DIVISION GOVERNOR’S REPORT TO THE DISTRICT EXECUTIVE

Division / D / Report date / 1 April 2014 / Division Governor / Richard Perkins

Division Goals for the year

Membership / Clubs / Other:
Base: 455 / Now: 462 / Base: 28 / Now: 28 / Magpie club in Napier is likely to close L
Possibly a new club in Gisborne next year J

Progress:

Distinguished Club Status

Meeting the membership criteria / Not meeting the membership criteria
Category / With 5+
DCP Goals / Less than 5
DCP Goals / With 5+
DCP Goals / Less than
5 DCP Goals
Number of Clubs / 11 / 1 / 3 / 13

Club Leader Training to Date by Area

Area / Club
Base / Potential Trained
(Club Base x 7) / 1st Round
Achieved / 2nd Round
Achieved
D1 / 4 clubs / 28 / 18 / 16
D2 / 6 clubs / 42 / 27 / 18
D3 / 5 clubs / 35 / 18 / 19
D4 / 4 clubs / 28 / 22 / 16
D6 / 4 clubs / 28 / 19 / 18
D8 / 5 clubs / 35 / 23 / 17

Membership by Area

Area / 1 July 2014
Club Base / Current Clubs / Net Change +/- / Membership Payments
31 Oct 2014 / 24 March 2015
D1 / 4 / 4 / 0 / 58 / 75
D2 / 6 / 5 / -1 / 72 / 90
D3 / 5 / 5 / 0 / 52 / 64
D4 / 4 / 4 / 0 / 48 / 66
D6 / 4 / 4 / 0 / 63 / 78
D8 / 4 / 4 / 0 / 74 / 89

Clubs in Formation (please include the name of the club, if it has one, and the principal contact together with a progress report and expected charter date)

There is a possible new club formation in Gisborne in which the Area Governor, Helen Hunt has spent a great deal of time and personal resources. It is still in the early stages and the goal is to attract new visitors in order to establish a new club. About 15 people meet at the moment.


Low membership clubs

Area / Club Name / Coaches / Membership Base July ’14 / Members
April ‘15
D1 / Kawerau Toastmasters / Peter Trevor, Richard Perkins / 9 / 12
D2 / Bay City Toastmasters / None / 10 / 11
D2 / Havelock North / None / 14 / 15
D2 / Magpie Club / Ian Wright, Laurance Bacchus / 13 / 5
D2 / Pania Club / None / 14 / 16
D3 / Corkers Toastmasters / None (Advanced Club) / 8 / 8
D3 / Huria Marae / None / 11 / 8
D3 / Otumoetai Toastmasters / None / 8 / 10
D4 / Arawa / Pat Hayden, Richard Perkins / 10 / 11
D4 / Geyserland / Jennie Arvidson, Robin Hunter / 21 / 11
D6 / Geyser Gourmet / None (Advanced Club) / 18 / 15
D6 / Rotorua Toastmasters / Betsy Gifford, Prashad Navaranjan / 10 / 18
D8 / Achieve / None / 10 / 13
D8 / Kiwi Toasters / None / 11 / 9

Special Events

Different events were held in the Libraries of Rotorua, Taupo, Gisborne and Tauranga. A membership drive was held at the Rotorua Night Market supported by toastmasters from six local clubs from D4 and D6 (Rotorua area). In this collaborative event we manned a table with toastmaster pamphlets and magazines which were made available to the local public.

Challenges, Issues and how they were handled

The major issue we have is low membership:

The challenge of correcting our email redirection lists has been completed and I particularly wish to thank Mike Diggins for his support in this regard. The distribution of information cards for our toastmaster clubs in Div D has been completed and now being used in various membership campaigns including night markets and libraries. We also had magazine drops at doctor/dental and hairdressing establishments. Appointing and training coaches is still a challenge with only a few members prepared to take on this role and this was partially addressed in the newsletters. From the reply to the newsletter we were able to appoint some coaches.

The intention is to use our marketing material, combined with the contests and special events such as a Tall Tale / Selwyn Bennett contest (Rotorua) and other similar events to bring new members into toastmasters. We intend to advertise and market these clubs as part of the strategy to increase their membership numbers.

Division Marketing Plans

So far the membership drive has shown signs of success, with a number of new members as well as some from yesteryear who have reinstated their membership. We value their past experiences and appreciate their revitalised passion for toastmasters.

Further discussion with local webmasters and the creation of websites is in progress with the intention to assist our low membership clubs first. Hopefully this can be completed within the next two months.

Yellow page entries are the last part of the plan, to at least add many clubs to the list. Online yellow pages are a quick way to find toastmaster clubs.

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