I still get upset thinking about how much work I put into it.
I made a series of videos
The Online Meeting Agenda (10 min)
Creating & Editing an Agenda (for the VPEd and TOE) (7 min)
Updating Your Speech Assignment (3 min)
Volunteering For Meeting Roles
Online Meeting Agenda for the TOE (10 min)
Online Meeting Agenda for Members (10 min)
I was contacted by a Toastmaster who was going to try to implement for her club, this was my advice...
I wanted to share my experience with the Agenda so that you can be successful.
I did make an attempt to get our members to use the online agenda. First I created manuals, but no one want to read them. Then I made videos, but they were too long. Then I made shorter videos, and then we brought in a new VPEd and he refused to use the agenda. It has been an exhausting process.
If you are trying to get the members to use the agenda, this is what I recommend. Just switch. Don't try to ween people off one system to another, it only prolongs the complaints and then people think "It would be so easy to go back to the old way." People will cling to the known and the past. I can't tell you how many times I heard "This is the way we have always done it." Pick a day and switch, people will adapt only when they must.
Also, before you decide to change, you MUST have to have 100% agreement and support from the VP of Education and the Club President. It is also helpful to have support of long-time members (we have members that have been in our club since 1974). This was my mistake.
I tried to show everyone how good it was going to be. I made speeches about the benefits to members being able to keep track of their speeches and meeting roles (CC and CL manual requirements). I gave a talk about the Members being able to swap roles or sign up for specific roles to complete their goals. I spoke about how coordinating collaborative online agendas give young professionals real experience to coordinate online projects on the job. All for naught.
The President refused to stop having the VPEd make and send the schedule on Excel because 2 or 3 members complained (we have almost 50 members). Also the VPEd is very late sending out schedules and takes it upon himself to fill schedules that the Toastmasters of the Evening should be doing. Yesterday he sent a new schedule out about 3 hours prior to our meeting.
If you are serious about making the online agenda a reality, here is my recommendation:
Step 1: Convince the Club Board that it is a good idea and get them to "Buy In"
Step 2: If you have long time members, speak to them first. Tell them about the change and gain their support. If they are resistant, tell them how this project will make your club more marketable and valuable to young professionals who are looking for these conveniences and will need to learn how to coordinate online projects.
Step 3: Pick a date and be prepared to stick to it.
Step 4: Have the VP Ed input two months of schedules. Then create blank agendas for the third month (this will allow members to sign-up for roles voluntarily). And yes, it has to be the VPEd, they make the schedule, don't duplicate work. In the future plan to stay 2 months ahead. For example, During January, you should have the February schedule full and the March schedule available. On February 1, the Toastmasters of the Day/Evening should recruit and fill spots in March and the April agenda should be available for sign-up. You will occasionally need to re-arrange the agenda for new members to get roles or to complete certain projects (for DCP points) but this should work.
Step 5: Tell the members. Don't tell them until the agendas are up! They need to have something to look at. With two months of schedules up, it will help to calm them that they have time to learn this new system.
Step 6: Plan to give some talks to demonstrate how the system works. If you can, try to get some of long-time and well respected members to give talks to, this will lend to credibility. Focus on the benefits to the members: staying current and marketable; building real job skills, convenience, ability to track roles, records of speech information, etc... And don't forget to put a little blurb in each newsletter. You can view ours here:
dunedintoastmasters.com/newsletter.html
To make it work, the President and the VPEd have to be behind it. If you are not able to get a step done, I would stop and wait, otherwise you will end up spinning your wheels like me. I tried to do this without the support of the President, VPEd and long time members. After about a year, I just stopped doing them. No one noticed. It was a ton of work and wasted time.
My last suggestion is to train members that once the agenda is up online, it becomes the responsibility of the Toastmasters of the Day/Evening. They are responsible to have members switch roles online or do it themselves. After the meeting they should have a deadline of a day or two to go back and update any last minute changes.
I hope this helps. Please let me know how it turns out.
