club. Some of the responsibilities here include keeping club minutes and this might be of business meetings and I use for discussion to make votes on or make important decisions on, also club records, so maintaining a record of club membership awards and other relevant club information. And finally, handling correspondence. Often clubs will receive correspondence in or need to send correspondence out, so the secretarial role looks after these things. In terms of transferable skills, here we're looking at organizational skills and really secretaries can get quite administrative and looking after club records and club meetings and again, this is seen as a beneficial skill to have in various professional settings. Similarly, attention to detail through record keeping. This requires attention to detail and that's an attribute, you know, that's critical in many professional roles.

Speaker 1 19:06

And then we have the Sergeant at Arms. This is the custodian of the club's physical and meeting environment and this role involves setting up the meeting space each time, ensuring that it's welcoming atmosphere and maintaining order during the meetings. So the Sergeant at Arms is responsible for the meeting set up and that might be ensuring to get the room into a fit state for a meeting, making sure there's a lectern, making sure the club banners are there, greeting members and guests and generally creating a warm environment for everyone. Also maintaining order. Sometimes we do need to maintain order and that's enforcing meeting etiquette, so it might be reminding people to turn their phones off. Sometimes the Sergeant at Arms will have to manage disruptions, whether it's people coming into the room or whatever it happens to be, and generally bringing the club back from breaks. Some of the transferable skills from this role involve event management, and that can be the ability to organise and set up meetings, and this translates well into event management skills applicable in certain corporate situations. Also the idea of customer service, and it's really about creating a welcome environment, making sure there's signage so that guests can find their way into the meeting, and adaptability. Often it's the Sergeant at Arms that is actually opening the meeting, so they need to make sure that the Toastmaster is ready to go, that the President's ready to open the meeting and that things are generally in order. But they also have the role of keeping things to time, so it's about doing a bit of hustling to make sure that everyone is in fact, ready to go when needed. And then the final role is the immediate past president. So, on the executive committee, the former years president will form part of the executive committee and will provide guidance, and you know, having spent a year in that role previously, they have a lot of experience and knowledge to impart. So if you've been president, it's likely that you'll represent the committee again as the former past president. So that's an indication of some of the executive roles and the transferable skills that those roles create for people that choose to fulfill them.

Speaker 1 21:42

There's also plenty of opportunities outside of the club in terms of leadership at the area, division, district and beyond levels within the Toastmasters organization. I find it fascinating personally how many levels of organization there are and what type of leadership opportunities are available. For anyone thinking about getting some leadership experience through Toastmasters, I would certainly recommend being a member first, checking out how the meetings role and what the clubs do and how how they operate, and then absolutely putting your hand up for a role in the club and then looking beyond that. In my personal experiences being a president a couple of times and vice president public relations Toastmasters club leadership roles definitely offer a unique and valuable opportunity for members to develop a set of transferable skills. I know I've mentioned these roles I've held in job interviews and it's just something else to show that you take responsibility for personal growth, that you're engaged in the community and that you're interested in developing skills outside of a workplace, and whether that's strategic leadership skills to effective communication or financial management or event management. Each role contributes to the holistic development of all club members, and so, whether aspiring to enhance professional capabilities or seeking personal growth, participating in Toastmasters leadership provides a structured and supportive environment for individuals to unlock their leadership potential. The skills acquired in Toastmasters club leadership roles are not only applicable within the Toastmasters community, but also extend to diverse professional and personal contexts, making the Toastmasters experience a transformative journey for individuals committed to continuous improvement and leadership excellence.

Speaker 1 23:47

If you're ready to unlock your potential, consider joining a Toastmasters club near you. Check out the find a club link on the Toastmasters international website at wwwtoastmastersorg. It's worth visiting a couple of different clubs as a guest to see which club best suits you. If you do take the leap and visit a meeting, I would absolutely love to hear your experience. Feel free to message me at talkativetoastmastercom or tag me in the comments if you found this podcast on YouTube, facebook, instagram or Twitter. Thanks for listening to today's show. Head to talkativetoastmastercom, where you'll find the show notes for this and all other episodes, as well as links to some awesome Toastmasters resources. If you found value in today's content, I'd really appreciate if you could share it with friends and colleagues who may be interested or leave a review on iTunes. This helps more people to find us. Until next time, remember the words of Roger Love All speaking is public speaking, whether it's to one person or a thousand. Have a great week.