Last year I became a charter member of our county's Toastmasters Club. Toastmasters is an international organization for public speaking and leadership.
I wrote about how Toastmasters is the biggest public speaking training bargain on the planet. Financially, it is a huge bargain. The international dues are $6 per month: one cheese pizza. Our club adds another $1/month for club expenses: one pepperoni pizza.
The system has been fine-tuned so much over the years, and runs so efficiently, that the financial barriers are almost non-existent.
But if it's such a good deal, why are people leaving?
I'm an officer in our club. About a month ago we had a long-ish officers' meeting about why the numbers in the club were dwindling. I don't think any of us thought for very long that it was because the club dues were too high!
We batted around a bunch of possible reasons — weather cancellations of the meeting, key people leaving the club and not finding a replacement promptly, meeting night, and others.
But I think one of the big reasons is that the members got into more than they bargained for.
The real cost of Toastmasters was too expensive. It cost them too much time. And because there was only a small financial investment, the financial barrier to leave was just as low going as it was coming.
Things of high worth don't come cheap
Toastmasters' monetary dues are low, but the time dues are high. It takes time to prepare speeches, and to prepare for meetings. It takes time to learn how to evaluate people, and to organize meetings and events. It takes time to learn how to be an officer. It takes time to prepare effectively for a competition.
It takes enough time that in order to be even moderately successful, other activities need to go to the back burner. It's the sacrifice of time and other activities that is what forces people to “Toastmasters do yes” or “Toastmasters do no.” It doesn't seem to work out well if you “Toastmasters do guess so.” You get squished like grape.
That's true of anything worthwhile, though. Things worthwhile take time, and sacrifice. Those two aspects cost far more than the pocket change it costs to sign up.
I think for this reason only I left toastmasters. It was too much time consuming ans especially since meetings were scheduled during work hours, I wasn’t able to dedicate my time towards toastmasters and could complete only 4 speeches in 7 months.
The whole system is designed to keep members and officers involved and constantly learning, and I guess it is true that you get out of it what you put in. But at some point it becomes an issue of what you’re doing with it: following your own calling, or following Toastmasters’ calling?
Not everyone wants to become a DTM, or become a district governor, or win a high-level speech competition. And that’s … all right!
I’m struggling with the restriction on topics. What I want to speak about does not mesh with all of the beliefs of the group, and I’d have to be ‘expelled’ if I shared my real thoughts on some topics. Hmmm… And dues have been raised to $45 from $36, and the “non-profit” company doesn’t really share where the dues go, except to board of directors and maybe new curriculum and websites. Over $1 Million yearly for IT!
$45 is still cheap for what you get. As for the topics, I’m not sure what topics you’re wanting to talk about, but it looks like it can be up to individual clubs what kinds of topics are off-limits. If the topics aren’t expressly off-limits, then find a way to talk about them respectfully. That’s a good rule to follow regardless of the topic.
it may be cheap in the US but not other developing countries, paying $45 for 6 months is a huge cost for people and on top of it investing time for preparing speeches and planning the meetings. I am totally exhausted after being President for 4 months and constant pressure to increase the membership anyhow by District leaders. Many employees are interested to join the club, however, as soon as they hear the cost, they back out.
it is we who invest our time and skills and frankly speaking, I am not convinced where does the money go to if it is not for profit organization.
Hi Poonam. That’s a good point. I mainly have American readers so, granted, the monetary cost here is not big but that obviously doesn’t apply everywhere.
We do seem to agree on the rest of the “cost” of Toastmasters, though.
As for where the dues go, this may help: http://todaytoastmasters.wixsite.com/austin/single-post/2017/12/07/How-does-Toastmasters-International-Spend-Dues-