The Demonstration Meeting

A Demonstration meeting is your opportunity to show prospective members how a Toastmasters club meeting is conducted and what the Toastmasters program can do for them. A carefully planned, well-conducted meeting will excite prospective members and make them eager to form a club. An agenda for a demonstration meeting appears on page 19 of this manual.

A typical demonstration meeting requires eight or more experienced Toastmasters, each of whom assumes a meeting role, such as Toastmaster, timer, ah-counter/grammarian, general evaluator, speaker, evaluator, and Table Topics Master. Following are some suggestions to help you plan the meeting:

Keep the meeting short and within any time limitations.
Remember, your goal is to pique interest. Also, if you are trying to charter a company club and the company has allotted 30 minutes for the demonstration and any other information you plan to present, you must plan accordingly. Do not go overtime!

Select a demonstration team that will present a good,typical yet abbreviated Toastmasters club meeting.
If time is very limited, at a minimum include a short table topics session, a prepared speech, and an evaluation.

When selecting a speaker to present a manual speech, consider the average speaking experience of the prospective members. A relatively inexperienced speaker who is not too polished will be less likely to intimidate the prospective members and will show them that Toastmasters offers something for the unseasoned presenter. If time permits, you may add a second speaker to the program. This speaker may be more advanced, illustrating how the Toastmasters program helps members become more skilled speakers. The Toastmaster should make this distinction clear to the audience.

Select experienced Toastmasters to assume various meeting roles and be sure each takes into consideration the audience's perspective. For example, the evaluator for the inexperienced speaker should be positive and gentle, yet helpful. The evaluator for the experienced speaker should be more specific, showing that the advanced speaker receives a more detailed evaluation.

Invite representatives of the sponsoring organization (if any). Their presence will help convince prospective members of the meeting's importance.

After the demonstration portion of the program, you should do the following:
1. Introduce the representatives of the sponsoring organization if any).
2. Introduce the Toastmasters sponsor(s) and mentor(s), emphasizing that when the club is chartered the mentor will help it through its first six months to one year.
3. Explain charter fees, international and club dues and other potential costs, such as club banner, membership pins, and other administrative supplies the club will need. Ensure that each potential member understands the individual cost.
4. Conduct a brief question and answer session with the prospective members, allowing members of the demonstration team and other experienced Toastmasters who may be present to answer the questions.
5. Ask Toastmasters members to share “success” stories, explaining to the audience how Toastmasters training has helped them in their careers, family, and community life.

Keep Them Enthusiastic
Be optimistic and assume the group is convinced that it will charter a club. Strive to obtain the prospective members' commitment to join the club before the demonstration meeting ends. Don't encourage the group to “think about it” for a while and/or tell them that they don't have to decide today. The demonstration has made them enthusiastic and excited about the opportunity they have; don't allow this enthusiasm and excitement to diminish.

Focus the group on the future by doing the following:
Follow Up
After the demonstration meeting is over, begin preparing for the second meeting. Send a reminder notice which includes the date, time, and place of the next meeting to everyone who attended the demonstration meeting and follow up with a telephone call several days before the meeting date. If possible, several days beforehand meet with the president, secretary, and sergeant at arms to discuss their duties at the next meeting and the meeting objectives as described in the outline for the second meeting.

Remember, most prospective clubs do not charter immediately. In fact, many may meet eight or more times before they can complete the charter requirements. Occasionally a club may charter in four or fewer meetings. Your goal is to get and keep everyone involved enthusiastic and to charter the new club as quickly as possible.

To help you plan for each pre-charter club meeting, use the weekly meeting outlines on pages 18-25. Photocopy and distribute the outlines to every member of your team so each is aware of the events that should happen at each meeting. You may also use the outlines as meeting programs and distribute them at meetings. The items listed as Topics to Cover should be addressed in 3- 4 minutes, and those items listed as Tips should be worked into the meeting at the appropriate time. Both Topics to Cover and Tips should be handled by the sponsor, mentor, or other experienced Toastmaster who is a member of the club building team.