Ive been in a Toastmasters club for a few years - I joined to improve my public speaking skills. Its essentially a club that meets regularly and practices speaking. The thing about clubs is that they dont run themselves - some of the people in the club are pulling at various administrative strings, which ensures that the club exists, attracts new members etc. 

In toastmasters, these people have official roles: President, Vice President of Education, Treasurer, Vice President of Public Relations, Vice President of Membership, Secretary and Sergeant at Arms (calls the meeting to order). Which means if you are apart of a TM club, you will likely be serving in one of these roles at some point in time. If you stay for long enough, you will find yourself having filled every role at some point (or most). 

This is how I found myself being the Vice President of Public Relations for our club. Public Relations! Something I knew nothing about. I dont even post on social media. This blog is all of my public relations - well, all my digital relating. 

But if you know me, you know I regularly try new things, take on new challenges, bite off more than I can chew (very rarely).  At the time I took on the new role, I had only been a member for a few months, which meant I brought an outsiders perspective with me into the role. 

One of the things I knew I could help with was the club website.  There was a public facing website that was creared v=by ine of the members. She was using it as a place to post awards and flyers.  

Because it was public facing, it was the clubs digital image, and the face for outsiders. When people are looking for a TM club to join, theyre googling the club, trying to find any information about that club, trying to figure out which of the many different clubs, to actually attend. 

You dont have to be in Public Relations to see the opportunity here.  We could update the website and use it as a place to learn about our club, its members and also what makes us unique from other clubs. Despite being in the middle of a digital revolution, there arent many clubs with public websites. So being part of the few that have gone the extra mile and created a club website puts us towards the front of the pack. 

I do know some html and css but I am by no means a website developer. The website is built using Googles free website builder, so updating it is basically like working with google docs, which I happen to be fluent in :) 

It went through a few iterators before everyone approved the new look, but within a few weeks, a new website was published!

Old Website

Current Site

As you can see, there is now a consistent website theme. Information is organized by page category.  The written content on the homepage explains what Toastmasters is and the benefits of good communication.  The website tells you about the club and when it meets and how to get in touch. 

And our analytics show we are getting visitors. Also, our meetings almost always have a new guest.  

Website 2.0:  SUCCESS.  🏆