“Toastmaster Training for VP-PROs: Discussion group”

Welcome to Public Relations Officer Training! My name is Kristal, and I’ll hopefully be helping you to understand your role as officer better. Also we can discuss with one another what we’ve learned so far in our roles and exchange some ideas.

1.       The first lesson in PR is to market yourself. As PROs, we need to project a positive and professional image of our respective groups. We are the face of our clubs, for better or worse. So make an unforgettable, positive first impression. Remember our tagline, “Where leaders are made”, and embody that philosophy.

Market your product, with our product being Toastmasters International (TMI). Have promotional materials on hand, including fliers and brochures. Business cards are essential. They should have your contact info, including name, title, phone number, email, website, meeting place, day and time.

Talk up TMs. Have an elevator speech ready for that unsuspecting moment, when you have the opportunity to attract a guest or new member to your club. Be able to say something in about 60 seconds, telling people what TMs is, what the benefits are, & how they too can benefit from being a member. Have a personal testimonial ready, as to how it has helped you.

2.       Be your Brand manager. You are in charge of promoting and protecting the TMs brand & need to ensure that the TM logo and taglines are used appropriately. Color and size specifications, as designated by TMI, must be adhered to, when used in your publications. Also, it is a copyright infringement for any unauthorized person or organization to use our logo or tagline without express permission from TMI.

3.       Apart from being a Brand Manager, you are your club’s link to the outside world. You are responsible for getting your meeting location & times published to various community calendars on the internet, in the newspaper, and other local publications. Also fliers can be posted in public areas; permissions from management should be obtained first.  Good places to post information would be in employee break rooms, bulletin boards, libraries, colleges, coffee houses. Networking events are also a great way to get the word out about your club. You can make some great connections and tell people more about how our organization can be a great benefit to them. For info on networking locations, you can visit Grantham Consulting’s site, www.gconsult.us, and look under “services” and then “networking”. There are a lot of other ways to promote your group that are mentioned in your handout. (**What are some ways you’ve promoted your club?**)

4.       If your club doesn’t already have one, set up a Facebook and/or Twitter fan page.  To save time, you can link these two accounts.  That way, you only have to make one post.  Social networking is a great tool to publicly get the word out about your club, attract new fans, tell people about upcoming events, provide them with interesting tidbits on improving one’s speaking skills, & much more. To make your fan pages more interesting, you should post pictures & videos of your members, acknowledge their achievements, and appeal to a broad audience.  Be sure and label pictures of your members.  That way, their friends can be engaged and share in with the fun.  Better yet, encourage members to share links of interest and encourage their friends to join your fan page.  The more interest, the better your chances are at recruiting potential new members and getting the word out about your club. (**How many of you have fan pages? Do you think it helps?**)

5.       Another responsibility of the VPPR is that of Webmaster.  If your club does not have a website, don’t panic!  TMI has an application, especially for those of us, who have little to no experience with creating websites, called FreeToastHost.org.  This should help simplify the process.  On your website, you will want it to be similar to a newsletter.  It should list upcoming events, contests, membership drives, member accomplishments, club news, pictures, location details, etc. Also, make sure your club is linked to the district website (www.toastmastersd11.org) and that TMI has included your URL in the “Find a Club” list. Your website needs to have a title, description, keywords, and tags that reference TMs, speaking, communications, etc. that way your website can easily be found in an internet search. (**Has anyone here used the FreeToastHost site? What did you think?**)

6.       You will also want to familiarize yourself with press releases.  When approaching the media, whether it’s for radio, TV or newspaper, you’ll want to submit your requests either by email or online form. Familiarize yourself with local print and online publications, broadcast networks, shows, and programs. Be able to recognize the names of journalists, media representatives, and the topics they cover.

When writing a press release, you should be able to explain who your target audience is for any planned events and why your ideal will appeal to the representative. If turned down, thank them for the opportunity and be sure to ask them to be considered for future stories related to communications, public speaking, and leadership. For more tips on writing a press release, there is information in your handout. (**Has anyone done a press release? What was that like?**)

7.       Your club may also want to have a club newsletter or blog. For a newsletter, it is suggested that it is done either monthly or quarterly, depending on a club’s preferences.

** Does anyone have any questions about anything we’ve discussed, so far or about anything from your Club Leader’s manual? **

1.       If not, then let’s go over some of our responsibilities. What are we responsible for? We need to make sure that we have enough promotional materials on hand for any upcoming events and for members to distribute to their workplace or other places in the community.

·         Results from our PR campaigns need to be announced, press releases shared, and upcoming events need to be broadcast. Be familiar with upcoming dates for all PR events, which can be found on pp. 18-21 in your Club Leadership Handbook.

·         Also we need to enlist the help of our members to help out with PR campaigns. They can earn credit for doing this in their CL (Competent Leader) manual.

·         Be sure and attend district training, conferences, other TM events, and Executive Committee meetings.

·         Join TM-moderated social networking groups on FB, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

·         **Speaking of TM-moderated social networking groups, has anyone had any positive/negative experiences that they might like to mention? Did you find them useful?

2.       Some of our other responsibilities include:

·         Finding a substitute, if unable to attend a meeting

·         Gathering info from members for monthly/quarterly newsletter and/or website

·         Greeting members & guests

·         Prepare successor for office

3.       Beyond this, just realize that we need to be leaders, which will give us some challenges from time to time

·         Need to set & attain goals for the club through promotion activities

·         Delegate as needed

·         Monitor progress

·         Coach team members, if necessary, which brings us to…

o   How do we motivate our teams? **Anyone?**

§  This can be a challenge & we need deep understanding of what motivates members

§  5 principals that can help us succeed

·         UNDERSTAND what motivates by learning about members

·         FOCUS on how to benefit them

·         MAKE EXPECTATIONS CLEAR – Set milestones for achieving goals

·         RECOGNIZE work; say thank you!

·         BE A LEADER – be enthusiastic about work to be done; support members in all tasks

·         Next, how should we delegate?

1.       Decide what needs delegated; **What are some things we might delegate?**

2.       Who can handle the task; who is available & capable?

3.       Assign responsibility – explain what needs done, give opportunity to decide if can handle

4.       Establish accountability – set deadlines & follow up

·         What are some roadblocks to delegating? **Anyone?**

                                                               i.      Fear of relinquishing control

                                                             ii.      Concern over others not performing up to standard

                                                            iii.      Not wanting to share credit

                                                           iv.      Fear of asking others for help

                                                             v.      Fear that someone else will do better & usurp your authority

·         Sometimes, when we delegate, a member doesn’t always meet our expectations. It becomes apparent that something needs to change. The person needs to improve what they are doing or someone else should be assigned to the task.

                                                               i.      **How would we handle something like this?**

1.       Agree problem exists

2.       Discuss solutions

3.       Agree on action to take & timeline

4.       Follow up

All in all, PR for our group is our responsibility.  We are our group’s primary PRO, but to be truly effective, we need to enlist our members’ help in promoting our club. There is great strength in numbers, and a whole lot of tasks can be completed with minimal effort & in a minimal amount of time, if dispersed among willing and able participants.