Toastmasters Clubs in Cornwall Join Forces

The Seaway Toastmasters Club of Cornwall and Smart City Toastmasters (also of Cornwall) came together in a combined effort to build public awareness of    Toastmasters in the area.  Claudette Pilon (Left in photo), Public Relations Officer for Smart City and Kimberley Thompson, Public Relations for Seaway Toastmasters thought it might be a good idea to jointly promote the Toastmasters educational programme as a whole with the angle that Cornwall is offering a single programme with 2 locations and 2 different meeting times which makes it more convenient for people to fit Toastmasters into their schedules and /or choose a club closest to where they live.

Although Smart City Toastmasters has been in Cornwall for about 6 years now and Seaway Toastmasters for 50 years, it's amazing how few people know of their existence!  The decision was made that a good first step in getting the word out would be to set up a Mall Display.  So, from 18h30 to 20h30 Friday January 15 and from 11h00 to 15h00 on Saturday January 16 We set up a table in front of the food court at the Cornwall Square; Cornwall's largest and busiest mall. This made it possible to be facing people getting off the escalator.

Even with just one small table there was quite an impressive display featuring the Toastmasters movie, magazines, brochures, posters, fact sheets and some handy bookmarks that read, "Books will build your vocabulary, Toastmasters will help you use it." Meeting and contact information for both clubs printed on the back makes it easy for people to get in touch when they're ready. And to spread Toastmasters awareness even further, the left over bookmarks and magazines will be donated to the local public library.

Claudette set up a poster to promote Smart City's upcoming demo meeting in February, and Kimberley offered tickets for a free meeting to Seaway Toastmasters.  With her experience from last year, Claudette was able to give advice on how to get things sorted from getting the insurance (and a big thank you to Beverley Miranda for pointing out who to talk to for that as well) right down to setting up the table.  Claudette made a great table banner to get people to "Think Toastmasters" to which Kimberley added a few splashes of color.

Over the two days there was a good amount of interest with about 25 packets of information given out.  People who approached the display had quite a few questions about Toastmasters and how it worked.  And even the ones who just walked by couldn't do so without at least looking at the banner so we can be sure a good many more people in Cornwall will "Think Toastmasters" for personal and career development in the future.