" Churn" is a ubiquitous problem for over 90% of Toastmaster clubs. Ever wonder why it is not a problem for the other 10% ?
Specific to Toastmasters, " churn" is defined as attrition loss of about 40% of members on average per year. The challenge is maintaining a replacement rate adequate enough to sustain the club. Some clubs have such a surfeit of members they have to split the club. Others struggle to maintain a critical mass. Let's look at that.
In the digital age, the clubs who can coast are those whose club's name and URL match are closest to a web search. This is usually an older club which was one of the first in a given area. The search term is usually "toastmasters ____________ " with the blank being the town name. These clubs do not have to work.
Here in Austin, Texas the club named "Austin Toastmasters" has nearly 70 members.
They are a victim of their own success. It is difficult to get on the roster to make a speech. The personal touch has been lost. The upside is they have over $5,000 in the bank and don't know how to spend it.
Clubs who are not so lucky have to put forth an effort for each new member ( an astonishing number of clubs do not yet even have a website ! ). There are plenty of traditional means to the end of building membership from the pre-digital age.
World Champion Lance Miller took a club from a handful of members to nearly 90 with mostly shoe leather and apparently no digital presence. He has products specifically designed to help increase Toastmaster club membership.
Search Engine Optimization ( SEO ) and Search Engine Marketing ( SEM ) have made it easier to get found, usually through the main Toastmasters site " find a club". Having an engaging site is a good catalyst for what online marketers call "lead nurturing".
It is hard to believe how many clubs still do not have their own websites.
Sustaining the critical mass of club members is a conservation of matter game analogous to sales management. Customers are going to be lost for a variety of reasons. To supplant the losses, new customers have to be cultivated constantly.