Generate Publicity Through Local Awards — You know your District and club are special, so why not share that with your local community? Many local newspapers and other publications give out awards recognizing local organizations for their outstanding work. This is an excellent way for Public Relations Managers and VPPRs to raise awareness—with the ultimate goal of attracting new members. Simply search your local publications’ websites for any upcoming awards and apply for those relevant to Toastmasters. A recent success story of this type of initiative: Toastmasters was named Best Business & Career Training by the Toronto Star’s Readers’ Choice Awards.

Attend Club Officer Training by February 28 — Be the best officer you can be by attending club officer training! Your club can also earn Distinguished Club Program (DCP) credit if your Program Quality Director reports your officer training details on District Central by March 31.

Raise the Bar — Take some time to complete the Club Quality Checklist to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your club. Next, hold an open house to help bring new members to your club. For more helpful resources to raise the bar of your club, visit the Resource Library.

Send in Your Semiannual Officer List — If you missed the deadline to submit your new club officer list for January 1–June 30, please note it is not too late to get it recorded! Outgoing club officers will have Club Central access until January 30 to submit their newly elected club officers list. For assistance, email clubofficers@toastmasters.org or call +1 720-439-5050, ext. 1402 from 8 a.m.–5 p.m. Mountain Time, Monday–Friday.

Free Path Deadline — Toastmasters showed special appreciation for members during these difficult times by awarding anyone who renewed their membership for the October renewal period by December 31, 2020 with a free Pathways path. For those who did this, remember to visit your Toastmasters profile, click the “Choose A Path” button, and follow the normal path selection process to redeem your free path before March 31, 2021.

Accredited Speaker Policy Change — Effective immediately, virtual presentations are eligible for Level 1 Accredited Speaker Program applications. For additional details, review the Accredited Speaker Handbook. Applications for 2021 are being accepted now through January 31.

New Clubs: Last Chance to Save! — The last day of this month is the last day to take advantage of the New Club incentive! The new member fee and charter fee will be waived for all new clubs organized by January 31. To qualify, all charter members must pay for dues through September 2021, and the completed charter forms, as well as payment, must be received by January 31, 2021. For more information, email newclubs@toastmasters.org.

Special Event Fliers Are Here — Use these customizable fliers to promote your events: Download, personalize, and share them with friends, family, coworkers, and other members of your community!

Zoom Stop Light Timer Backgrounds — Are you looking for virtual backgrounds to use when you’re the Timer at your next club meeting? These Zoom virtual backgrounds feature a green, yellow, or red stop light. Download and switch between these backgrounds to indicate how much time the speaker has remaining. Thank you to Geetha Boyani of 3652 Ci Yuan Toastmasters Club for the original idea and allowing us to share it.

Hybrid Club Tips — Know a club that is a hybrid club or looking to become one? Discover tips on how to find success with both in-person and online attendees. Review the “Running a Successful Hybrid Club Meeting” document and share it, either with fellow club officers or with clubs in your District. Discuss how you might be able to better suit your members’ needs in a hybrid club format.

Translated Speech Contest Certificates — Speech contest certificates are now available in Arabic, English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Tamil, and Traditional Chinese! Download these customizable certificates and present them to speech contest winners and participants.

The Guiding Light of Club Central — Are you a new club officer? Or a current club officer that is looking for a way to provide receipts to your members? Great news! The Club Central Tutorials walk an officer through all the different tools in Club Central, from Adding Members to Club Achievements.

Welcome Semiannual Club Officers — As we enter the second half of the 2020-2021 DCP year, prepare for your officer position by referring to the Club Officer Resources, digital Club Officer Kit, and Club Central Tutorials. It is also recommended that your executive committee meets to discuss and review the Club Success Plan to ensure the club is in line to meet its goals for year-end.

Is There a Podcast in Your Future? — You may be an avid podcast listener or ready to start your own show; either way, take in some tips from The Toastmasters Podcast co-host Greg Gazin, DTM. In this article, he breaks down the logistics of preparing for, recording, and sharing a podcast. Make sure your ear buds are in so you can listen to special podcasts throughout the article.

Ice Breakers Offer Endless Opportunities — In the Pathways learning experience, members must complete the Ice Breaker project in all paths, whether it’s their first or 11th. The beauty of this is that the topic, content, and type of speech is at the discretion of the speaker. Learn how to get the greatest benefit out of giving an Ice Breaker again and again.

Shake Up Table Topics^®— While Table Topics can be daunting for new members and those with presentation anxiety, having creative and fun themes can help motivate guests to join and keep members entertained and retained. Calling on members to respond to a random list of topics can get stale. Instead, inject some fun into your next club meeting with these ideas and tips from a Toastmaster article.

New Speechcraft^® Experience Coming Soon! — The new Speechcraft digital experience will be unveiled soon; stay tuned for more exciting details! You can purchase the existing Speechcraft program through January 31, 2021, and obtain credit through June 30, 2021.

Requesting Your DTM Project — The DTM Project requires an individual to create and implement a project of their design, in which they demonstrate the skills and expertise they have gained. Please note, to have this project made available, you must have completed one full path and the first three levels of a second path. Please send an email to educationprogram@toastmasters.org to have your DTM Project made available for access.