An Open House is a demo of a typical QUALITY club meeting, but geared specifically towards a large number of guests.

Guests must experience a high quality meeting at an open house.

Club Members must generate Value with a High Quality meeting. Focus on details, and roles.
[In fact all club meetings must be HIGH QUALITY (Pursuing service and excellence).]

A successful open house has the following elements: Plan. Prepare. Practice. Present with Passion.

Remember in virtual meetings guests attending could easily have attended other meetings of high quality. If you don’t show quality, customer care and value, the guest will go where they find better value easily.

Click here for the video workshop on “Open Houses To Wow Your Guests”. Follow along with the checklist below.

CHECKLIST:

Executive team sets the date for the open house.
Let members know at least two weeks before of an open house.

GUEST SPEAKER

A guest speaker could be a Toastmaster from outside the club, either from the District or a Toastmasters from other districts.

KICK OFF

• Set goals of how many guests & members will attend. Think BIG. Think OUT OF THE BOX
• Book the Guest Speaker if needed (See Speakers section)
• Confirm Toastmaster of the Day
• Chair of the event presents an Inspirational Speech at a club meeting to gain commitment

ROLES

Roles: Who is playing the roles?

• TMOD. Chair. GE. TT. Auxiliary Roles. Timer. Grammarian. Quizmaster.
• Zoom Master
• SAA
• Train on Zoom to understand spotlighting.
• Timer to have proper background timing cards.

MARKETING CAMPAIGN

• Social media marketing campaign. VPPR team to create graphics for all possible social media releases. Facebook. LinkedIn. Twitter. Instagram. YouTube Videos.
• Testimonial (“Toastimonials!!!”) videos on Social Media.
• Local newspaper press Releases
• Brainstorm a list of every possible place to publicize. (websites, cable outlets, community newsletters, corporate newsletters, emails, blogs, etc.)
• Have every member on Social media to like, comment and share the posts by VPPR team
• Every member is responsible for bringing minimum 2 guests

SPEAKERS

Have three speakers to demonstrate the variety of speakers in the club

• First speaker relatively new.
• Second Speaker – preferably one who has completed at least level 2 of Pathways
• Third Speaker a more proficient speaker or a guest Toastmaster speaker from the District or outside the District.

EVALUATORS

• Have more seasoned members to do the evaluations
• Ask the clubs in your Area or Division if you need assistance with evaluators
• Make sure Evaluators communicate with the Speakers the specific requirements of the speakers before hand

TABLE TOPICS

• Have a Table Topics session must be simple to explain what it entails. Not more than 2 minutes.
• Questions must be easier so that guests can participate effectively
• Start with members first then ask if guests would like to participate.

PRE-MEETING

• Have a dry run of the meeting
• Make sure expectations are met
• Have the Auxiliary role players understand their introductions of the roles well.

MEETING

• Greeter to welcome every guest
• START RIGHT ON TIME
• SAA to call to order
• 1-minute “toastimonials” (need 2 or 3 to speak during the meeting about how TM helps)
• Post Guest book in Chat regularly. TMOD to announce the guest book needs to be completed.
• Have Membership Applications ready

POST-MEETING

• Follow-up social media posts with Screen-Shots
• Follow-up emails to guests
• Follow-up phone calls to guests

Created by Brahm Memone DTM, Club Growth Director 2021 – 2022