Toastmasters International requires that every club votes in prospective members as “The Toastmasters club is a private association and club membership is by invitation” according to the Club President manual. The more common reason a club votes in new members is that by voting them in, a club has the right to vote a member out if they think the member is detrimental to the club. Your district may be reiterating this at every opportunity, but I’m sure there are many clubs that do not vote in new members and understandably so – it’s intimidating to guests that could discourage them to join Toastmasters especially for a club that is in need of new members.

A few years ago, I was told by a past District 30 Governor that a club in another district had a problem with a member who had Tourette Syndrome and his behavior turned off most of the members. However the club never voted him in, so when they voted to kick him out, he took the entire Toastmasters organization to court and won his lawsuit. Well you may think your club has the same chance of that ever happening as pigs fly or the Chicago Cubs winning the World Series, so I’ll tell you an actual incident involving one of my clubs that I believe has a greater chance of occurring – underage members.

In the summer of 2006, the Arlington Heights/Rolling Meadows club (as it was called then as we were in Rolling Meadows at the time) signed up a young female member who was very enthusiastic about giving speeches to the point where the day she submitted her application, she gave her Icebreaker. She then asked me as Club President if there are other clubs nearby in which she can give speeches during the summer, which I happily mentioned that there are plenty of speaking opportunities as attendance in many clubs are low during that time of the year. The next meeting, she gave her second speech and even gave an evaluation! She also mentioned that she was scheduled to speak in a couple of other clubs within the next couple of weeks, plus she signed up for another speech at our next club meeting!

I became somewhat suspicious of her, not only wondering what her motivation was to give speeches at every opportunity, but also whether she was at least 18 years old. I mentioned to some of the other club members about my suspicions which they seem to agree but I also felt uncomfortable asking her about her age as I remember taking heat many years ago at my previous job about asking female co-workers how old they were. Plus she did sign her membership application that acknowledged among other things that she was at least 18 years old (for those not in Toastmasters, you have to be at least 18 to join).

The day after she gave her 2nd speech, I received a phone call from the president of a corporate club about her inquiring about giving speeches there, a club that was further from those she was scheduled to speak and one that I didn’t mention to her as a place to give speeches. The president there was wondering what was with her, I mentioned that I’m wondering that myself so I actually called her. I first asked her what her goals in Toastmasters were, which she replied that she wants to be a DTM someday. I then asked her if she was over 18, which she did answer yes to then I explained that I had some concern about it. She then brought up her concern about the evaluation she got for her previous speech, which was a thought-provoking speech about her battles with anorexia and bulimia. During that conversation I brought up that we have the honor system in doing things, i.e. we don’t grade people on their speeches to where if they did a bad job they had to repeat, it was up to the speaker to decide if redoing the speech is necessary. A few minutes after our call, she called me to ask me what my address is so she can mail something to me. I started asking myself what in the world is going on! Did I say something that offended her?

The next day, I got an e-mail from someone in a club she was suppose to speak at in which she pulled out because she was “unqualified to participate in Toastmasters International”. I called her and left her a message but there was no return call. The day after I got a letter from her – she admitted that she was at that time 15 years old!

She mentioned during the letter she wanted her explanation to be heard so I’ll give an excerpt of it:

I recently recovered from anorexia and bulimia this past spring. It was the hardest thing I have ever done. I live in Rolling Meadows and have been afraid of judgment, hard work, and independence all my life. After the eating disorder I learned something that I have found essential for living. That is called courage, to do the thing that you are most afraid of. For me that was public speaking. So I did it.

Another reason that particularly like Toastmasters was the environment. I do not feel connected with students my age because of their immaturity about the truth and their fear of doing what’s right. I personally do not understand how some people could continue living the way they do in a fake sense of security. Toastmasters was like a breath of fresh air, where I could converse with my equals. People like yourselves that contain intelligence, maturity, and insight. But it wasn’t all that I had expected. I learned a lot about how the adult mind works, no doubt.

So even if we mentioned that there is Youth Leadership for people her age to participate, she would not be interested. My guess was that someone in her household overheard our phone conversation, particularly with her age, and told her to fess up which was probably why she called me right after that to obtain my address. Perhaps by hearing about the honor system she felt she needed to stop living a lie.

We were fortunate that she decided not to go further along with Toastmasters; otherwise we would have to deal with possible legal action if we kicked her out. The Arlington Heights club didn’t vote in members prior to this letter, since then we are doing it – no one in the club has ever questioned why.

If there is one other advice I could share with you, it is don’t be afraid to ask someone in Toastmasters their age if you are suspicious that the person is younger than 18.