Cool Tip – Host a Hybrid or Virtual Joint Meeting!

 Over the past couple years, clubs have learned new ways to spark new opportunities for club quality. One benefit of virtual and hybrid meetings is that a wider variety of clubs can get together and offer joint meetings.

“Allis Chalmers Toastmasters had two joint meetings with Plymouth Toastmasters. This was an excellent opportunity to meet members of a club in another Division, one we normally may only get to connect with at District Events like TLIs. In both meetings Plymouth came up with the theme: the first meeting had ‘Spring Cleaning’ and second had ‘Grilled Cheese Day.’ Both themes turned out fun and engaging,” said Yuriy Ksenidi, current Area A3 Director and Division A Director-Elect.

“In the Beijing Number One and the Qingdao Toastmasters Club joint meeting, we learned about each other’s cities since the meeting theme was “A tale of two cities.” We also had a special meeting segment where members got to give meeting speeches on an aspect of each city,” said Joe Domblesky, current Area F1 Director and Division B Director-Elect.

“Resource Advanced [in Milwaukee] and Madison Achievers were able to listen to the keynote speech of Taylor Louis Duncan,” said Domblesky.

Qingdao and Beijing are over 400 miles apart; Madison and Milwaukee are about 90 miles apart. Plymouth and West Allis are just under 60 miles apart.

Regardless of distance, planning and communicating ahead of time are key to a joint meeting’s success.

Domblesky helped organize some of the joint meetings. “In each meeting, usually I had help. The prep team for each joint meeting included a group of people from each officer team such as myself, the VPEs of both clubs, each of the Club Presidents, both VPPRs, and the Toastmaster of the evening.”

“As far as planning, one of the officers of the Plymouth club along with VP Education of Allis Chalmers agreed a few weeks prior to have the meeting and announced it to their respective clubs. Allis Chalmers has an outstanding VP Education and I could count on them to communicate the meeting details and send reminders,” said Ksenidi.

Ksenidi’s club hadn’t segued to hybrid before their joint meeting. “The first meeting [with Allis Chalmers and Plymouth] was hybrid and it is cool to see how a club handles a hybrid meeting. I learned plenty. When the two clubs combine powers, everyone is committed to participating, and shows up, the result is a fabulous 90 minutes on an otherwise twisted Tuesday.”

Joint meetings are a great opportunity to learn about best practices other clubs practice as well as an opportunity to network. One drawback to joint meetings is that one club is not using their regular URL for their virtual meeting; unless there are agreements and communication throughout the process, this can cause one of the clubs to miss guests. Also, communicate to guests about how there are two clubs at the meeting.

Both Area Directors agree there are some best practices to consider for a successful joint meeting:

1) Schedule the joint meeting at least two months in advance and put it on the club’s calendar. Also announce it at every meeting leading up to the joint meeting – people need to know and be given every reason to be excited about fun ahead.

2) Coordinate to split the roles, including speakers. Ideally, two or more speakers is great, one from each club. Evaluators then evaluate the speech of a member from the other club.

3) Especially in the virtual world, plan for contingencies. Make sure technology is tested ahead of time.

4)  Make sure that there is interest and that both clubs are committed to a joint meeting. 

5) Encourage both club secretaries to take notes and share with both clubs – this is another opportunity to see best practices and maintain those new contacts from the meeting.