November 2025 Leader Letter

Speak on the International Toastmasters Stage! — Be considered to present at a Toastmasters Journey Workshop in August during the 2026 International Convention in Vancouver, Canada. If you have the dynamic skillset to moderate and/or speak to a convention audience in a breakout session on a Toastmasters topic—we want to hear from you!

Get Ready for Round Two of Club Officer Training — To learn current best practices and to receive credit in the Distinguished Club Program, plan for your club to send at least four officers to this second round of officer training, occurring from November 1, 2025, through February 28, 2026. For information about your District's training, contact your Program Quality Director.

Submit Your Club's Semiannual Officer List — Does your club elect officers twice a year? If so, hold your elections this month. Then, submit your new officer list on Club Central, or download the Club Officer Information form and email it to clubquality@toastmasters.org by December 31 to receive Distinguished Club credit. Not sure how to host a club officer election? Refer to page 53 of the Club Leadership Handbook.

Get Down to Business With Parliamentary Procedure Does your club often debate an issue but then have trouble making a decision? Are rules not being followed, but everyone just ignores the issue? Does one member always dominate a discussion? Help your club stay on track with parliamentary procedure.

Toastmasters Education Series — Deliver these presentations to learn and share about speech skills, leadership, and club success! "Organizing Your Speech," from The Better Speaker Series, offers you and your club strategies and tips for planning an effective speech. In The Successful Club Series, "How to Be a Distinguished Club" outlines the requirements for every club to become Distinguished—or to reach a higher level of Distinguishment. Finally, to learn about the importance of a leader using their team’s and their own values to guide them to success, look to "Values and Leadership" in The Leadership Excellence Series.

Improve Your Club Meeting Roles — Pull back the curtain and discover how all the meeting roles function together to provide members with the best experience possible, whether they’re taking on the role or in the audience.

Learn from the 2025 World Champs — It can be easy to forget that all the polished speakers on the World Championship stage begin at the club level. Will next year’s winner be from your club? As you start preparing for your upcoming speech contest, share the journey of this year’s champions to the big stage, and learn how their clubs supported them. Watch their speeches, read this article, and inspire your members!

Advice on Accepting Feedback — We spend a lot of time learning to give feedback, but receiving it can be difficult. Learn how to determine what type of feedback you really want and how to prevent an overreaction to unhelpful criticism.

Distinguished Club Program Ribbons — Congratulations to all clubs that earned recognition within the Distinguished Club Program! If your club was honored as Distinguished or higher, your club's record is updated in the Club Achievements section of Club Central.

How to Add a Member — New member profiles must be created and activated by a club officer. Here's how:

1. Go to the Membership Management page of Club Central.
2. Click “+ Add Member.”
3. Complete all required fields and confirm that a Membership Application is on file.
4. At the bottom of the page, choose a payment option:
   • “Submit payment now” to proceed to checkout, or
   • “Submit payment later” to create a pending membership.
5. Pending memberships can be paid later by a club officer via Add to Cart, or by the member through their My Home page if Self-Pay is enabled for your club. If they aren’t paid in 30 days, they will be removed from the page.

Help Members Log In — After a new member's dues payment is processed, they receive a welcome email with instructions to set up their password. If a member did not receive an email after joining your club, they should select the “Forgot Password?” option on the login page. After submitting their email address, they will receive an email within five minutes containing a link to set up their password.

If a seasoned member is having trouble logging in, first verify they are using their email address (not their Member ID or a username). Next, check that their login credentials are synced. Guide the member to "My Profile” from the “Welcome, (Their Name)” menu at the top of My Home. When they click “Edit” in the “Login and Password” section, the “Primary Email” and “Previous Login” fields will populate. If the emails don't match, click “Sync my logins.”