The National ASSOCIATION of Toastmasters The Future is in our hands.

According to the dictionary, an “ Association has to do with things that ARE TOGETHER……..”

Hence, the National Association of Toastmasters has a dual meaning in that Members have a common interest in achieving and maintaining the highest standards of Toastmastering, through training and CPD AND doing this TOGETHER.

As a Profession, we work mainly on our own and, on rare occasions with colleagues where a job requires more than one Toastmaster. This, of course means that we are not often (enough) “TOGETHER”.

The Association in its glory days had two major Social Events, the Annual Banquet and Ball and, of course, the Christmas Lunch. The Banquet and Ball became unsustainable in……….

The Christmas Lunch has carried on, attracting upwards of 120 Guests, the vast majority of whom are “Our Guests” with something like 20 Toastmasters attending out of a total

Membership of 67 (43 Active, 18 Retired and 6 Honorary). This last Year, in part due to weather conditions and industrial action, only 80 Members and guests were present.

Our “Meetings” are most frequently held on Zoom so in reality there are currently only TWO occasions when “The Membership” can actually “Come Together” – The Christmas Lunch and the Annual Social Event. The latter is held in February/March each Year from a Sunday to Tuesday Morning, to enable us to get the very best “deals” from the Hotels selected by the President. These events now comprise the Association’s Social Programme and are, I believe, the very essence of what we are . Without a Social programme, properly constructed and well supported, the “Association” will inevitably die.

Christmas lunch

The Christmas Lunch is traditionally held on the second Monday of December each Year. It is a great event and, for many, heralds the start of the Christmas Season. In 2021 and 2022 the

Event was held in Vintners Hall and the cost was in the order of £85 a head, including a fabulous Meal, Christmas Carols a great Party atmosphere and half a bottle of decent wine per person, all representing extremely good value – After all, look at the ticket price of the events that we manage, and they are well north of £85!

Social Event

The Social Event was introduced in 2014 as a way of involving the Membership in a totally social atmosphere where toastmaster Regalia of any kind is banned and Members, their partners and friends can mingle over a couple of days and enjoy two nights of Dinner (with the obligatory half bottle of wine pp), Bed and Breakfast WITH a disco both evenings and a “surprise” feature. This Year, the cost is £390 per couple which really does represent extraordinary value for money.

The Challenge

This event takes organisation and research to put these events together. It also requires several site visits at a personal cost to the President and his/her Social Adviser(s) If each and every Active Toastmaster were to allocate just 5% of Toastmaster earnings to support the “Association’s” Social Events, then a Toastmaster acting at, say 25 events a Year at a fee level of £350 would have some £440 “saved” which would enable attendance at the Social Event for 2 or, Attendance at the Christmas Luncheon for 2 with a little left over for travel and perhaps a new frock!

The National Association of Toastmasters is OUR Association and we need to take ownership of it to secure its survival and future. I believe that a Social Programme is essential to the survival and growth of an Association such as ours and I urge all Members, Present, Past and Honorary to consider their responsibility in ensuring their/our future which is intrinsically linked to the future of our Profession by supporting the Association’s Social Events.