Fellow District 14 Toastmasters,

By now, you may have heard or seen our club success formula, QM=QC. Many ask me how I came up with it. I didn't. It's been there all along. I simply gave voice to the obvious; I gave voice to the basics. Yes, the basics.

 There is something about building on the basics which always leads to success. You see it in sports, music, investing, etc. The basics are the foundation upon which true success is built in any endeavor. Master the basics, and the advanced will be a breeze. Ignore the basics, and failure will be your partner at some point.

 The gift of the Toastmasters mission is that in a Quality Club environment, members develop their confidence as they hone their communication and leadership skills. They achieve this one meeting at a time; therefore, the basics or the foundation of our success in the Toastmasters program lies in how well we run our meetings.

So my fellow Toastmaster, have you mastered your meeting? What are you doing to improve the quality of your club meetings? This is one question we have to answer individually. What are you doing to improve the quality of your club meeting? Do you attend meetings regularly? Do you sign up for roles ahead of time? Do you prepare for your meeting roles ahead of time? Do you prepare your speeches ahead of time? Do you give quality evaluations that point out areas of strength and areas of improvement? The only thing worse than a poor evaluation is a "white-washed" evaluation. This does not help the speaker, the club members, guests or you, the evaluator.

I am on a mission to rekindle your commitment not just to being a member of your club, but a Quality Member, committed to holding Quality Meetings all the time. This responsibility does not fall to the club officers alone, but to every member of the club. If you visit a Quality Club, one thing that you will quickly notice is that every member is engaged and has a role in the club. If they are not a club officer, they serve on a committee. Spend an hour at a Quality club and you will want to attend the next meeting, and the next and the next.....

There is no magic to the basic, just a simple commitment to developing meetings that are entertaining, educating and enriching. 3E's to make it easy for you to remember; Entertaining, Educating & Enriching. Working with your other club members, define what this means to you, and develop it. Your Quality Meeting and Quality Club environment will not be exactly like that of another club. That is fine; you were made to be original and not a copy.

One very good resource for developing Quality Meetings is the Toastmasters manual called "Master Your Meetings." Every club should have several copies of this manual. This handbook provides the information you need to conduct dynamic, exciting, effective club meetings. It covers everything from programming, agendas and participant responsibilities to officer responsibilities, Table Topics ideas and lectern etiquette. Everything you need to know to have great meetings, all in one place. It costs $4 and you can buy this directly from Toastmasters International.

This year, our goal is to work with every club in our District to develop a Quality Club culture. Not just for a year, but for the life of District 14. Quality Clubs will help change the lives of their members, who will in turn go out and transform their society. That is what the Toastmasters program is about, and every member in District 14 deserves a club environment that facilitates their personal growth. We can do this. We will do this.

Help us spread the club success formula; QM=QC, Quality Meetings = Quality Clubs.

QM=QC |Quality Meetings = Quality Clubs