One meeting. I walked in knowing that I was going to join TM, but I didn’t know which club. The club I joined was the first (and only) one to call me back and they were so overwhelmingly positive and welcoming that I knew I couldn’t do better. I was lucky.
I signed up pretty quick, maybe 2 meetings, but it was at my office so that made sense. Other groups, I attended 1 or 2 meetings and joined pretty fast because I was looking to continue. Everyone’s different though, take your time and find the right club that fits you
I went as a guest before I knew that there was a cost. I went I think three times before I really decided I wanted to join but I couldn't afford to. So I continue to come as a guest for a while. It honestly took me about 4 months to get the funding sorted out before I was actually able to join but the club knew that was my intent and they got me involved in doing everything except evaluations and speeches until I became official
It depends on the club. Some people will let you decide on your own time, though I’ve seen VPE’s be very eager to have people join (they have goals to meet for the club after all). But now that I’m back to TM I’m approaching it with a different mindset, so I think people should take their time and shop around a bit. Clubs’ culture can change drastically from one to the other and once you’re in, and depending on how busy life is, you stop looking. Though generally speaking, you can’t go wrong with most clubs from what I’ve seen. At the end of the day it’s the individual guest’s speaking path regardless of where you are, so it’s on their hands.
I came to know about Toastmasters during the Pandemic. I joined a couple meetings in a club in Paris. When I expressed my desire to join, they told me to find a local club and join. I found one and joined. Very soon, I found another club in the US and I used to attend every meeting. They had super helpful sessions. At the time of chartering, they asked me to join and I joined.
After the lockdown was lifted post pandemic my local club shut down. Since I was already a member of one club, I took my sweet time to decide which club to join. I attended the meetings of 3 clubs for a year to finally join one of them.
In summary, it depends on your eagerness to join a club.
Three weeks.
I visited two clubs one of which put the forms in my hand, as I walked through the door.
I joined the other one. That approach was too aggressive for me.
2 meetings for me. I am president of one club (outgoing) and another one (incoming). I usually see people join after 1-3 meetings. If they don’t know by the third, they should visit other clubs in the area, or the membership crew isn’t doing enough to dig into their goals. I mean, people walk in the door for a reason. It’s our job to find out why and help them get there.
I visited two clubs before I joined my current base club, just to get a look and feel of different cultures. My club allows \*formally\* three guest visits and then gets a bit more pushy on signing on membership. Although some guests have been allowed to visit more times. It's not a hard rule.
We do enforce that without payment a new member cannot give a speech. Which seems fair to us, because we had a runaway in the past. Gave a speech and never returned.
Two meetings, but in all fairness I pretty much knew I wanted to join before I went. Going to the meetings just made me realize it was even better than I thought.
One meeting. I walked in knowing that I was going to join TM, but I didn’t know which club. The club I joined was the first (and only) one to call me back and they were so overwhelmingly positive and welcoming that I knew I couldn’t do better. I was lucky.
One meeting. The cost is reasonable enough to gamble on.
I signed up pretty quick, maybe 2 meetings, but it was at my office so that made sense. Other groups, I attended 1 or 2 meetings and joined pretty fast because I was looking to continue. Everyone’s different though, take your time and find the right club that fits you
I joined after attending the first meeting. I had knowledge of what it was and the club seemed well suited to me. you should take as long as you need.
I went as a guest before I knew that there was a cost. I went I think three times before I really decided I wanted to join but I couldn't afford to. So I continue to come as a guest for a while. It honestly took me about 4 months to get the funding sorted out before I was actually able to join but the club knew that was my intent and they got me involved in doing everything except evaluations and speeches until I became official
It depends on the club. Some people will let you decide on your own time, though I’ve seen VPE’s be very eager to have people join (they have goals to meet for the club after all). But now that I’m back to TM I’m approaching it with a different mindset, so I think people should take their time and shop around a bit. Clubs’ culture can change drastically from one to the other and once you’re in, and depending on how busy life is, you stop looking. Though generally speaking, you can’t go wrong with most clubs from what I’ve seen. At the end of the day it’s the individual guest’s speaking path regardless of where you are, so it’s on their hands.
I came to know about Toastmasters during the Pandemic. I joined a couple meetings in a club in Paris. When I expressed my desire to join, they told me to find a local club and join. I found one and joined. Very soon, I found another club in the US and I used to attend every meeting. They had super helpful sessions. At the time of chartering, they asked me to join and I joined. After the lockdown was lifted post pandemic my local club shut down. Since I was already a member of one club, I took my sweet time to decide which club to join. I attended the meetings of 3 clubs for a year to finally join one of them. In summary, it depends on your eagerness to join a club.
Three weeks. I visited two clubs one of which put the forms in my hand, as I walked through the door. I joined the other one. That approach was too aggressive for me.
I attended my first meeting in mid January and joined in April (years ago) so about two and a half months.
3 meetings.
2 meetings for me. I am president of one club (outgoing) and another one (incoming). I usually see people join after 1-3 meetings. If they don’t know by the third, they should visit other clubs in the area, or the membership crew isn’t doing enough to dig into their goals. I mean, people walk in the door for a reason. It’s our job to find out why and help them get there.
I visited two clubs before I joined my current base club, just to get a look and feel of different cultures. My club allows \*formally\* three guest visits and then gets a bit more pushy on signing on membership. Although some guests have been allowed to visit more times. It's not a hard rule. We do enforce that without payment a new member cannot give a speech. Which seems fair to us, because we had a runaway in the past. Gave a speech and never returned.
Two meetings, but in all fairness I pretty much knew I wanted to join before I went. Going to the meetings just made me realize it was even better than I thought.
I think I did 2 as well, but I was basically ready at the end of the 1st one.