January 2025 Leader Letter

An Informed Club is a Successful Club — Throughout the year, you should routinely review and edit your Club Success Plan in Club Central. This will ensure your club is on track to meet the Distinguished Club Program goals it set for itself. Club officers can also edit or update goals and assign new tasks to members to stay focused on the club's desired outcome.

Semiannual Officer List: Still Time! — If you missed the deadline to submit your new club officer list for January 1–June 30, it is not too late. Outgoing club officers have Club Central access until January 30 to submit their newly elected club officers list.

Grow Your Club — A recent survey of prospective members uncovered that 76% of all respondents never visited a club for one reason: they had filled out the Find a Club form and never heard back from a club representative! There are now two exciting new features in Club Central to help your club easily manage/respond to prospective members and help them join more efficiently: the Prospective Member Management page and the online Member Application. This step-by-step video shows how to make the most of these tools to grow your club. If you have more questions, please see the Prospective Member Management FAQ page.

Use Updated Resources — Ensure you are using the most up-to-date version of resources by downloading files you need from the Resource Library. Using the latest version of items like the Membership Application will help your club add new members without issue.

Translated Resource for New Officers — Learn about your role with the Club Leadership Handbook—currently available in Arabic, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, and Tamil.

Why Some People Can’t Stop Talking – And What to Do About It — As a leader, you know the importance of keeping meetings on track and on time. These tips will help you curb members’ – and your own – over speaking tendencies.

New Year, New Goals! — Gain strategies for setting actual goals, not aspirational ones. Then uncover what’s holding you back from reaching your goals, and how to develop a tracking system that works.

Meet Toastmasters’ Newest Accredited Speakers! — Lauren Parsons, DTM, and Maureen Zappala, DTM, are the most recent recipients of the prestigious Accredited Speaker recognition. Read how both women reached the final stage and learn more about their specialty topics.

Welcome, Semiannual Club Officers! — As we enter the second half of the 2024–2025 Distinguished Club Program year, prepare for your position with the Club Officer Resources, digital Club Officer Kit, and the Club Officer Agreement and Release Statement. Your Club Executive Committee should also meet to discuss and review the Club Success Plan to ensure the club is set up to meet its program year goals.

Youth Programs — Today's youth are tomorrow’s Toastmasters—thank you to our youth program sponsors for supporting the growth of these future leaders! All current and future youth programs and youth Gavel Club sponsors, remember you have a duty to research your local laws to make sure you are complying with the requirements of volunteering with minors. World Headquarters will send an email soon including a survey to learn more about how to support clubs that host youth programs.

The Answer Man Has Answers! — Encourage club members to submit a question to The Answer Man, Toastmaster magazine’s new column debuting in January. Longtime member Bill Brown will tackle members’ questions on anything from finding speech topics, to competing in speech contests, to Table Topics. Email magazine@toastmasters.org for a chance to be featured!

Learn About International Director Candidates — The Toastmasters International Leadership Committee has nominated International Director candidates for the 2025-2026 Board of Directors. Voting will take place at the Annual Business Meeting in August 2025. Find out more about the candidates on the International Candidates webpage.

How to Redeem Your Toastmasters Gift Certificate — Gift certificates currently work the same way as a check or money order; the original copy must be physically sent to our office along with your order details using the Product Order Form. Gift certificates cannot be claimed online, and photocopies are not accepted. You can also print out the order total from the website if you build the order online and mail that with the gift certificates to:
Toastmasters International
Supply Orders Team
9127 S. Jamaica Street, Suite 400
Englewood, CO 80112

Please provide additional payment information for any remaining balance, if applicable. Contact the Supply Orders Team for assistance at supplyorders@toastmasters.org.