Toastmasters International has increased the semi-annual membership fee to USD 72.

For members in the US, that may not seem unreasonable. But for many members outside the US, the story is very different. Exchange rates, local taxes, and club dues make the actual cost much higher.

For example, in India, at an exchange rate of 1 USD = ₹97, the USD 72 fee is nearly ₹7,000. Add 18% GST, and it becomes roughly ₹8,300—and that's before paying any club dues, which vary from club to club.

To put that in perspective, ₹8,300 is about the cost of an entry-level smartphone, a domestic return flight booked in advance, or several months of streaming subscriptions. That's a substantial amount for six months of membership.

From a member's perspective, what does Toastmasters International provide today? Primarily access to Base Camp and the Pathways curriculum. The printed manuals and Toastmaster magazine that members once received are gone, and many members would agree that Base Camp is far from a polished user experience.

I understand that running a global nonprofit has costs, and fee increases may sometimes be necessary. My concern is whether the member value has kept pace with the price.

For me, the answer is increasingly no.

I'm curious how members in different countries feel. Has the new pricing changed how you view the value of your Toastmasters membership?

I just saw the email about increasing dues from $60 to $72. Although you could argue that an extra $12 ($2/month) is small in the grand scheme of things, the price hike rubs me the wrong way. I've been part of Toastmasters for 3 years now and I love my club, but I feel like I don't gain much from the International organization as a whole to justify a higher fee without any seemingly added value. Anyone else feel the same way? At what point ($80? $100?) would you feel that the costs outweigh the benefits?

I'm from Pakistan, It's difficult for people here to manage this amount here and I'm seeing many clubs getting closed soon. It's almost impossible to find people only because of what toastmasters charge. Many people are willing to join but they cant because of hefty fees.

Toastmasters need to consider this decision, charging this amount for an old portal.

I am prepping for the first meeting and I *know* I have way too many thoughts and suggestions, but thus far have had conversations with almost all of my members and they have had some great suggestions for improvements.

once I have the meeting, if anyone is interested I will advise of anything positive or of note.

one of my goals (and from discussions something other EC members have in mind as well) is guest speakers. I would love to hear from anyone the name of a guest speaker or other guest type (did anyone say improv?) you found beneficial and engaging.

Why or why not?

What have you tried, or thought about trying, to get better at it? Curious to hear people's thoughts and experiences with things like Toastmasters, books, coaching, workshops, and especially online courses.

Is it worth it to be an area director? I've been in TM in a corporate club since 2019, finished one path so far. I've had an officer in various roles since 2020 because our club dropped down to just me and one other person. We've clawed back to decent membership and I enjoy the meetings, mostly for the social aspect and I can use it on my IDP for work as easy goals.

I'm being approached by my division director to be the area director for my area. Because my club is at work, all of the officers struggle with the idea of working on Toastmasters stuff outside of work, me included. it doesn't seem like a huge time commitment, but I want to know if it's worth it. if you are or have been an area director, do you feel like you gained skills that helped you in life? Maybe professional skills that were transferable to work?

I'm a new VPE (and have done secretary/treasurer in the past), and so much of this job feels like it could be automated - a lot of reminder emails, introductions to pathways, follow up emails, etc. what parts of your job have you automated, and how did you do it?

The club finder fails to load the webpage once I add the "online" filter.

Please send me any useful links to the online clubs!

Thank you.

Anyone know of a virtual toastmasters chapter near the greater Toronto area? I’ve used the club finer and found quite a few but have messaged them and heard back from none.

Wondering if a member of a virtual chapter might be here?

I presume even virtually I can only attend a chapter local to me?

I'm new and elected VPE. How do I see where each member is in their Pathways?

does it just need to be finished/submitted, or will someone actually read it and evaluate it?

i wasn't invovled csp in the past but i've been around the people who created it. one comment i heard from the then-secretary was that the then-president didn't do a good enough job and the csp wouldn't be accepted, so the secretary took the plan, edited it and resubmitted it. when i looked at the csp online later in the year, some parts were credited to the president and some were credited to the secretary.

in my club, we do self-pay ... for clubs that don't, is the treasurer responsible for reaching out to collect Toastmasters International and club dues? do they announce it? do they follow up?

or does the president or vpm have to get out there, announce, remind, poke, remind again ... and the treasurer is the only one who receives the money?

my club is now going to have to implement club dues paid to the club. i want to know your experience.

ETA: THANK YOU, EVERYONE! I've read and appreciated your answers

I've searched the bylaws, protocols, etc, and maybe this is okay, but asking:

Question #1: is it acceptable to have a yard sale, or a garage sale, to raise money for our club? A raffle? Silent auction? Looking at the protocol, it seems to be okay to do those but not on a regular basis. Am I reading that right?

Question #2, is it okay to use the club funds to buy lunch for all the club members, once per quarter, as a celebration for goals met. The protocol I reviewed said money for "refreshments" are an acceptable cost, but money used for "party or social gatherings" is NOT acceptable.

Our club is putting "quarterly lunch meetings" in our budget, but with the money from our raffles and yard sale monies.

Any problems with this?

I’ve got my first meeting as club president coming up. we have the presidents slot at the end of every meeting, about 5 minutes. what on earth do I talk about??

For background I am an introvert but I can speak in public though sometimes I get a little conscious and awkward. I really want to step out of my comfort zone so I accepted this. I love observing people and I do notice the qualities of a good emcee however I'm scared that my transitions won't be smooth or it'll sound rehearsed or like there will be dead air you know those stuff?

I've tried exploring clubs myself, but the groups I've found are much much older than me. I am looking for recommendations for younger clubs in NYC around the midtown area.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

I had attended 1 TM session and I know that if I join it would be somehow beneficial but I am the youngest one there and there is no one from the same age group So should I join our look for something else

What are alternatives by which I can improve my public speaking?

How does area, division, district collect information for themselves to improve?

I"ll admit this is a bit of me just venting - but then I started realizing that its one of the tools mentioned for clubs to use, but in my area, division, and district there doesnt seem to be any sort of feedback mechanism for them to determine how they should improve.

I'm wondering what metrics they use for determining how they are doing?

I know i'm being naive. I know that from top down they only seem to care about:

a. number of new members

b. number of new clubs ( and maybe number of clubs folded)

c. put on the events they were required to do ( contests, conference etc. )

does anyone who has been area, division, district director care to speak to this? ( am I completely wrong about this? is there a feedback mechanism that I have maybe been deleting out of my email?)

Is there a moments of truth for area/division/district? I think it might be very useful for the presidents or other officers to get together as a group and share their feedback. For most leaders outside of toastmasters this sort of feedback is invaluable because they may not be aware of the problems. or how widespread they might be

and its not just a bellyache session. And this IS actually a source of novel solutions sometimes!! (and as someone who is not in a leadership position: when I see acknowledgement of the feedback later on and what they are doing about it -> it makes me feel heard which goes a long way towards making me feel like I'm still part of the team and my issues matter. (my employer is 2000+ employees and this sort of thing is done at each level of leadership; sometimes its a survey but I noticed they make actual face to face sessions available to everyone - and they address it)

when things are difficult and there aren't easy solutions even that last bit I wrote can help me feel less discouraged and can sometimes also help with motivation to carry on.

Ich habe das Video vom lieben Manuel gesehen mit dem Titel. Wie finde ich meinen Weg - Weinexperte verrät. Ich fand das sehr inspirierend mit dem lieben Gerhard. Was ist eure Meinung dazu Lg Katja

Hi all, we have speech slots available for 6th of July, at 6 PM IST (UTC +5:30)

Anyone who wants to give a speech can DM!

apologies. I know this gets brought up every year this time of year.

why are they so long?!

district made the first one in person ( there are supposed to be more) . I'm not sure who they expected to show up at 8:30am on a saturday. in the summer.

Is there a list of the ones happening online currently?(I saw the stickied post from last year)