How To Start a Youth
Leadership Program within Toastmasters
One of the strengths of
Toastmasters is learning the value of communication and competent
leadership. It’s such a great idea and
offering that Toastmaster makes available to anyone interested in helping to
start a Youth Leadership Program. Since
getting started and taking that first step is always one of the hardest things
we encounter….let me take that first step for you and help you know what to do
to get started. It’s really not that hard!
Here is where you go on the TI
Website to get the material:
Click Here
Once on the site, assuming you are
sure you want to start a Youth Leadership Club, then the Youth Leadership Kit
is what I recommend you grab to start with.
PLEASE NOTE: this kit only serves
to supply enough materials for 5 students.
Here’s a link directly to the
Youth Leadership Kit รง start here
– this has the forms and info on what you will need to submit. The kit itself is $17.00
…and depending on how many
students, the way to start I would think is get the kit, then go back to the
material and get what additional materials you need for any additional students
once you have a better grasp of the program. The limit for any Youth
Leadership Program in terms of size is 25 members.
Here is the description that can
be found on the Toastmasters International Website as of Dec 2016:
........................................................................................................
Youth
Leadership Program
The Youth Leadership Program is a workshop consisting of eight
one- to two-hour sessions that enable participants to develop
communication and leadership skills through practical experience. The
program is presented during or after school, or on weekends. Participants
learn to:
- Evaluate present speaking
ability
- Organize and give speeches
- Give impromptu talks
- Control voice, vocabulary and
gestures
- Give constructive feedback and
more
Each Youth Leadership Program group is limited to 25 people.
Participants are selected by the sponsoring Toastmasters club or by a
cooperating organization (such as a school).
A local Toastmasters club serves as sponsor and provides a coordinator
to present the program. The individual coordinator attends each
meeting, where he or she will lead most of the presentations and counsel
participants. The coordinator assigns an assistant who can fill in for the
coordinator should he or she be unable to attend a meeting. Meetings
generally follow a format similar to that of a Toastmasters club meeting,
including an announced agenda, practice in parliamentary procedure, and the
selection of presiding officers.
……..............................................................................................
Once you
have received your kit from TI, start first by using the Coordinator
Manual. It provides what you need to submit to form your Youth
Program with explanations.
Please
note that you really do need to get
the Youth Leadership Kit from the link provided above to really get the
materials you need to get started. I’m
emphasizing do this first.
I also
recommend you visit this website below as it will help you gain a better understanding
of the program while you’re waiting on your kit to arrive.
Check Out This Website
<= after looking at several sites, I thought this particular
site stood out as being one of the best and most helpful.
Then here
are some other links I found that I thought might be useful:
PDF <= PDF on “How to start a Youth Leadership Program”
Here’s an
old Youth Leadership Guide from District 25, although some of the links no
longer work. Still, the material is very helpful: Old PDF Guide
Check out this copy of a Youth Leadership Workbook in PDF form for reference. Please note that I don’t
know if this is still the most current
workbook, but I’m sure they are similar and should be useful in giving you a
visual idea of what you will be receiving in your kit to work with. Go to: Workbook
Finally, a
video interview on the Youth Leadership Program I found that isn’t atrociously
long and has some content coupled with a nice show and tell. Actually very useful
and visually shows many items. Check out this Video
In summary, here’s
the order I’d recommend be followed to get started with a Youth
Leadership Program
1. Order the $17.00 kit from TI – this has the Coordinator Manual
2. Watch the video... it’s a little fluffy, but it also gets you
familiar with what you’ll get and need to do
Then…
3. Dive into the Website I sent you above. I think this has what you need to help you really get started once you get your kit.
4. Look thru the other links, and spend a moment with the one showing the workbook. These links should offer some ideas / formats and a look into the Youth Leadership Program further before you get your material.
5. Final point - as you read and watch and get your footing and understanding, I would recommend going ahead and getting whatever else you may need for any additional students only after you had a chance to receive and review your kit. It will take a little time to get the forms in place, and it won’t take long to get the additional manuals to begin – and – this way you can be sure of exactly what you need once you’ve had a chance to rummage thru your kit further. Just a suggestion.
You may
also find that as you learn How to Start and Present a Youth Leadership Program
that it would provide an EXCELLENT OPPORTUNITY for a How To Informative speech.
You could also perhaps invite others to help you out, form a committee and
teach “How to Start a Youth Leadership Program” via an HPL project (High
Performance Leadership) with the goal to get other clubs informed and more
youth programs started within our District.
