That was a question I’ve been asked several times over the years, especially when I was Area Governor for the club in 2001.  Crystal Lake is one of only 4 clubs in District 30 to reached at least Distinguished Club each year since the current DCP program was implemented in 1999 (others are Naperville, EPA and Hines Verbal Aces), and was one of only two clubs in District 30 to achieve all 10 DCP goals the 1st year of the current program (Schaumburg Area was the other).  Since then they’ve reached President’s Distinguished Club every year except two and have achieved all 10 DCP goals in 4 of the last 5 years, including the 2007-2008 year.

So what makes this club one of the best in District 30?  While conquering the Distinguished Club Program shows the results of their success, the club has a solid foundation that makes it easier to get all the DCP goals so rather than scrambling to fill in their Club Success Plan, the club already has a pool of people they can rely on to reach their goals each year.

Crystal Lake members may agree with the following or think of different reasons, but from what I’ve seen over the years here are the factors that gave Crystal Lake a solid foundation in having great club:

A pool of long-time members who remain committed to the Toastmasters program – While having long-time members can be great to have for their clubs, they can be harmful if they set bad examples that others follow, such as giving non-manual speeches because they think they accomplished enough and don’t see a need to do more manual speeches.  Crystal Lake has a core of long-time members, in particular 20+ year members Art Budelier and Bill Baruth, along with 10+ year member Bruce Burrow, who continue to work on manual speeches, who continue to take on any meeting role, and who continue to participate in Toastmaster activities both within the club and outside.

Newer members who are willing to step up – Regardless of how the newer members were brought up through the Toastmasters system or what motivates them to go through it, some of them are willing to step up and take on a variety of leadership opportunities.  They are not “idolizing” the long-time members by depending on them to do everything or waiting for “something to happen” that seem to plague other clubs that I’ve witnessed throughout the years.  For instance, none of the 2007-2008 club officers have more than 5 years of Toastmaster experience.

Diverse ways to publicize the club – Too many clubs focus on the Internet and their club websites.  Crystal Lake’s website hasn’t changed much over the years (their front page has photos from previous year’s contests) and other clubs have much better websites, but they tackle publicity in various levels.  Members put flyers in different places, they put photos and news articles in their local papers, they participate in local festivals such as the Dick Tracy Days Parade in nearby Woodstock, they even were involved in the Adopt-A-Highway program working on a couple of miles near their old meeting place.  The Crystal Lake club continues to value all areas of publicity, having a stronger grip on their community than nearly all District 30 clubs, which is a major reason why the club remains healthy with 35-45 members.

Supporting their contestants wherever they compete – Not many clubs in District 30 match Crystal Lake’s turnout when they have a contestant competing in the Division or District contests.  What makes it more astonishing is that they have to drive significantly further to most events than most other clubs as McHenry County is the most distant of the 4 counties that compose of District 30, with most events taking place closer to Chicago.  That gives a boost to their contestant as that person gets to see some familiar faces in the crowd, as well as motivating them to stay on in Toastmasters due to the support.

Supporting other Toastmaster clubs, particularly those nearby – For many years Crystal Lake was the only Toastmasters club in McHenry County.  Since 2000, three clubs were chartered in the county and the Crystal Lake club not only played a major role in chartering them, their foundation and its members spread their success to these new clubs – Fox Valley in Lake-in-the-Hills achieved all 10 DCP goals each year since their 2nd year in 2002, while Crystal Clear, a weekday morning club in Crystal Lake, achieved all 10 DCP goals in the 2007-2008 year, their 2nd full year of existence.  The McHenry County clubs work a lot to provide support to each other by visiting each other’s clubs and by publicizing Toastmasters as one group.