Assessing the likelihood that you will suffer from a preventable illness is in part done by knowing your health numbers. The health community has set up a pretty straight forward system to keep track of your health numbers. Those numbers are your blood pressure-the strongest marker for detecting heart disease; Cholesterol levels-know your bad cholesterol (LDL), and good cholesterol (HDL); blood sugar- the most common way to screen for diabetes; and your Body Mass Index (BMI)- used to determine if you are overweight. If you know your health numbers you can avoid many of the chronic health conditions that cause needless suffering for some.
Just like it is important to know your health numbers, for those of us in Toastmasters it is equally important to know your club’s numbers. Assessing the likelihood that your club will suffer from preventable membership loss, educational stagnation and administrative doldrums is all about knowing your club’s numbers. Toastmasters international has set up a pretty straight forward system to keep track of your club’s health numbers. This system is known as the Distinguished Club Program, (DCP).
Each active club in Toastmasters has a DCP tracker chart. Any member can, and probably should, access, know, and keep track of their club’s health numbers. You can see your club’s health tracker chart by navigating to the Toastmasters International website, clicking on leadership central, then clicking on distinguished performance reports, choosing your region (ours would be region 6), and choosing your district, (ours would be 40). Then at the top of the page, click the club performance tab, choose your division, then your area, then your club. When you look at the goals chart at the top of your club’s page it lists Toastmasters International achievement scores. Scores range from a minimum of 5-Distinguished to a maximum of 9-Presidents Distinguished. These achievement rankings determine whether your club is healthy. Super healthy clubs achieve 10 or more goals.
Achieving healthy club numbers is pretty simple to do. If each member contributes by completing speech projects, bringing in new members, paying dues on time and performing roles that allow others to do the same, you can’t help but have a healthy club.
The deadline to achieve healthy club numbers is June 30thbut the time to start is NOW! So how about it? Do you know your club’s numbers?