Special events are an important part of maintaining a quality club because they can positively impact membership growth and club morale plus, they can be a lot of fun!
Marco Ambrogio from Toastmasters Malta tell us:
How can you convert all these guests to new members? ➡️
Tips from super club-starter Peter Kossowan, DTM
“Kossowan always wants to put somebody else first, to connect you with someone who can help. That’s what he’s all about—helping others.”
This page provides you with a number of resources to run in the best way an Open-house or Demo meeting:
- Guidance document: Open-house Meetings Organisation
- Guidance document: Open-house Box How To
- Template document: example Open-house Meeting Agenda in Excel and Word format
- Reference document: TI_FromProspectToGuestToMember
- Reference document: TI_Success101
- Toastmasters magazine article: Stir Up Excitement with an Open House or Demo Meeting
- Other marketing materials are downloadable at the end of this page in the list of materials contained in the Open-house Box (this materials are available printed and ready to use in the Open-house Box that has been distributed)
To organise an Open-house we suggest the following steps:
- Set-up a team of committed Toastmasters to help you in running the event. Share the documentation with them. Consider using this event to complete your CL path or as a High Performance Leadership Project.
- Read and share with your team the document “Open-house Meetings Organisation” to get guidance and suggestions on how to better organize your event.
- Read and share with your team the Toastmasters short manual “From Prospect to Guest to Member” and Success 101” (electronic version).
- Hold a meeting with your team to start planning your event. During that meeting or before see the YouTube video of the Rick Furbush method for running demo meetings:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAo6TS6SNrM,
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRTbZ-3EO08,
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2oIEm-Ycw8
- Use the “Open-house Meeting Agenda” document in either the Word or Excel versions to prepare the agenda for your event.
- Refer to the article “Stir Up Excitement with an Open House or Demo Meeting” for additional tips.
Organize a Demo meeting
On a specific page of the Toastmasters International website you can find two presentations: one for Corporate Demo Meetings and one for normal Demo meetings – use them to present what is Toastmasters International and what is Pathways.
The District has produced an Open-house box (big and small versions). The January 2018 edition of the box has been given to Division Directors and Area Directors on the basis of open-house plans received and confirmed. The boxes had he following content:
- Badge insert – about 70 units in big box, about 20 in small box
- Table Topics Card – about 70 copies in big box, about 20 in small box
- “Become a better leader/Find Your Voice” (a TM flyer on Leader and Communications) – about 70 copies in big box, about 20 in small box
- “Uncover your leadership potential” (a TM flyer on Leadership development) – 70 copies in big box, about 20 in small box
- “Develop your leaders from within” (a TM flyer for corporations) – 20 copies in big box, about 10 in small box
- Promotional “Ask Me About Toastmasters” Button – 7 units in big box, 5 in small box
