Quality Open House Best Practices - Toastmasters District 57

Quality Open House Best Practices

Overall guidelines

An open house is a special Toastmasters meeting which is held for the intent of recruiting new

members.

The best way to get someone to join Toastmasters is to show them Toastmasters. An event that

is not a Toastmasters meeting doesn¡¯t have the same impact as putting on a high-quality

meeting, possibly with a featured speaker and refreshments to attract guests.

No matter what your open house is like or how you get people there, all open houses should

1) Overview of the benefits of being a Toastmaster.

2) Ask the guests to join. Have the membership forms in all the officers¡¯ hands with pens and

the current dues amount ready.

3) Lots of time for questions at the end (at least 10 minutes).

Ways to tweak a regular meeting:

¡ñ Refreshments

¡ñ Change the venue

¡ñ Have more table topics

¡ñ Have special themed prepared speeches

¡ñ Decorations

¡ñ Coincide with a holiday

¡ñ One or two official greeters to welcome guests and seat them next to a member

¡ñ Omit some of the functionary roles

¡ñ Have membership forms and club dues information ready to share

¡ñ Get as many guests to participate in table topics as the time allows

Corporate Clubs Marketing Ideas

For corporations with a central building that much of the population moves through, set up a

booth or table.

A booth has the following:

¡ñ Friendly smiling Toastmaster members standing at it

¡ñ Plenty of brochures on Toastmasters

¡ñ An interest list (see example)

¡ñ Give a ways ( candy, etc)

Fliers in all common areas such as kitchen, cafeteria. Get your flier on any screens that displays

information for employees (if allowed.)

Distribute fliers to all members of the corporate club to post in/near their work areas.

Ask all members to invite their friends/coworkers. Give away prizes to people who bring guests

to the meetings.

Invite the corporate sponsor and other upper management leaders to attend.

Example:

Community Clubs

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Contact guests who have come to previous meetings

Contact people you have met at street fairs and other events

Facebook invitations

Use Meetup event

Create an event on

For community clubs located in or near center where there is a lot of foot traffic, use a

¡°booth.¡±

¡ñ Post flyers on nearby community spaces - coffee shops on their bulletin boards,

libraries, and any other community space.

¡ñ Put out a Press Release with exciting theme and speaker name to local new sources.

¡ñ Ask all members to invite their friends/coworkers. Give away prizes to people who get

friends to the meetings.

A booth has the following:

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Friendly smiling Toastmaster members standing at it

Plenty of brochures on Toastmasters

A sign-up list (see example)

Give a ways ( candy, etc)

At both types you must ask guests to join. Most guests won¡¯t join unless they are asked.

Appendix B: Mentorship Program

All members should be immediately given a mentor on joining.

Mentor should meet with member and do the following:

¡ñ On board them into Pathways

¡ñ On board them onto the FreeToastHost or other scheduling site.

¡ñ Introduce them to the Ice Breaker Project

¡ñ Schedule their Ice breaker Project

¡ñ Tips on how to give an ice breaker

¡ñ Give them encouragement

¡ñ Meet with them after their ice breaker to encourage them to give their next speech and

sign up for a functionary role

¡ñ The relationship should continue and the mentor keep encouraging the mentee to take

more roles and eventually become an officer and beyond.

¡ñ The mentee can switch mentors if needed any time.

¡ñ All members no matter how experienced should have a mentor who is asking them

occasionally ¡°What¡¯s next for you? How do you want to grow next?¡±

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