November 2023 Leader Letter

The Clock is Ticking to Save on the Milestone Event! — Next August, the 2024 International Convention is your chance to gather with Toastmasters worldwide in centennial celebration! Take a trip to Southern California where it all began 100 years ago. Come to learn, connect, and take part in the most dazzling communication event on the planet. Register now through November 27, 2023, and you will receive $100 USD off the regular convention rate, currently reduced to $625 USD.

Get Ready for Round Two of Club Officer Training — To learn current best practices and to receive credit in the Distinguished Club Program, plan for your club to send at least four officers to this round of officer training. For information about your District's training, contact your Program Quality Director.

Submit Education Achievements to Club Central AND Base Camp — As you may already know, the Pathways learning experience is transitioning to a new learning management system (LMS) in the first half of 2024. The improved Base Camp will be a user-friendly, intuitive experience and will support new features!

Before the launch, member education data will be transferred to the new system. To ensure that your club's data is correct in the new system, in the coming weeks we will send an email to members to check that their education achievements are submitted on BOTH Base Camp and Club Central. Any members who notice a difference in their data between the platforms should reach out to you to make submissions on their behalf. Base Camp will be unavailable for a period of time early next year while we transfer data. We will send you details about the planned Base Camp outage a few weeks ahead of time, but it'’s best to be ready now!

Send In Your Fun Club/Member Photos — The Toastmaster magazine wants to see photos of your club in action! We encourage you to be creative when submitting images to photos@toastmasters.org. Any Toastmasters materials should meet the brand guidelines, and we love artistic angles, poses, and concepts. Check out the Member Photos gallery at the bottom of the magazine webpage for inspiration.

Submit Your Club's Semiannual Officer List — Does your club elect officers twice a year? If so, plan to hold your elections this month. Then, submit your new officer list on Club Central, or download the Club Officer Information form and email it to clubofficers@toastmasters.org by December 31 to receive Distinguished Club credit. Not sure how to host a club officer election? Refer to page 53 of the Club Leadership Handbook.

Club Central: The Most Essential Club Officer Tool — Club Central is your “one-stop shop” for performing activities related to club business. Here, you can add new members, pay dues, submit education awards, view your current membership roster, make changes to your club's addendum and bylaws, and update your club's contact and meeting information. Club Central is available to all active club officers via My Home.

Meet the Winners of the 2023 World Championship of Public Speaking — For the second time in Toastmasters history, three women earned all three World Championship of Public Speaking trophies. Get to know Jocelyn Tyson, Nisha Shivram, DTM, and Maryam Ganni, and the stories behind their winning speeches.

Club Helps Members Amplify Their Voices — Read about a special club that was founded for people who can only speak using augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices. These members, who have a variety of disabilities, are given the opportunity to sharpen their communication skills.

Get Down to Business With Parliamentary Procedure — Does your club often debate an issue but then won't make a decision? Are rules not being followed, but everyone just ignores it? Does one member always dominate a discussion? Help your club stay on track with parliamentary procedure.

Explore What's in Store for Pathways — The transition of Base Camp to a new learning management system next year will spark a host of improvements in the Pathways learning experience. Learn more about the positive changes that are coming to the program's online functionality.

Tune In! Take a Stand for the Brand — In this episode of The Toastmasters Podcast, Mayuri Assudani, DTM, shares how her District cascaded brand awareness through a live competition.

Distinguished Club Program Ribbons — Congratulations to all clubs that earned recognition within the Distinguished Club Program! If your club was honored as Distinguished or higher, your club's record is updated in the Club Achievements section of Club Central. The 2022–2023 program year ribbons will begin shipping in mid-November.

2023-2024 Speech Contests Reminder — For the 2023-2024 speech contest cycle, the Board of Directors approved an exception to the Speech Contest Rulebook. All speech contests at the Area, Division, and District levels may be conducted either in person only, online only, or in a hybrid format for the 2023-2024 speech contest cycle. Learn more about this exception and what it means for your District. If your contest will be online or hybrid, review best practices for those formats.

Support Fellow Toastmasters with the Smedley Fund — Learn about the Smedley Fund's uses, see a history of disbursements, and donate to support Ralph C. Smedley's educational vision for the organization on the newly-redesigned webpage.

New Pathways Content Is Coming — A completely new learning experience offering, called explorations, is coming to Pathways in 2024! Explorations will each consist of three projects focused on a specific topic to give you more flexibility in how you learn. The first two explorations will focus on inclusive leadership and presenting yourself online. More information to come next year!

How to Add a Member — New member profiles must be created and activated by a club officer. To get started, log into My Home, navigate to Club Central, and select the “Membership Management" card. Then, follow the instructions below:

• Click "Add Member" and select "Yes, New Member."
• Fill out all required fields and click the box to confirm an application is on file with the club.
• At the bottom of the page, select if you will be submitting membership payment now, or if the member or a club officer will submit a payment later.
  • “I will be submitting membership payment now” will take you to the checkout screen to submit payment on behalf of the member.
  • “The member or a club officer will submit payment later” will create a pending membership. A club officer can later “Add to cart” on the Membership Management page to proceed with submitting payment. Alternatively, if your club has enabled Self-Pay, the member can submit payment through their My Home page.

The Membership Management Page — The Club Roster, Add Membership, and Submit Payment sections of Club Central have been consolidated into the Membership Management page. From here, you can view a list of current or recently active club members, add members to your club, and submit payment.

An Easier Way for Members to Pay! — You can give your members the option to submit their international dues payments online. To enable Self-Pay, log into Club Central, navigate to the Club Contact and Meeting Information page, select the toggle button in the Self-Pay setting section, and click “Save” at the bottom of the page. Members should soon see a clickable alert at the top of the My Home page to renew their membership.

Help Members Log In — After a new member's dues payment is processed, they receive a welcome email with instructions to set up their password. If a member did not receive an email after joining your club, they should select the “Forgot Password?” option on the login page. After submitting their email address, they will receive an email within five minutes containing a link to set up their password.

If a seasoned member is having trouble logging in, first verify they are using their email address (not their Member ID or a username). Next, check that their login credentials are synced. Guide the member to "My Profile” from the “Welcome, (Their Name)” menu at the top of My Home. When they click “Edit” in the “Login and Password” section, the “Primary Email” and “Previous Login” fields will populate. If the emails don't match, click “Sync my logins.”