District 23 Club Growth Director Stephen Ralph moves fast. He started Toastmasters in June 2017 and 13 months later was an Area 25 director.
Not stopping there, Ralph became division director the next year and, with no break in his leadership climb, serves as the district club growth director this year. His job is to lead the district in fulfilling the club’s mission to grow new clubs.
Ralph didn’t start with these leadership roles in mind. He joined as a member of Peanut Valley Club in Portales, New Mexico, while working in the Clovis, New Mexico, District Attorney’s office.
“My boss said, ‘You have a good work presence, your arguments are good, but you said “um” about 37 times in that 20-minute hearing I watched this morning,’” Ralph said.
He quickly saw the potential of Toastmasters to improve his speaking.
“I went to my first meeting the next week. I had one speaking role, table topics, and they gave me a count of about 15 or 20 ums in a two-minute period. It was very enlightening,” he said.
A month later he moved to Albuquerque and transferred to Taylor Ranch Toastmasters, where he is still a member.
A senior trial lawyer for the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s office, Ralph is working on a Master of Business Administration from the University of Northern Colorado. He got his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of New Mexico.
District 23 leadership has decreased his downtime, but he enjoys soccer, supporting New Mexico United, Albuquerque’s professional team. He also is an avid fan of Formula One.
“I was hoping to go to the U.S. Grand Prix last year, but my plans fell through,” he said.
Although he doesn’t watch much TV these days, he likes “West Wing,” “The Big Bang Theory” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
As director of Division North last year, Ralph oversaw the area directors for 37 clubs. He had originally expected 16 clubs, but when the district cut its divisions from six to three last year, the number more than doubled. With the COVID-19 pandemic came new challenges, and he was proud that, under very difficult circumstances, the division lost only three clubs.
As club growth director, he wants to turn around the decline in membership and clubs. He believes the inability of clubs to meet in person temporarily disrupted growth but provides an opportunity for clubs to recruit a new type of member.
“The silver lining in that most clubs and events are virtual and accessible to anyone. People from
all over the country have joined our TLIs [Toastmasters Leadership Institutes]. We’re one of the biggest geographic districts in the country, and now we can attend one another’s events. We should be promoting it: no driving, no traffic, and you can come in your pajamas and build your skills while you’re at home,” he said.
With District 23’s goal of Smedley Distinguished, which requires 8 percent growth in membership payments and clubs, Ralph has set a goal of one new club per each of the 19 areas.
“If you have an idea for a club, there’s support for you from the district, and we have the resources to bring a new club to fruition,” he said.
Still, membership growth starts in the club, he said.
“People think it’s difficult, but it can be as simple as every member inviting someone to the next meeting and then doing it again the next week. If every member does it, that’s a lot of members being invited. If eight join, you’ve met your membership goals,” he said, adding, “Keep asking; after four or five times, maybe they’ll come.”
