"Emotional Stake" helps membership retention

Have you ever wonder why

1. some of your Toastmasters members are leaving the club ?
2. club attendance is dropping
3. many members are critical about club activities
4. members are not responsive to calls by club administration?

These are tell tale signs that the club is not doing well. And signs like these cannot be taken lightly.

Every Club is different. And there are many reasons that lead a club to this situation. I do not intend to dwell in an effort to give any club a " full medical check up". I just like to highlight one, ie

Have you ever thought of having a "Business Session" in your regular club meeting ?

Experience tells us that, given a voice on how the club is run, members build a sense of belonging , and they stay. They feel that they are part of the family and a part of the work force that build the club.

Club administrators must try to encourage members to build an "Emotional Stake" in the club.

If you look around in the District, you will see many members who remain in Toastmasters for decades. They align themselves with the sucesses and failures of their club. They are critical about the club when there are issues they do not agree, but they cheer the club on when they feel that the club is doing the right thing. You can say they " sink " and "swim" with the club they belong.

Sense of belonging is important in membership retention. I hope club administrators will give this some thought.

Have a Business Session in your regular meeting. Make this your 2008 New Year Resolution.

That ten minutes " Business Session" may be what your club really need.

E T Lee, DTM

Medan 2007 Semi Annual Convention

Horas ! Horas ! Horas !
( Horas is a greeting frequently used by the Batak people of Medan, a word having similar meaning to Aloha used in Hawaii)

It was a great convention , awesome with abundance of Toastmasters magic !

I used to come to Medan more than two decades ago to sell stearic acids derived from Palm Oil. Medan has changed quite a bit since then, to the extend that I no longer know my way round.

On 14th of November, 2007, I arrived at Medan as a "rich man"----I had actually one million Rupiah in my pocket ! Although this is worth only about 370 Malaysian Ringgit (US$ 100) , nontheless the feeling was very good----at least once in my life time , I was a REAL millionaire.

On arrival at the convention centre, we were greeted at the Registration Counter by a group of cheerful Toastmasters wearing the "Ulos"- a local traditional handmade fabric. I considered the registration counter as the most important department when I was the Organizing Chairman for Pansea 97. The Registration Counter is where all the arriving delegates have their FISRT encounter with the organizers. This time at Medan, I felt welcomed and that helped to set my moods for the entire convention. The greetings, bags , name tags, coupons all readied for collection.........and the familar Toastmasters lingo.....it instantly switched my thoughts from tons of unfinished work at the office to the Medan Convention.

The Welcome Dinner impressed me with its rich and colourful cultural performances. Oh yes, the Ulos made the difference. When you wear the Ulos on one side of the shoulder, ie. on the left shoulder or right shoulder, it was supposed to signify whether you were " married" or "not married ". Quit a few of us decided to wear it around our neck. This was not because we were not sure whether we were married or not for the night. The Ulos kept falling off our shoulders, this was just a simple way to keep it in place.

As usual , Toastmasters conventions have a lot of awards. Sometimes way too much and overdone to the extend that the regcognitions of deserving achievers were somewhat diluted. I believe Toastmasters awards should be given to achievers to motivate them to achieve more, and not to commemorate a person or an achievement where no more improvements can be expected. In all, the awards part of the convention bored me. However, this gave me time to catch up with Toastmasters I have not seen for a long time, and to engage in my favorite past time ie. photography.

During this convention I have lost a cannon 55mm camera lens cap, a 85 G portable hard disk, some friends like Bapa Zacharias Adijuwono, whom I will not be able joke with in future conventions ....... and lots and lots of sleep.

Although I have also lost an opportunity to speak at the "educational session" to motivate Toastmasters of district 51 to use upto date but now common internet communication softwares to enhance their Toastmasters experiences, I was able to talk to many who are already using "Skype", "Google talk" , " Blogs", "Groups" and other softwares.

What have I gained ?

Lots of fellowship. Lots of new and invaluable Toastmasters ideas by sharing experiences with fellow delegates . And above all , the opportunity to set aside my emotional constrains and spoke my heart out at the District 51 Executive council meeting about the urgent need to take steps to protect the three key club officers, namely the president, the secretary and the treasure , from legal and financial risks arising from organizing a convention and to bring back the "ummp" to organizing Toastmasters conventions.

This is a convention that will bring back a lot of sweet memories many years to come.

I am ready for the next sologan in Penang " Ho Liau !", although I have to be careful about the intonation or how I should pronouce it. Pronouce it correctly, it means "good" or " very good". If the tone is not correct, it could means " finished".

"Ho Liau" Penang , and Penang "Ho Liau "!

( Ho Liau means " good or best " in Hokkian, a chinese dialact used in Penang)

Pictures I took at the convention: http://picasaweb.google.com/jbetlee/MedanConvention2007#