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| Author |
Message |
Rod Taylor
Guest
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 Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 2:36 am Post subject: CL projects |
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I'm interested in both experiences and ideas as to what is appropriate
for some of the projects in the CL manual. In particular, one
requirement that falls under both Motivating People and Teambuilding is
to 'Chair a PR campaign'. What exactly does this entail?
The manual talks about the club promoting itself and building goodwill.
It does not mention Toastmasters as an organisation, only the club. It
mentions articles in the local press and on radio or TV. Well and good,
but in this part of the world we have no 'local' radio crying out for
people to be interviewed and our only four TV services are national.
Some of our radio stations may not be national, but will broadcast to an
area the size of an entire province. Many of these are essentially music
stations and don't carry interviews or anything other than headline
news in addition to the music. Even then, if it were possible, getting
someone onto such a
programme would usually happen through major geographic interest,
through a favour being called in, or through one individual's very
persistent efforts (still unlikely without one of the other two factors
being applied). Not the sort of thing that requires a team to achieve.
Also not the sort of thing to promote a club and build goodwill for the
club.
Our District has, over the years, had DGs and International Speech
Contest winners interviewed on national radio or TV but, even then, this
is on a national scale and builds goodwill for Toastmasters in Southern
Africa rather than for any particular club.
Next, since this is just a part of one of ten projects that count
towards CL, which is a fairly basic 'qualification', I would expect the
input from both leader and team to be significantly less than that
required for the HPL, for example.
Bringing the project down to what I would consider a reasonable size for
its merit also reduces it to what I would consider a one person job
rather than a team project. For example, a pamphlet drop in the
neighbourhood served by the club might form a team project, but the team
is really unnecessary as the job can equally well be performed by one
person taking longer to achieve exactly the same number of drops in
exactly the same geographic area. The same applies to targeting local
businesses.
Then there's the VPPR, whose portfolio covers this requirement.
Delegation is a good thing, but if (say) six members want to complete
this assignment each year, what's left for the VPPR to do other than
claim credit for others' work? [OK, nothing unusual there!]
I understand that the purpose of these assignments is learning
leadership in terms of teambuilding or motivating people. For me, there
would be just about no motivation or team spirit in being part of a
needless team to do what any individual could do alone. Maybe I'm
looking at this from the wrong angle.
How have you fulfilled this requirement? How have other members of your
club fulfilled this requirement? What are your thoughts as to what might
serve the purpose?
Rod Taylor (rodt iafrica - don't forget the @ and the dotcom)
Transformers Toastmasters Club
District 74, Southern Africa |
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betsy_in_va
Guest
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 3:08 am Post subject: Re: CL projects |
|
|
| Quote: | For me, there
would be just about no motivation or team spirit in being part of a
needless team to do what any individual could do alone. Maybe I'm
looking at this from the wrong angle.
|
If several people are working towards a CL, maybe you could do the
same project on a seasonal basis. In other words, one person is doing
it each time, but it's done four times a year. If radio isn't an
option, maybe podcasting or submitting announcements to a local
internet chat site would be a fair substitute. Or sending articles to
local newsletters, or posting interesting fliers in a community area. I
don't know what's popular in South Africa, but I would imagine there's
a community chat site or bulletin board that could have announcements.
| Quote: | what's left for the VPPR to do other than
claim credit for others' work? [OK, nothing unusual there!]
|
Hee hee hee, so true, so true... |
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| Back to top |
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Rod Taylor
Guest
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 5:37 am Post subject: Re: CL projects |
|
|
"betsy_in_va" <b7760@keogan.com> wrote in message
news:1158091696.673954.104810@e63g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...
| Quote: |
For me, there
would be just about no motivation or team spirit in being part of a
needless team to do what any individual could do alone. Maybe I'm
looking at this from the wrong angle.
If several people are working towards a CL, maybe you could do the
same project on a seasonal basis. In other words, one person is doing
it each time, but it's done four times a year. If radio isn't an
option, maybe podcasting or submitting announcements to a local
internet chat site would be a fair substitute. Or sending articles to
local newsletters, or posting interesting fliers in a community area.
I
don't know what's popular in South Africa, but I would imagine there's
a community chat site or bulletin board that could have
announcements.
|
Thanks, Betsy.
Although our country is pretty large, the population is very polarised
and most of it is pitifully poor. Very few of the rural population have
electricity, let alone Internet access. The more affluent urban
population may have Internet access but, other than a few companies'
Intranets, all our boards are national. Local populations with Internet
access are too small to support local chat or other sites. By way of
example, of the 2500 members in D74, I'm the only contributor to AOT. As
far as I recall, in the last decade we've only had brief visits from
three others. There is no SA Toastmasters group. One was set up through
Yahoogroups about five years ago, but it was never used other than as a
repository for files and other documents. We have a District newsletter
that now goes out by e-mail. We can put club announcements there (we
did so for our 500th meeting recently) but, again, that's an individual
effort. Similarly, even if we had local chat sites, announcements
thereon would, in my opinion, be largely an individual rather than a
team effort.
Leader: Mary, please will you draft an announcement/notice for the XYZ
site/newsletter? Mpho, please will you check Mary's announcement/notice
for spelling and grammar? Sipho, please will you place Mpho's corrected
version of Mary's announcement/notice on the XYZ site/newsletter? Jane,
please will you check that the announcement/notice appears on the
site? - i.e. check up on Sipho.
Leadership? Teamwork? Motivation? You'd have to be joking!
Is this inefficient and simplistic approach what's required in terms of
the CL? I really have no idea how to advise people on this.
We have 'local' newspapers (all published by the same national press
group) but even there, meeting announcements and news are notoriously
difficult to get published. The PRO of one of the strongest clubs in our
District made a magnificent effort a year or so ago to establish and
develop contacts with their local newspaper. The result was only two
3-line announcements of the following meeting during the entire year.
Reporters were routinely invited to every significant function or
contest, but none ever attended. Press releases after the event,
including photographs, were never published. The VPPR concerned spent a
huge amount of time and effort on this project. The results may have
been meagre in real terms, but everyone was delighted that she had
achieved even that.
In similar vein, I offered another local newspaper a series of short
(300-word) articles on subjects such as time management and motivation.
They just weren't interested in anything that hadn't been written by
their staff. Rotary, Lions, and the like are in the same boat as we are.
Sport, local celebrities, motor accidents, scandals, crime, social
issues, and schools dominate the local press.
I agree that posting notices and fliers is a possibility but, as I wrote
before, I see this as primarily an individual initiative rather than a
team effort. Some years ago, we asked members to put copies of our club
newsletter in local doctors' waiting rooms, libraries, office reception
rooms, and the like. It didn't produce a result and I have no idea
whether the newsletters were ever actually delivered by the individuals
concerned; it was impossible to check. Even then, to my mind this
wouldn't count as teamwork, although I suppose it would have a
motivational element. Getting a team together to put up posters or
notices strikes me as a needlessly inefficient and expensive way of
getting such things posted and that, to my mind, is not leadership.
I suppose a group of half a dozen volunteers could agree that, this
month, Jane is the leader and everyone sticks up a few posters. Next
month, Susan is the leader, and we replace the posters. The following
month, Zweli is the leader and we repeat the exercise. To my mind,
that's just a cheap trick to gain credit towards CL. Maybe I'm wrong
and that's the way it's expected to be done.
Rod Taylor (rodt iafrica - don't forget the @ and the dotcom)
Transformers Toastmasters Club
District 74, Southern Africa. |
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Joy
Guest
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 6:21 am Post subject: Re: CL projects |
|
|
"Rod Taylor" <seemysignature@nospam.ever> wrote in message
news:xOmdnZY93-ecp5rYnZ2dnUVZ_oqdnZ2d@is.co.za...
| Quote: | "betsy_in_va" <b7760@keogan.com> wrote in message
news:1158091696.673954.104810@e63g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...
For me, there
would be just about no motivation or team spirit in being part of a
needless team to do what any individual could do alone. Maybe I'm
looking at this from the wrong angle.
If several people are working towards a CL, maybe you could do the
same project on a seasonal basis. In other words, one person is doing
it each time, but it's done four times a year. If radio isn't an
option, maybe podcasting or submitting announcements to a local
internet chat site would be a fair substitute. Or sending articles to
local newsletters, or posting interesting fliers in a community area.
I
don't know what's popular in South Africa, but I would imagine there's
a community chat site or bulletin board that could have
announcements.
Thanks, Betsy.
Although our country is pretty large, the population is very polarised
and most of it is pitifully poor. Very few of the rural population have
electricity, let alone Internet access. The more affluent urban
population may have Internet access but, other than a few companies'
Intranets, all our boards are national. Local populations with Internet
access are too small to support local chat or other sites. By way of
example, of the 2500 members in D74, I'm the only contributor to AOT. As
far as I recall, in the last decade we've only had brief visits from
three others. There is no SA Toastmasters group. One was set up through
Yahoogroups about five years ago, but it was never used other than as a
repository for files and other documents. We have a District newsletter
that now goes out by e-mail. We can put club announcements there (we
did so for our 500th meeting recently) but, again, that's an individual
effort. Similarly, even if we had local chat sites, announcements
thereon would, in my opinion, be largely an individual rather than a
team effort.
Leader: Mary, please will you draft an announcement/notice for the XYZ
site/newsletter? Mpho, please will you check Mary's announcement/notice
for spelling and grammar? Sipho, please will you place Mpho's corrected
version of Mary's announcement/notice on the XYZ site/newsletter? Jane,
please will you check that the announcement/notice appears on the
site? - i.e. check up on Sipho.
Leadership? Teamwork? Motivation? You'd have to be joking!
Is this inefficient and simplistic approach what's required in terms of
the CL? I really have no idea how to advise people on this.
We have 'local' newspapers (all published by the same national press
group) but even there, meeting announcements and news are notoriously
difficult to get published. The PRO of one of the strongest clubs in our
District made a magnificent effort a year or so ago to establish and
develop contacts with their local newspaper. The result was only two
3-line announcements of the following meeting during the entire year.
Reporters were routinely invited to every significant function or
contest, but none ever attended. Press releases after the event,
including photographs, were never published. The VPPR concerned spent a
huge amount of time and effort on this project. The results may have
been meagre in real terms, but everyone was delighted that she had
achieved even that.
In similar vein, I offered another local newspaper a series of short
(300-word) articles on subjects such as time management and motivation.
They just weren't interested in anything that hadn't been written by
their staff. Rotary, Lions, and the like are in the same boat as we are.
Sport, local celebrities, motor accidents, scandals, crime, social
issues, and schools dominate the local press.
I agree that posting notices and fliers is a possibility but, as I wrote
before, I see this as primarily an individual initiative rather than a
team effort. Some years ago, we asked members to put copies of our club
newsletter in local doctors' waiting rooms, libraries, office reception
rooms, and the like. It didn't produce a result and I have no idea
whether the newsletters were ever actually delivered by the individuals
concerned; it was impossible to check. Even then, to my mind this
wouldn't count as teamwork, although I suppose it would have a
motivational element. Getting a team together to put up posters or
notices strikes me as a needlessly inefficient and expensive way of
getting such things posted and that, to my mind, is not leadership.
I suppose a group of half a dozen volunteers could agree that, this
month, Jane is the leader and everyone sticks up a few posters. Next
month, Susan is the leader, and we replace the posters. The following
month, Zweli is the leader and we repeat the exercise. To my mind,
that's just a cheap trick to gain credit towards CL. Maybe I'm wrong
and that's the way it's expected to be done.
Rod Taylor (rodt iafrica - don't forget the @ and the dotcom)
Transformers Toastmasters Club
District 74, Southern Africa.
|
Thank you for this explanation, Rod. It is a good reminder to us all that
not everyone has the same facilities or the same situation. I hope that
someone will have some suggestions for earning the leadership awards. It
would be a shame to think that nobody in South Africa could have the
opportunity of becoming a DTM because of the circumstances in your country.
Joy |
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|
betsy_in_va
Guest
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 7:30 am Post subject: Re: CL projects |
|
|
Hmm, an interesting challenge. What do the local schools do if they
need to advertise an event? Or people running for political office?
There must be some way you can adapt a local custom. |
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|
betsy_in_va
Guest
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 8:09 am Post subject: Re: CL projects |
|
|
I don't know if your club has spare funds, or if this fits with the
manual requirements, but here's another idea. Some groups give away
inexpensive promotional items as a pr campaign. If you could print up
labels with meeting information, you could paste them on things. Maybe
a local company could donate 100 plastic rulers, or 100 magnets, or
something like that. Make it a team effort to paste all the labels,
then give 20 to each person getting a CL and have them come up with a
good place to distribute them. |
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| Back to top |
|
betsy_in_va
Guest
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 8:43 am Post subject: Re: CL projects |
|
|
Idea #3
Does the manual specifically state that it has to be a PR campaign to
promote the club in your community?
Maybe you could make it a PR campaign to promote the realities and
challenges of international clubs to WHQ-- or to toastmasters as a
whole. IMO this would still be a PR campaign for your club because your
club would benefit from sharing this knowledge. Going out on a limb a
little, but maybe it could work. |
|
| Back to top |
|
Rod Taylor
Guest
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 2:56 pm Post subject: Re: CL projects |
|
|
"betsy_in_va" <b7760@keogan.com> wrote in message
news:1158107452.598298.97460@e3g2000cwe.googlegroups.com...
| Quote: | Hmm, an interesting challenge. What do the local schools do if they
need to advertise an event? Or people running for political office?
There must be some way you can adapt a local custom.
|
I'll give that some thought. School news attracts readers (parents).
Some local newspapers give one or two full pages to school news.
Rod Taylor (rodt iafrica - don't forget the @ and the dotcom)
Transformers Toastmasters Club
District 74, Southern Africa |
|
| Back to top |
|
Rod Taylor
Guest
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 3:00 pm Post subject: Re: CL projects |
|
|
"betsy_in_va" <b7760@keogan.com> wrote in message
news:1158109755.591028.9460@p79g2000cwp.googlegroups.com...
| Quote: | I don't know if your club has spare funds, or if this fits with the
manual requirements, but here's another idea. Some groups give away
inexpensive promotional items as a pr campaign. If you could print up
labels with meeting information, you could paste them on things. Maybe
a local company could donate 100 plastic rulers, or 100 magnets, or
something like that. Make it a team effort to paste all the labels,
then give 20 to each person getting a CL and have them come up with a
good place to distribute them.
|
Yes, this would be a good idea. Again, whether it really needs a team
is a moot point. Maybe I'm just hung up on the issue of the team,
teambuilding, and motivation and I'm discounting the simplistic fixes.
Rod Taylor (rodt iafrica - don't forget the @ and the dotcom)
Transformers Toastmasters Club
District 74, Southern Africa |
|
| Back to top |
|
Rod Taylor
Guest
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 3:36 pm Post subject: Re: CL projects |
|
|
"Joy" <toastie@real-me.net> wrote in message
news:oiHNg.606$e66.577@newssvr13.news.prodigy.com...
| Quote: | "Rod Taylor" <seemysignature@nospam.ever> wrote in message
news:xOmdnZY93-ecp5rYnZ2dnUVZ_oqdnZ2d@is.co.za...
"betsy_in_va" <b7760@keogan.com> wrote in message
news:1158091696.673954.104810@e63g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...
For me, there
would be just about no motivation or team spirit in being part of
a
needless team to do what any individual could do alone. Maybe
I'm
looking at this from the wrong angle.
If several people are working towards a CL, maybe you could do the
same project on a seasonal basis. In other words, one person is
doing
it each time, but it's done four times a year. If radio isn't an
option, maybe podcasting or submitting announcements to a local
internet chat site would be a fair substitute. Or sending articles
to
local newsletters, or posting interesting fliers in a community
area.
I
don't know what's popular in South Africa, but I would imagine
there's
a community chat site or bulletin board that could have
announcements.
Thanks, Betsy.
Although our country is pretty large, the population is very
polarised
and most of it is pitifully poor. Very few of the rural population
have
electricity, let alone Internet access. The more affluent urban
population may have Internet access but, other than a few companies'
Intranets, all our boards are national. Local populations with
Internet
access are too small to support local chat or other sites. By way of
example, of the 2500 members in D74, I'm the only contributor to
AOT. As
far as I recall, in the last decade we've only had brief visits from
three others. There is no SA Toastmasters group. One was set up
through
Yahoogroups about five years ago, but it was never used other than
as a
repository for files and other documents. We have a District
newsletter
that now goes out by e-mail. We can put club announcements there
(we
did so for our 500th meeting recently) but, again, that's an
individual
effort. Similarly, even if we had local chat sites, announcements
thereon would, in my opinion, be largely an individual rather than a
team effort.
Leader: Mary, please will you draft an announcement/notice for the
XYZ
site/newsletter? Mpho, please will you check Mary's
announcement/notice
for spelling and grammar? Sipho, please will you place Mpho's
corrected
version of Mary's announcement/notice on the XYZ site/newsletter?
Jane,
please will you check that the announcement/notice appears on the
site? - i.e. check up on Sipho.
Leadership? Teamwork? Motivation? You'd have to be joking!
Is this inefficient and simplistic approach what's required in terms
of
the CL? I really have no idea how to advise people on this.
We have 'local' newspapers (all published by the same national press
group) but even there, meeting announcements and news are
notoriously
difficult to get published. The PRO of one of the strongest clubs in
our
District made a magnificent effort a year or so ago to establish and
develop contacts with their local newspaper. The result was only two
3-line announcements of the following meeting during the entire
year.
Reporters were routinely invited to every significant function or
contest, but none ever attended. Press releases after the event,
including photographs, were never published. The VPPR concerned
spent a
huge amount of time and effort on this project. The results may have
been meagre in real terms, but everyone was delighted that she had
achieved even that.
In similar vein, I offered another local newspaper a series of short
(300-word) articles on subjects such as time management and
motivation.
They just weren't interested in anything that hadn't been written by
their staff. Rotary, Lions, and the like are in the same boat as we
are.
Sport, local celebrities, motor accidents, scandals, crime, social
issues, and schools dominate the local press.
I agree that posting notices and fliers is a possibility but, as I
wrote
before, I see this as primarily an individual initiative rather than
a
team effort. Some years ago, we asked members to put copies of our
club
newsletter in local doctors' waiting rooms, libraries, office
reception
rooms, and the like. It didn't produce a result and I have no idea
whether the newsletters were ever actually delivered by the
individuals
concerned; it was impossible to check. Even then, to my mind this
wouldn't count as teamwork, although I suppose it would have a
motivational element. Getting a team together to put up posters or
notices strikes me as a needlessly inefficient and expensive way of
getting such things posted and that, to my mind, is not leadership.
I suppose a group of half a dozen volunteers could agree that, this
month, Jane is the leader and everyone sticks up a few posters.
Next
month, Susan is the leader, and we replace the posters. The
following
month, Zweli is the leader and we repeat the exercise. To my mind,
that's just a cheap trick to gain credit towards CL. Maybe I'm
wrong
and that's the way it's expected to be done.
Rod Taylor (rodt iafrica - don't forget the @ and the dotcom)
Transformers Toastmasters Club
District 74, Southern Africa.
Thank you for this explanation, Rod. It is a good reminder to us all
that
not everyone has the same facilities or the same situation. I hope
that
someone will have some suggestions for earning the leadership awards.
It
would be a shame to think that nobody in South Africa could have the
opportunity of becoming a DTM because of the circumstances in your
country.
|
I don't think it will come to that, Joy, it's just that I'm struggling
to establish what's appropriate for this project. Something on the
level of the HPL seems seriously 'over the top' and the 'cheap trick' I
described represents the other end of the scale. I'm sure there must be
many options; I'm just not sure at the moment what these may be and am
looking for other insights and what others have actually done.
There are other routes to CL without chairing a PR campaign, but one of
the requirements for the Motivating People project must be a chair
position, either of a PR campaign, or of a membership campaign or
contest.
Rod Taylor (rodt iafrica - don't forget the @ and the dotcom)
Transformers Toastmasters Club
District 74, Southern Africa |
|
| Back to top |
|
Rod Taylor
Guest
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 3:40 pm Post subject: Re: CL projects |
|
|
"betsy_in_va" <b7760@keogan.com> wrote in message
news:1158111785.225940.244040@d34g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...
| Quote: | Idea #3
Does the manual specifically state that it has to be a PR campaign to
promote the club in your community?
Maybe you could make it a PR campaign to promote the realities and
challenges of international clubs to WHQ-- or to toastmasters as a
whole. IMO this would still be a PR campaign for your club because
your
club would benefit from sharing this knowledge. Going out on a limb a
little, but maybe it could work.
|
It certainly appears to be club-specific. In describing the PR campaign
chairman's role, the manual states, "Your club seeks to promote itself
and build goodwill in the community through public relations. When
articles about the club appear in local newspapers or magazines or
members appear on television or radio programs, the public learns more
about the club and how they can benefit by the Toastmasters program. As
a result, the club may attract new members."
Under Teambuilding, the manual reads, "Building a team is challenging.
Team members must be carefully chosen and trained, and often they must
change their attitudes and behaviors..." It goes on to deal with
reviewing goals, establishing parameters, developing a plan,
establishing goals, building team trust, training the team, and
fostering communication. There's a lot more, but this seems to me to go
beyond the simplistic approach of having a few volunteers put up
posters, give away promotional items, or something similar. It seems to
infer that the task is one that can be better tackled by a team than by
an individual. Maybe it's just a case of WHQ having the right ideas,
but not realising the complexity of the reality relative to the
magnitude of the project. This is the stuff that the HPL is made of.
Under Motivation, the manual talks about rewarding properly - immediate
recognition, matching reward to achievement, correcting undesirable
behaviour and eliminating demotivators. Again, great stuff, but hardly
appropriate in what is essentially a simplistic project which is one
third of one project (Motivation) and may count fully as another (Team
Building). For the Motivating People project, the alternative to
chairing a PR campaign is to serve as both Toastmaster and General
evaluator. This also serves to indicate the level of input that might be
expected. Ten completed projects are required for CL, which is a
pretty basic qualification. As I see it, to fulfil these requirements
for just these part projects soundly, incorporating all that the manual
seems to require, would put the CL in a category above ALB. For ALB,
you need only to present two canned modules, serve 6 months as a club
officer, and attend COT.
Rod Taylor (rodt iafrica - don't forget the @ and the dotcom)
Transformers Toastmasters Club
District 74, Southern Africa |
|
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|
betsy_in_va
Guest
|
| Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 6:20 pm Post subject: Re: CL projects |
|
|
OK, guess we need to hit the rewind button on this one... :-)
I'll have to get my hands on one of these manuals one of these days...
Good luck, and in the meantime, at least the membership contest sounds
practical for you guys. |
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