Club Chartering Meeting/Ceremony - Agenda

Toastmasters Club Chartering ceremony is an important milestone for a newly formed club. Club Chartering meeting is the first "official" meeting of the toastmasters club, where the club officers are installed and members inducted. This article provides some guidance for you to plan your charter meeting.

Also read:

Steps involved in chartering a club
How to conduct a demo meeting?

Invitees

Whom to invite? This is the first question that will come to your mind. You can consider inviting the following people for your toastmasters club chartering ceremony meeting.

1. Management Representatives from your corporate (for a corporate club)
2. Toastmasters Representatives

• District Governor
• Division Governor(s)
• Area Governor(s) 
• Club officers from other clubs in your Area/Division
• Club mentors and sponsors

Sample Charter Meeting Agenda

What should be done during the chartering meeting. Here is a sample agenda that you can follow during your club chartering ceremony meeting.

• Opening of the meeting by & Introduction of MC by Sergeant At Arms - 2 minutes (SAA just reads the vision/mission and describes the Codes of Conduct)
• Setting the context of the chartering meeting by the MC - 2 minutes
• Speeches by Dignitaries from Toastmasters International (2 minutes x two dignitaries) - 4 minutes
• Speeches by Dignitaries from the Corporate (for a corporate club) - (2 minutes x two dignitaries)  - 4 minutes
• Installation of club officers by Area or Division Governor - 10 minutes
• Club President delivers the acceptance speech (3 minutes)
• Acceptance speech typically has the President's plan for the club, at a high level for the next 6 months. You can look at the Sample Presidential Acceptance Speech
• Recognizes the Mentors/Sponsors of the club

• President introduces Toastmaster of the Day (1 minute)
• Toastmaster of the Day runs through the meeting using the script  (45 mins)
• Have just 1 or 2 prepared speeches
• Have 4 or 5 table topics
• Toastmaster of the Day hands over the meeting to President (0 minutes)
• President adjourns the meeting (2 mins)

Download meeting role player templates from Successful Clubs Toolkit

Miscellaneous

1. Area/Division Governor can present Toastmasters Pins to the club officers
2. President can give a memento to toastmasters representatives and to the people who helped in chartering the club
3. If you have more time for the meeting, you can distribute the charter certificates to the charter member during the meeting. President can invite a dignitary to the stage to handover the charter certificates/manuals to new members. If there is no time, you can hand them over to members offline.
4. Take a picture with all the charter members and charter club officers

How to conduct a Toastmasters Demo Meeting?

Toastmasters International provides a number of materials which will help you to conduct "Successful Demonstration Meetings" for prospective new clubs. Conducting a Demo meeting is the first step to get new members to officially charter a toastmasters club.

Also read: 

Steps involved in chartering a new toastmasters club

Sample email response for the lead/request to charter a new toastmasters club

Before the demo meeting

1. Ask the club sponsor 
• to arrange for a projector, microphone, writing board etc.,
• to make printed copies of meeting agenda available to everyone
• to download Introduction to Toastmasters PPT and make it available in a PC/Laptop
2. Arrange meeting role players 
• Toastmaster of the Day, 
• Table Topics Master of the Day, 
• General Evaluator
• Prepared Speaker (just 1 or 2. Speech should be from Competent Communicator manual and preferably, a CC Project 5 or CC Project 6. Helps the evaluator to cover all the aspects of public speaking)
• Table Topics Master to pick some simple topics (NO SITUATIONS/ROLE PLAYS... may pick some funny quotes. Senior toastmaster to review this to make sure that the topics are audience friendly)
• Timer, 
• AH Counter, 
• Grammarian
• Sergeant at Arms
3. The role players are HIGHLY recommended to use the Successful Meetings - Role player Templates
4. Get timing cards (or) some Red Yellow Green props
5. All role players have to be informed to be at the venue at least 20 minutes in advance to clear the security procedure.

Meeting Agenda

1. SAA opens the meeting, introduces the presiding officer (1 minute)
2. Presiding officer briefly talks about Toastmaster International and the two tracks - communication & leadership. Also tells the audience that they'll know more about Toastmasters after the demo session... when walking through the PPT (3 minutes)
3. Presiding officer introduces Toastmaster of the Day and hands over the control (1 minute)
4. Toastmaster of the Day introduces the 3 meeting segments (3 minutes)
5. General Evaluator introduces his/her team (3 minutes)
6. Prepared Speech (7 minutes)
7. General Evaluator and his/her team presents their reports (10 minutes)
8. Table Topics Session (5 speakers max * 2 mins each = 10 minutes)
9. Toastmaster of the Day hands over control to the Presiding Officer (1 minute)
10. Presiding officer to walk through the Introduction to Toastmasters PPT himself or asks a senior toastmaster to walk it through

Before the demo meeting

1. Follow up with the club sponsor and help them to complete the steps involved in chartering a new toastmasters club by filling and submitting the club charter applications to Toastmasters International.

Steps involved in chartering a new Toastmasters Club

Toastmasters International website provides a lot of information about starting a new club. If you are interested in starting a club, submit your request using the form (or from www.toastmasters.org)

You can find a number of details regarding starting a new club at http://www.toastmasters.org/newclubforms.aspx

I've made an effort to "simplify" the procedure involved in starting a club - so that, you can understand it in just 5 minutes.

(Also read: Toastmasters in Chennai India - FAQ)

Always, refer to Toastmasters International website for latest information

Procedure to officially charter a new toastmasters club

1. Contact a District officer (District/Division/Area governor) or submit a request through Toastmasters International website to start a club in your community or corporate.

2. District/Division/Area governor will contact you and help you in organizing a demo toastmasters meeting.

(Also read: Sample email response to a new toastmasters club chartering request)

3. Download the chartering application from Toastmasters International website. You can look at the sample Club Chartering application to get an idea about how to fill the charter application.

4. Identify 7 club officers (President, VP Education, VP Public Relations, VP Membership, Treasurer, Secretary and Sergeant at Arms). You can see a summary of their roles and responsibilities at Club Officers - Roles & Responsibilities Summary. More information at http://www.toastmasters.org/clubofficers

5. Identify at least 20 members who'll be part of the new club (this includes the 7 club officers)

6. Assign mentors for the club (Get help from District/Division/Area officers)

7. Fill the Chartering application forms and submit it to Toastmasters International

8. Conduct chartering ceremony and start conducting club meetings regularly. You can look at the sample Club Chartering Ceremony Agenda to plan for the charter ceremony.

Cost 

1. $125 for chartering the club (one time charge). When you submit this fee along with the "Application to Organize", you would receive a set of manuals and a Gavel for the club from Toastmasters International. A club which is in the "establishing phase" can file an "Application to Organize" first, and then send the membership fee later-on, when you have the minimum of 20 members. 
2. $20 for every new member (one time charge for registration of the member. Each member will receive a membership kit which includes CC/CL manual)
3. $45 membership fees (recurring; once every 6 months)

For example, if you are chartering a new club with 20 members, here is how the calculations are done.

($125) + (20 members * ($20 registration fee + $45 membership fee)) = $1425

Payment options

- Credit card (you'll have to share the details over email or via phone) or
- Wire transfer (there will be an extra fee for Wire transfers)

Currently, there is no mechanisms for online payment.