President of a Toastmasters Club

From the Toastmasters Club Leadership Handbook

CLUB PRESIDENT RESPONSIBILITIES

• club’s chief executive officer
• managing director
• cheerleader
• coach

The club president sets the tone for the club by providing helpful, supportive leadership, motivates, makes peace, and facilitates as required.

Upon occasion the president must make a difficult decision with the support of club members and other club leaders.

Difficult parts of this position may include showing respect for all member even when you do not
agree with them, and remembering to provide leadership for all member not just the people best liked.

The club president stays current on all new developments via the Leader Letter and the announcements published on the Toastmasters website, sharing news with the club members.

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A message from the President of Eastside Madison Toastmasters

The benefits of filling the role of club president may not be as obvious as you would expect.  I wanted to help my club help its members.  This had to be done using the talents of every member of the club.  Each officer was tasked with setting a goal in her or his area.  These areas include: Education, Communication to the Community, Communication to the Membership, Budgeting, and Setting the Environment for our club.

While all of these areas had special initiatives, the role of President is one that encourages, supports and sometimes does some of the work.

One of the ways I saw I could help the members was to increase our membership to an ideal number of 20.  The challenges of a small membership made holding a meeting difficult.  Members had to fill two and three roles in order to offer opportunities for improvement of members.  For example, when a meeting consists of 5 people, with two speakers, you need two evaluators, and a toastmaster.  Already, the attending members have filled a role.  Larger membership translates to larger turnout, thus the need to fill multiple roles is reduced.

Another way I wanted to help members was to find out what the members wanted, then provide that resource.  The VP of Membership and I met with every member, asking about his or her interests and thoughts about the club.  Using the information gained, our VP of Education set up an initiative to help out newcomers.

I didn't do this by myself.  I worked with club members.  I facilitated brainstorming discussions which helped our club do what we did this year.

I HIGHLY encourage each member to consider availability and stepping into the role of President.  The job is rewarding.  Past Presidents are a-plenty in our club.  Past Presidents are resources available to help the current President do his or her job.

Respectfully submitted,
Karen Staebell
President July 2012-July 2013
Eastside Madison Toastmasters
Club 1366

Evaluator Put into Practice

This week I was able to put into practice skills gained as a Toastmasters Evaluator.  The situation was tense when an employee became vocally loud with his frustrations.  The inexperienced Karen would have viewed this as a confrontation and would have run from the situation. Karen Staebell, CC, CL, listened to the words of the employee, evaluated the message and calmly spoke with that individual about the challenging changes before him.

I am on friendly terms with someone who very easily could have become resentful of my presence. Trust has been built through the act of listening and calm response.

Thank you, Eastside Madison Toastmasters.  Thank you Toastmasters around the world.  You have helped me become the leader I want to be.  I have more to learn, but this week I felt proud that I could help prevent a melt down and gain the trust of a potentially contentious individual.  I felt more than proud, in fact, I felt very happy.

Karen Staebell CC, CL