Moments of Truth Meeting

It is not as scary as you think.

Toastmasters encourages each club to have a Moments of Truth meeting at least once a year. What is it?

When you go to your doctor for an  annual checkup, he or she takes your blood pressure, your pulse and your temperature to find out if you are healthy. For many it is the moment of truth – Okay, you do need to lose twenty pounds and exercise more. But yes, you have reduced some stressors, lowered your salt intake and have been using probiotics. At the end of the examination, your and your doctor have discovered good results as well as areas that need improvement for your health’s sake.

The same is true with your Toastmasters club, and the New Year is an opportune time to have a Moments of Truth meeting (or checkup) while everyone is in the resolution and goal-setting mood.

Your club recently received a blue bag with great marketing materials and a CD loaded with valuable resources and info. (Or if not, be sure one of the officers picks it up at the next TLI!)  On this CD is the module for the Moments of Truth.  You can also download it FREE from the  District 25 website on the Educational Resources page (about halfway down).

The Moments of Truth is part of the Successful Club Series and can be presented by someone as part of their advanced educational goals. Your president may wish to do this, or someone going for their Advanced Leader Bronze or Advanced Communicator Silver.

There are handouts for each member, a wall chart, a PowerPoint slide presentation and a guide to conducting the meeting. It is all you need to give your club the needed yearly checkup it should have.

Each member has the opportunity to thoroughly evaluate, and then express their feelings and observations about the club –

 * how it treats guests (temperature),
 * how it conducts meetings (blood pressure),
 * how it encourages participation, knowledge and growth (pulse). 

 Bottom line? It makes every member feel they are an important element to the club – which they are!

You can make it fun, but by all means please take it seriously. The executive committee should meet soon after to go over the results and plot a course of action for the next three months, six months and year.

So plan a Moments of Truth meeting soon. As you go down the list and tick the boxes, you may be surprised just how healthy your club really is!


Julie Cosgrove ACS, ALB
D25 News Editor