Club President Responsibilities

Hi, I’m Dan. In this short video, I’m going to guide you through the President’s Responsibilities as they’re outlined in the Club Constitution. The Club Constitution is quite long, so we’re going to shorten that.  It’s all outlined in Club Constitution, Article 7, Section 1. Obviously, here at Toastmasters, we love the trifecta, the use of three, so we’re going to go through the three main responsibilities that a club president has.

Responsibility number one is to be the CEO of the club mission. The club president is the CEO of the club and is responsible for fulfilling the mission of its club, and as CEOs of companies often have a mission statement to embody and adhere to, Toastmasters presidents have a club mission too, and that is to provide a supportive and positive learning experience in which members are empowered to develop communication and leadership skills, resulting in greater self-confidence and personal growth. Now, how you do that is up to you.

I will be providing some greater guidance in this video and in the next video, but really, it’s important at this stage to remember that it’s up to you to tailor your leadership style, having done Pathways so far or what you’ve learned on your own leadership journey. Some ways that you can implement responsibility. One is to be a chief motivator.

It is your responsibility to motivate your club officers, and it’s so important that you are doing that because they have a large reach within the club. Make sure you’re removing obstacles so that they don’t get down in the dumps or frustrated in their roles because that will have an impact in the club. Work with them to form your club success plan and to achieve recognition in the Distinguished Club Program.

The reason we have DCP is because the DCP over several years has been proven to create and foster healthy and positive learning environments within clubs. So this is really important, and we’ll also go into more detail about this in a future video.

Recognise member achievement: Whatever it is, make sure you’re recognising achievement of your members. It doesn’t need to be a big thing. It doesn’t always need to be education related either.

It could be service. In my club, once a year, we have an award which is given to and voted by members to the person that has served and gone above and beyond within the club. It’s a lovely award we have every April.

It’s called the Hilary Taylor Firth Award, and it’s just one way that you can improve somebody’s leadership and journey within Toastmasters. And of course, to provide leadership and guidance whenever it is required. As president, people will come to you and ask you for advice.

That is part of the role, but also learn to spot signs of when people need it and find ways to deliver feedback and guidance in an appropriate way. Responsibility number two, preside at club and committee meetings. It is your responsibility to preside over club meetings as well as executive meetings and also to appoint any subcommittees of that executive committee.

The main two to focuses here are the audit committee, so who is going to support your club treasurer in looking after the club’s finances, and also the club nominating committee. The club nominating committee is appointed by the president, but the president cannot be part of it. The reason for that is that each Toastmasters year there should be fresh impetus and fresh ideas coming into the club, and simply put, the president is too close to the day-to-day operations.

In my club, the immediate past president tends to take on this role and liaises with members to form the committee and the elections for the next Toastmasters year. There is some continuity there, because the president obviously then becomes the immediate past president, and they have a year to reflect on what they learned in their year as president. Ways in which you can do that, preside at club and committee meetings, you can open and chair all club business and executive meetings.

And third and finally, represent your club and share updates with it. You are an external face of your club and you will represent the club at the area and district councils. It is your responsibility to transmit to your club the approval of ideas and disapproval of ideas for the plans proposed by the area and district council, particularly those which may affect your club and the members.

So remember, you are the face of the club and it is your responsibility to represent your club at area, district and international levels and to bring that information back to your club, particularly if it affects rights. You can use your president’s slot at meetings to share those updates with the club. And final point on this, remember to use the principles of respect, integrity, service and excellence to tailor your approach.

It has to be authentic and it has to be you. You won’t go wrong if you remember to follow these principles. Thank you for watching.

See you in the next video.

 

Club Meetings

In this very short video we’re going to look into how you can preside at club meetings in your role as president.

I’ve got a few action shots which show me actually doing this and here is one of me presiding at club meetings. So this is the way you can preside over a club meeting and that is by greeting guests and members on arrival, opening club meetings, recognising achievements and introducing the toastmaster of the day. Now remember the word is preside.

So in many clubs the president won’t do all of these things or will do some of them alongside the rest of the club officers. So in my club the sergeant-at-arms often was the person that greeted guests in combination with the vice president of membership and the vice president of education would recognise achievements in their vice president of education slot. Our sergeant-at-arms would also introduce the toastmaster of the day.

It’s also important that you preside over discussions and voting on all club matters. Now there won’t be voting and there won’t be the same discussions at every club meeting but here’s a few examples of things that you will need to raise or could raise over the course of your year as president. You might be voting to approve new member applications and the induction of all new members.

Now this is an often overlooked or unknown part of being a club president but clubs are supposed to vote in new members so remember to be doing that when you’re in the role. You should also be sharing reports from committee members. If they produce something for the it might be relevant to the club.

Approval of the club success plan. Now we of course have and will be speaking more about that in another video but this is so important this Toastmasters year if it wasn’t before. Approval of the club budget.

Your members are paying to be a member of the club. It is your responsibility to make sure they know where their money is being spent. Voting on any significant changes such as a change of venue, a meeting day or membership fees.

The election of club officers which obviously happens once a year in most clubs, twice a year in some and also club disciplinary matters. Hopefully you don’t have too many of them though. And finally to make any necessary announcements, request guest feedback and to present awards including pathways level completions not just best speech of the night or best evaluator.

You should also make sure that members who are flying through their pathways are receiving their certificates before adjourning the meeting. It’s super important as well to request guest feedback so that you can have an outside perspective of what’s going on in the club. We seek feedback on our speeches so why don’t we seek feedback on our meetings.

Club Leadership

An often overlooked part of being a club president is your role outside of club meetings. As well as presiding over club meetings, a president should also be dedicating time to fostering relationships with their club officers outside of club meetings, as well as officers from other clubs in the area, division and district. This is good practise if you want to be self-employed or a leader in your field or industry in the future.

Learning how to contribute to, as well as chairing your own committee and meetings, is really valuable leadership experience and that’s why presidents chair their club committee and also sit on the area and district councils. So I thoroughly recommend taking this responsibility seriously. My top tips for chairing club committee meetings, do the manage online meetings elective in Pathways.

When I first became president, all of my meetings ran over time and I was scared that I was going to become known for and have a reputation for always running over time. So I did this elective actually as one of our club committee meetings and it was the first time we stuck to time. So make sure you do that if you’re not sure or haven’t chaired meetings before or you just run over time and you’re really experienced because it’s a really good reminder.

Number two is familiarise yourself with Robert’s Rules and the concept of meeting a quorum. Democratic decision making is much harder than it looks. Trying to get seven or eight people to reach a consensus isn’t easy, so familiarise yourself with this so you and your committee can come to democratic decisions in your year as president.

And number three is do the club success plan. This year Toastmasters has made it mandatory to do this by the 30th of September if you want your club to be distinguished on any status. So it’s really important that you do this.

As I said the due date for this is the 30th of September, so you’ve got a few months to get yourself familiar with the role and to build relationships with your club officers before doing this. But make sure you’re dedicating time to do this before that date. It will then effectively become your map for your club for the rest of the year and ensure that you’re creating that healthy and vibrant environment that clubs need to thrive and members to thrive within that.

Oh and one bonus tip attend the District Council in May. It’s in person and it’s at the District conference. I went for the first time last year to the one in Solihull and it was amazing.

This year it’ll be in Galway. So see you there.