Base Camp Managers!

Are you a President, VP Education or Secretary for your Toastmaster club this year?
Did you know that with these roles comes the added responsibility of being a Base Camp Manager?
Do you know what your Base Camp Manager tasks are?

When I became a Pathways Guide, I realized that Base Camp Managers were going to require ongoing support for integrating Pathways into their clubs. This is a new task and one that they may not yet have received training for. Team Pathways in your Districts can help with that! Seek out your Pathways Coordinators and find out what the District has in place for your support this year.

What to do next?

Why not consider these strategies for keeping it basic in Pathways.

Many Toastmaster members of your clubs are embarking on new journeys into the Pathways education system and need your help in supporting their progress. You will be required to help them understand what they will encounter and what steps they need to take. You will need a Base Camp Management team.

Base Camp Management Team:
(VPE, Sec, Pres, VPM and Mentors)

Here’s some suggestions for what the BCM team can do?

1. Provide clear explanations of the Pathways program and how their online activities supplement their in club experiences. My diagram above displays a typical workflow for what the Toastmaster will do in Base Camp and at Meetings. This is a simple way to introduce Pathways to your new club members: as a slide, as whiteboard notes or as a verbal explanation.
2. Collate materials for your New Member Pack and keep it simple!
3. Collaborate and share the tasks of supporting new club members as a team of Base Camp Managers and Executives. Determine tasks that can be part of each executive’s role, rather than expecting the VPE to do everything.
4. Send links to members with useful information on the Paths and Electives from:
   https://www.toastmasters.org/pathways-overview
5. Keep the club members up-to-date with member progress in their Paths and report level completions to the President.
6. Provide short Pathways training sessions for individuals or all club members as educationals.
7. Request to join a specific Base Camp Managers social media group where relevant.

Now consider how specific roles can be delegated to specific BCM team members! Include these in your Club Officer pack.

Secretary (BCM role)

Download a copy of The Navigator as a PDF document and provide some printed copies for those new members. These can be made available at meetings as part of the induction of new members by President.

Apply for Level Completion Awards at Club Central!
Help the member print their Certificates from Base Camp. See the Tutorials and Resources library for help with these.

VP Membership

Point out some of the basics of club membership and direct their attention to pages 5, 6 and 7 of The Navigator as a starting point.  These pages are of particular interest to new members as they describe the

• structure of a Toastmasters meeting
• an explanation of the meeting roles
• description of the tasks of committee members.

Provide copies of the new Navigating Pathways flier and suggest they share one with a prospective member or at their workplace.  eg Transform Your Talent 

Work with the VPE on updating records of individuals achievements in Pathways. eg use of the Communication Charts in easy-Speak.

VP Education (BCM role)

Focus on introducing the Pathways education program outline using pages 9, 10 and 11 of The Navigator. These pages describe the learning experience and how it works.

The Ten Paths are described briefly and the five levels are examined giving the Toastmaster a broad overview of their ‘journey of possibilities’.

Schedule speeches as required for members to complete their Pathways projects.

Show how to navigate in Base Camp; launch and complete a project; and how to complete a level. Finally verify level completions as they are notified.

Establish a Club Mentoring Team and elect a leader.

Mentor Team Leader

The leader of a Club Mentoring Team can then:

• ensure that new members have access to the support of mentors from within the club
• encourage existing members of clubs to become Mentors;
• help them select the Toastmasters Mentoring Project once they have finished Level 2 in a Path
• provide Mentor Survival Packs (Navigator, Path Guides and Mentorship documents)
• help the Mentors to use The Navigator to help the Proteges.Optional:

Lead individual mentors to the Pathways Discussion Forum Mentorship facility. Note: They will need to answer some entry questions to gain access. Then you will be able to opt in as a Mentor or Protege to this voluntary Pathways Mentorship program facilitated by Facebook. Mentors could use this service alongside their formal Toastmasters Mentoring Program.

Mentors

Help the new member to understand the steps required as they embark on the Pathways journey.

• Complete your Levels 1 and 2 in your Path and elect to complete the Toastmasters Mentoring Program
• Access the Pathways Mentor Program Guide
• Make use of page 14 in The Navigator and the Mentorship documents in the program to step through the basics with proteges.
• Provide handouts of the Pathways Levels Guides as required.
• Help the new member consider the content of each Path before they go online to choose one.
• Help them step through the self-assessment questions and consider the recommended Path.

With some further explanations of what is involved with each Path the Mentor can help steer the member towards the right Path for them.

President (BCM Duties)

Be a role model for the club members and Choose a Path! Establish a Mentor relationship for yourself with another experienced Toastmaster eg Immediate Past President. Set a goal to complete your first two levels during the first six months in officer as President.

Emphasize the Toastmasters Journey with this quote from page 3 of the Navigator as you perform a new member induction.

Every Toastmaster’s journey begins with a single speech. Now that you’re a member, you will prepare and deliver speeches at club meetings based on the projects in the Toastmasters Pathways learning experience.

• Guide the executive teams, Base Camp Management team and invite Mentoring team leader to contribute to your executive meetings.
• Check that the email address listed for your club is correct at TMI (Note: check that in the Club Contact and Meeting Information in Club Central.) If this is your email, ensure you Forward emails from TMI about level completions promptly to your VPE and Secretary.
• Check in with the Secretary and VPE on completion levels and awards to be announced at meetings.
• Establish rapport with your Club Mentoring Team leader and enable them to provide feedback  about protege progress at convenient club business segments in meetings.

What are your strategies for supporting the Base Camp Managers in your Toastmasters clubs?

Its all about the Team and its all about the Base!