Demonstration Meeting Best Practices

The information for this article came from notes taken during club growth director training.  The session was presented on August 10, 2015 by David McCallister, DTM, PID.

Demo meetings are the first glimpse that most people get of Toastmasters in operation. It is critical that they be well planned and well executed. That doesn’t happen by accident. You must prepare before you arrive for that demo meeting. Work with the sponsors or the contacts at the company or community to determine who needs to attend the meeting. This is especially important when working in a corporate environment. You want to build a demo team that matches the organization and their core values. If possible, you would also like to have mentors already assigned and they should match up well with the organization.

Choose an experienced speaker for this meeting. Your goal is to showcase the skills that can be learned. You also want experienced people to server as Toastmaster, General Evaluator, and Table Topics Master. Again, you want to showcase the skills that can be learned in Toastmasters.

Once you have assembled your team, have a practice session. Not only should each team member know how to perform their role, each member should also know how to fill out charter paperwork, especially form 3, the charter application form.

The recommended best practices for demo meetings are as follow:

1.  20 to 25 minute demo meeting. This will give time for 1 speech, two Table Topics speakers and 1 evaluation.
2.  Find out something about the guests. This can lead to interesting Table Topic questions.  The Table Topics Master should talk to guests before the meeting and find out in advance who might be willing to answer questions. Explain the Table Topics process, and maybe even give them the question in advance. This will ease their concerns. Other guests don’t need to know you pre-selected the participants, and it does show that anyone can answer Table Topics.
3.  Don’t over-use the acronyms, CC, CL, DTM, etc. Always use the full terms. Remember, these guests are new to Toastmasters and haven’t learned the language yet.

During the closing portion of the meeting, make it valuable to the guests to charter now. The first 20, or more, members are charter members, a very special honor. Appeal to that sense of accomplishment and of being in on the ground floor. This will help those guests become members.

Emphasize the self-improvement and confidence building aspects of Toastmasters. This is what the program actually does. The side benefit of self-improvement and self-confidence is becoming a better speaker and leader. Some guests are not there to be better speakers or leaders, but everyone is interested in self-improvement and self-confidence.

Some other best practices and ideas include:

1.  Call it a Toastmasters program, not a Toastmaster demo meeting. This is an easier sell to HR staff at the corporate level.
2.  Hand out materials at the end of the meeting. Before the meeting, place the agenda and a charter application at each seat. Brochures can be picked up by guests on the way out if they are interested. This allows guests to fully experience the meeting rather than be distracted by the brochure. This practice will also give the demo team a better feeling for how many are truly interested, based on the number of brochures that are taken after the meeting. Make sure you are using the appropriate brochures; there are several and they are designed for different audiences.
3.  Ask if they are ready to make the commitment toward self-improvement. By answering “yes” to that question, guests are in a better frame of mind to join, right then. Again, emphasize self-improvement over public speaking and leadership.

For many, a demo meeting is their first introduction to Toastmasters. Plan well, practice well, and present well and success rate in chartering new clubs will reflect your efforts.