Sea Dragons Gavel Club

We’re talking to Scott Su, the 2026–2027 Club Growth Director for Toastmasters District 67 and Executive Secretary of the Rotary Club of Nanbai, a strategic advocate for the Toastmasters–Rotary Alliance in Taiwan.

How did the Toastmasters–Rotary Alliance begin in Taiwan, and what does the current ecosystem look like?

Before the formal global alliance announced in 2019, collaboration already existed in Taiwan through dual members, club visits, speech workshops, and informal relationships. Several Rotary leaders appreciated the value of communication and leadership education. During 2025–2026, preparation for the Rotary International Convention in Taipei accelerated collaboration. Toastmasters District leaders began engaging Rotary leaders across Taiwan, and discussions expanded from event support into long-term strategic partnership models.

Rotary Taiwan has approximately 37,000 members and a broad network connecting business, government, academia, and nonprofits. Toastmasters Taiwan has roughly 2,300 members with deep expertise in communication and leadership education. Globally there are roughly four to five Rotarians for every Toastmaster; in Taiwan the ratio is closer to sixteen to one. The scale difference creates opportunities for visibility and growth while also requiring thoughtful governance models.

What was the first major collaboration, and what does the model look like?

One of the flagship collaborations emerged from a youth-focused English-language contest that has been running for 77 years. The Rotary Club of Taipei — Taiwan’s first Rotary club, founded in 1948 — began this contest in 1955 as the English Speech Contest, and in 2018 it was renamed to focus on youth-designed solutions to social issues. For 2026 the contest drew 21 teams — 7 high schools, 13 universities, and one mixed team — through three rounds: a video preliminary, a semifinal, and a final — on a total budget of roughly NT$290,000 covering top prizes and sponsor-backed special awards.

What made this a natural collaboration point was the contest’s judging rubric itself: Presentation carries 50% of the total score, more than Concept (25%) and Execution (25%) combined. Yet the current judge panel is composed entirely of Rotarians, professors, and sponsor representatives, with no dedicated speech or communication coach. The contestant feedback survey still asks only whether students received “guidance from your instructors,” reflecting reliance on ad hoc, school-level coaching rather than a structured resource.

Interestingly, the Rotary club’s own 2023 post-contest review meeting had already identified this gap and proposed “Toastmasters (could be handled by Athena, Helen)” as an outreach and coaching channel — a recommendation that was never formalized or assigned an owner. This illustrates a key governance challenge: a good idea surfaced by an individual champion, with no committee structure to carry it forward across leadership terms.

A concrete five-part collaboration model has since been proposed to close this gap: a pre-contest presentation workshop delivered by Toastmasters, timed to the December–January video-round preparation window; one-on-one speaker coaching pairing Toastmasters members with contest teams ahead of the Semifinal and Final; an independent, non-scoring Communication Evaluator role at the live rounds, modeled on Toastmasters’ structured “Evaluate to Motivate” feedback method; expanded recruitment through Toastmasters’ club and campus-club networks; and a co-branded “Best Communicator Award” presented alongside the Rotary club’s existing cash prizes.

What collaboration project offers the most potential?

Youth engagement represents the strongest opportunity for long-term collaboration. Rotary programs such as Interact, Rotaract, and Youth Exchange complement Toastmasters initiatives including the Youth Leadership Program and Gavel Clubs. Together these programs can provide leadership pathways from adolescence through professional adulthood. Future collaboration should focus on communication, leadership, employability, entrepreneurship, and global citizenship. By combining Rotary’s service infrastructure and community reach with Toastmasters’ structured communication training, we can create a complete leadership journey for young people — from learning the skills to applying them in real-world service projects.

What role do dual members play?

Dual members understand both cultures, terminology, priorities, and governance structures. They act as translators, relationship builders, and innovation catalysts. Districts should intentionally identify and develop dual members who can serve on alliance committees and facilitate cross-organizational collaboration.

What is your vision and what recommendations would you make?

Taiwan has the potential to become a global demonstration site for Toastmasters–Rotary collaboration. By combining communication excellence, leadership education, service, business networks, and international engagement, both organizations can create meaningful development opportunities for future generations.

My recommendations for Rotary International and Toastmasters International are to develop alliance frameworks, share best practices globally, encourage committee structures, create leadership positions focused on collaboration, support youth-development initiatives, and measure outcomes beyond membership growth. Global support combined with local innovation can scale successful models internationally.

I would also note that Toastmasters International has already published ready-made outreach materials — a PowerPoint template and an email template for approaching a local Rotary club — but they exist only in English and are not widely localized or promoted among Taiwan clubs. Translating and actively distributing these materials through District 67, alongside a documented local case study such as the ESSC model, would lower the barrier for other Taiwan clubs to replicate a working model rather than starting from a blank page.