We’re talking to Tilman Rieger, 2018–2021 Treasurer of Shanghai Leadership Toastmasters Club, a Toastmasters member since 2017, 2022–2026 Head of Membership, and 2026–2027 Vice President of the Rotary Club of Shanghai. He has been a Toastmasters member since 2017 and a Rotarian since 2021.

What projects did Toastmasters Leadership Shanghai and Rotary Club of Shanghai (RCS) complete together?

We organized the Career Empowerment Program (CEP), a joint service project created and facilitated by Toastmasters Leadership Shanghai and RCS. The project was designed to leverage the career experience of members from both organizations to provide mentorship and career guidance for students and community members, while also creating opportunities for members to serve as mentors.

In 2022, we started CEP with a face-to-face format involving Rotarians only. The mentees we invited were young adults from organizations supported by RCS, including Shanghai Sunrise and Shanghai Young Bakers. However, the challenge was that the mentees only spoke Chinese, while most Rotarians were foreigners who could only partially speak Chinese. A few months later, we conducted a second session online, but we encountered the same issue. We realized that it was not easy to find enough Chinese-speaking mentors to support Chinese-speaking mentees.

At the end of 2022, we planned to restart the project, but it became increasingly difficult because of the language barrier. During this period, we may have already had some selected Toastmasters members participating, as on 12 November 2022, we went to Chongming Island to work on a farm together with Toastmasters members. After a pause, we revitalized the program in 2023 and established a project group consisting of Toastmasters members and Rotarians to explore how to leverage the collaboration for CEP.

At the beginning of 2023, we founded a workgroup with Rotarians and Toastmasters members to think about how to further develop the collaboration through CEP. In February 2023, Rotarians and Toastmasters members held their first joint session, which was an online mentoring session where mentors were matched with mentees recruited through a network of students and young professionals, many of whom came from Africa and the Middle East.

After this initial session, we decided to organize a face-to-face event. The goal was to prepare potential mentors from both organizations and bring both parties together. We then organized a face-to-face mentoring workshop so that both Rotarians and Toastmasters members could understand what mentoring involves, what is important for effective mentoring, and how to better support mentees. This mentoring workshop brought together around 90 Toastmasters members and Rotarians. Trainers from Toastmasters and Rotary co-facilitated small groups, while representatives from both organizations supported the event from the stage, including Rotary Special Representative China Andrew Hill, Toastmasters Region 14 International Director Helen He, and the President of RCS. I facilitated the event representing both organizations, as I had been a member of Shanghai Leadership Toastmasters since 2017 and a Rotarian since 2021. Shortly after the workshop, we held another online mentor–mentee session.

In 2024, after a longer pause, we organized another one or two online mentor–mentee sessions. Through the program, RCS members and Toastmasters friends mentored more than 150 students and community members.

What challenges did the Toastmasters Leadership Shanghai and RCS collaboration face?

I think the biggest challenge was maintaining the momentum after the initial enthusiasm of collaborating across the boundaries of both organizations.

There simply was not enough continuity in the efforts on either side. On the RCS side, for example, we gradually became less conscious of the fact that we could reach out to Toastmasters when we needed more volunteers or wanted to increase the impact of a service project.

We had one large face-to-face event through CEP, which worked well as a joint activity because it gave both organizations a common purpose. One challenge was that Toastmasters members tend to be younger on average, and some of them were still relatively early in their own professional development. As a result, not everyone naturally saw themselves in the role of an experienced mentor. We also had Toastmasters attending Rotary meetings and Rotarians attending Toastmasters meetings.

However, once people had become familiar with the other organization, there was no longer a strong unifying factor that continuously brought the two groups together. Without people actively maintaining the connection, particularly because presidents and their Board or ExCom teams change regularly, the collaboration can easily disappear from the agenda.

What benefits did the Toastmasters–Rotary collaboration bring to both organizations?

It is also important that both sides see a genuine benefit. Toastmasters should not simply be seen as an additional source of volunteers for Rotary service projects, and Rotary should not simply be seen as another audience to whom Toastmasters can promote its educational program. I think the benefits of the Toastmasters–Rotary Alliance are to create:

• Greater impact together. Particularly because service projects often depend on having enough people who are willing to get involved. Through the collaboration, we were able to bring together additional volunteers and people with different backgrounds and skills.
• Greater awareness of both organizations. At least one Toastmaster joined Rotary after getting to know us through these activities, so the collaboration even resulted in a new member for our club.

Toastmasters–Rotary Alliance Special Representative Andrew Hills also mentioned during a joint Toastmasters–Rotary call that he appreciated the opportunity to create greater impact together through the collaboration. At the same time, he saw the potential for Rotarians to benefit from the public-speaking and communication skills that Toastmasters brings. He strongly supported the collaboration.

What types of projects can Toastmasters and Rotary collaborate on?

I think almost any service project where people can simply come together and contribute their time, presence, and helping hands can become a joint Toastmasters–Rotary project. This could include playing with children in a hospital, helping on a farm or with an environmental project, or collecting and distributing second-hand clothes to people in need.

Even social or fundraising activities can provide opportunities. For example, we have a football competition in Shanghai involving companies and Rotary clubs, the Butterfly Cup. Toastmasters could participate with their own team, or individual Toastmasters could join a Rotary team if they enjoy playing football.

There are also opportunities that draw more directly on Toastmasters’ strengths. On one occasion, Toastmasters were invited to a Rotary meeting to run an impromptu-speaking evening instead of our usual keynote speech. Similar activities around public speaking, communication, facilitation, or storytelling could easily be organized.

How can the Toastmasters and Rotary collaboration remain sustainable long term?

I think sustainability requires both institutional support and committed individuals. My advice would be not to rely solely on the enthusiasm of individual presidents or leadership teams. The partnership should be brought to the attention of every incoming president as an opportunity, and ideally there should be at least one recurring Toastmasters–Rotary activity each year, supported by both organizations and carried forward regardless of who happens to be president. This kind of regular touchpoint could gradually become part of the culture rather than remaining a one-off initiative, helping keep the relationship alive despite leadership changes.