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From: [email protected] (Joel Furr DTM)
Newsgroups: alt.org.toastmasters,alt.answers,news.answers
Subject: Toastmasters International FAQ part 2 of 5: Membership
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Date: 16 May 1998 12:14:42 GMT
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Archive-name: toastmasters-faq/part2
Alt-org-toastmasters-archive-name: faq/part2

alt.org.toastmasters Frequently Asked Questions part 2 of 5:
Membership in Toastmasters International

1. How does one go about joining Toastmasters?

    First, of course, you must have found a club to join.  If you
    have visited a club and found it to your liking, ask a member
    (preferably an officer, who is more likely to be able to help
    you) for an application form.

    According to the bylaws all Toastmasters clubs operate under,
    any new member of a club must be voted into membership by the
    club.  In practice, this rarely happens.  Instead, members are
    welcomed enthusiastically into the club as soon as a standard
    membership application ("Form 400") is turned in with a check
    for the appropriate dues.

2. How much does membership cost?

    Upon joining Toastmasters, you will find yourself paying three
    different fees.  One is the standard $16.00 fee that every new
    member must pay in order to receive educational materials (see
    below).  One is the standard International dues, $3.00 per
    month.  One is your Club dues, if any.

    All Toastmasters clubs are billed in March and September for
    semi-annual dues for their members who wish to remain members
    for the next six months.  If you join in between those
    periods, you submit a _pro-rated_ share of the dues.

    Clubs usually charge dues on top of the world dues.  This is
    so they'll have money in the treasury for expenses.  It's up
    to each club what they want to charge.  Some clubs waive the
    club dues for new members and only assess them at the semi-
    annual dues payment dates.

    So, to make a long story short, if you join at the following
    times, you'd owe:

    April or October:     $16.00  +  $18.00   +  club dues
    May or November:      $16.00  +  $15.00   +  club dues
    June or December      $16.00  +  $12.00   +  club dues
    July or January       $16.00  +   $9.00   +  club dues
    August or February    $16.00  +   $6.00   +  club dues
    September or March    $16.00  +   $3.00   +  club dues

    Then, once you're signed up, dues of $18.00 are assessed every
    six months, in September and March.

    * Note: due to California law, members of _California_ clubs
    pay sales tax on their new member fee.

3. Can I belong to more than one club?

    Yes.  This is called "dual membership" even if you belong to more
    than two clubs.  When you join the second club, of course, you don't
    need to pay the New Member fee because you don't need a second set of
    starter materials (see below).

4.  If I belong to more than one club, do I have to pay full dues for each?

   Yes.  If you belong to more than one club, you must nonetheless pay full
   dues for each club.

5. Are my dues tax deductible?

    In the United States, they are -- IF your job is of a sort
    that requires or necessitates good communications skills.  In
    other words, it must be an educational expense to be tax
    deductible.  Toastmasters International will send you complete
    tax deduction explanations if you request them to do so.

6. What do I get for my dues?

    Your $18.00 semi-annual dues paid to World Headquarters goes
    partly for a subscription to the _Toastmaster_ magazine
    (which, to be honest, is an excellent magazine), partly to
    support development of new educational programs (they've got
    some *nice* new programs coming out these days), partly to
    support operations at World Headquarters (i.e. the staff who
    process membership applications, CTM applications, new club
    applications, etc. etc. ad nauseam), and partly to support
    your local District organization.

    Furthermore, when you finish your CTM, you get three of the
    Advanced project manuals for no extra charge to work toward
    your ATM with.

    Dues went up for the first time in over ten years last year
    and as a result, dues should not rise for a long time (it was
    like pulling teeth to get the most recent dues raise through,
    and some members remain unconvinced that it was necessary).
    This raise had a lot to do with printing costs and so forth
    quintupling over the last decade.

    Your club dues generally go to pay for the club's supplies,
    such as ballots, awards, ribbons, and educational materials.
    In some cases, such as when your club has a meal at each
    meeting, your dues may go to pay for that.

7. What do I get for my New Member fee?

    Your $16.00 New Member fee gets you the following:
         * the Communication and Leadership project manual
         * the "Gestures - Your Body Speaks" manual
         * the "A Speaker's Guide to Evaluation" manual
         * the Voice manual

    The latter three are instructional manuals rather than project
    manuals.  Only the first is a workbook.

8.  If I want to drop out of Toastmasters after joining, what do I
do?

    Simply wait for March or September to arrive and don't pay
    your dues again.

    It'd probably be a good idea to let your Vice President
    Education know to stop scheduling you for speeches, though.

9.  How receptive are clubs to new members?

    Since most people are genuinely terrified of public speaking,
    Toastmasters has its hands full recruiting members.  There's
    virtually no chance that you won't be enthusiastically
    welcomed into any club you join and immediately be considered
    one of the gang.

    Occasionally, however, people get into bad situations, but the
    same is true of ANY organization.  There are jerks everywhere.
    Toastmasters probably has its share.  For this reason, the
    author of this FAQ considers it a good idea to visit ALL
    Toastmasters clubs in your area before deciding which one you
    want to join.

    If a club that you visit turns out to be full of jerks, please
    don't assume that this is true of the entire organization.
    Once in a while, people come to forget that they're part of a
    larger organization and act as though the message and mission
    of Toastmasters doesn't concern them.  Please nod, leave, and
    visit some other club.  This is definitely the exception, but
    we cannot honestly say that it never happens.

10.  If I join, will they make me speak right away?

    No.  You will not be asked to speak unless you're ready to.
    If you feel more comfortable waiting a few months, that's fine.
    Most clubs attempt to arrange the meeting schedules in such
    a way that most members are involved in some capacity at each
    meeting, so you'll need to let them know what your wishes are.



Give Toastmasters a try!  If you want information about clubs in your
area, do one of the following:

* call (714) 858-8255 and ask
* send a postcard to TI, P.O. Box 9052, Mission Viejo, CA 92690
* access http://www.toastmasters.org/index.html
* send email to [email protected] (include a postal address)

We're looking forward to seeing you!

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