Travelling Toastmasters - Your Next Good Idea Is Sitting in Someone Else's Club
Every Toastmasters club develops its own habits. Its own way of running an agenda, handling Table Topics, welcoming a guest, keeping a meeting to time. Most of those habits are invisible from the inside — they only become visible when you sit in someone else's room and notice they do it differently.
That is the whole idea behind Traveling Toastmasters. District 21 is inviting every member across British Columbia and the Yukon to visit another club at least twice this program year, and to go with a purpose rather than as a tourist.
There are two ways to take part. Both take the same four steps — only the reason for going changes.
Strategy A — Bring ideas back
This is for members whose club could use some fresh strategies. Rather than observing from the back row, you take an active role at the club you visit:
- Take a role at the club you visit.
- Watch closely how their meeting runs.
- Try a change or two at your own club.
- Revisit the club and report your results.
That last step is what separates this from a pleasant evening out. Going back and reporting what changed closes the loop — for you, and for the club that hosted you.
Strategy B — Help another club
This is for members whose own club is already thriving, and who have capacity to offer it elsewhere. You visit a club that needs support and serve in the role best placed to help:
- Visit a club that needs support.
- Serve as their General Evaluator.
- Give feedback on members and meeting flow.
- Serve as General Evaluator again.
An outside General Evaluator can say things a club's own members have stopped noticing — about how guests are greeted, how members are retained, and where a meeting quietly loses its energy.
What you earn
Two visits to a single club is all it takes to participate. Members who travel further are recognised: visit three different clubs and receive a $50 gift from the Toastmasters International store; visit five and receive $75.
How to start
Find a club to visit using the Toastmasters International club finder at toastmasters.org/find-a-club, which lets you search by location and meeting day. Then let our Traveling Toastmasters Chair know you're on your way.
Karen Hall
Traveling Toastmasters Chair
kdhalltm@gmail.com