Any Toastmasters here?

[Billy Cox]

I heard about Toastmasters a long time ago, but finally got involved with a club within the last year. Does anyone else here participate in Toastmasters?

[Glenn Harris]

was involved for several years in Omaha. Haven't gotten involved since I moved.

[Mark Doble]

Does catching mine on fire count? Cause I've done that!

[Dave McClung]

I heard about Toastmasters a long time ago, but finally got involved with a club within the last year. Does anyone else here participate in Toastmasters?

I belonged to Toastmasters many years ago. It is a worthwhile organization. If nothing else, it will teach you not to say "AH" when you speak.

[Wilson L. Deaton]

I heard about Toastmasters a long time ago, but finally got involved with a club within the last year. Does anyone else here participate in Toastmasters?

Shouldn't, ah, we be, ah, boycotting Toastmasters because, ah uhm, of the, ah, association of, umm, "offering a toast" and, ah, alcohol? :basic05

Seriously though, what exactly are the meetings like? How does the "teaching" take place? Etc.?

Wilson

[Glenn Harris]

Shouldn't, ah, we be, ah, boycotting Toastmasters because, ah uhm, of the, ah, association of, umm, "offering a toast" and, ah, alcohol? :basic05

Seriously though, what exactly are the meetings like? How does the "teaching" take place? Etc.?

Wilson

The meeting follows a fairly strict schedule of events because one of the things they teach is keeping control of the meeting and time management. On a revolving basis, different people are assigned different jobs. You have one person that acts as the leader and they control the meeting. You start with someone who is appointed to select the word of the day. They say the word and then give the meaning. It's to help expand vocabulary. Everyone then does introductions. Sometime during the meeting everyone is supposed to use the word of the day in a sentence. One person is assigned to do what they call table topics. Table topics are were a preselected person will pick three random people and ask them a question. They will respond with a response that is supposed to be 1 to 2 1/2 minutes in length. It is designed to teach people to speak spontaneously. People vote on who they think had the best response. Someone else is assigned to do a humorous piece, (it can be a reading or a series of jokes) and another person is assigned to do a serious reading. Someone else is appointed to count how many times people use audible breaks (as Dave alluded to, the notorious Ah's and Um's). At the end of the meeting they report how many they detected from each person and those people have to pay a "fine" for each one they got. (0ur's was a penny per ah but others were a nickle) We also charged a quarter for each person who didn't use the word of the day. The money is used to help fund refreshments and other things. (what little money it is) The meet of the meeting is that 2 or 3 people are selected (prior to the meeting) to give a speech on a subject of their own choosing based on where they are in the program. (you start the program with a book of 10 speeches, each a little more advanced than the previous one, that are designed to give you practice on a different method or style of presentation or delivery) The speeches are of a predetermined length and like the table topics they are timed. All the first 10 speeches are 5 minutes long (+ or - 1 1/2 minutes) and they have a signal to tell the speaker when he has reached the minimum length (green), is 30 seconds over (yellow) or is 1 minute over (red) The speeches are then critiqued by a more senior toastmaster and everyone votes on the best speech. In competition (they occasionally have regional competitions that the winners go to a higher level and up to international competition) if you go 30 seconds under green or 30 seconds over red the speech is automatically disqualified. It actually does help people get over the fear of public speaking as well as teaches people to be more effective in presentation and putting together talks. We started it at work when we went to business model where people were expected to market our products and services to the public and it really did help those that had never spoken in public before (and it also helped those of us that had)

It's a good program and it uses planned staged programming and peer interaction to assist people in improving.

[Billy Cox]

The agenda of the meeting can vary depending on the club. The club I attend doesn't charge money for filler words (ah, um, you know)

As far as teaching, it is a 'learn by doing' situation within a mutually supportive environment. Every new toastmaster starts with a leadership manual with ten speech 'projects' emphasizing various speaking techniques (body language, topic research, visual aids, persuasion, etc.) The speaker chooses his/her topics and proceeds at his/her own pace. There is also mentoring, although the club I am in is not doing that right now.

People who participate learn how to prepare and deliver a speech, how to evaluate (and be evaluated), how to introduce another speaker, and how to do impromptu speaking.

[Billy Cox]

I belonged to Toastmasters many years ago. It is a worthwhile organization. If nothing else, it will teach you not to say "AH" when you speak.

He obviously did NOT do Toastmasters based upon how many filler words he uses in his impromptu speaking.

[Charlene Clevenger]

My sister joined Toastmasters because she did some public speaking for her job. It really helped her. When she passed away the Boise chapter named an award after her.

[Barb Bouldrey]

I am a master at making French toast.

Does that count?

LOL

Barb

[Wilson L. Deaton]

This sounds pretty cool.

I visited their web and discovered that there is no local group here in Kenosha. I read up on how to start one.... They want a 20-person minimum to launch. Sigh...

Wilson

[Billy Cox]

That 20-person minimum is comparable to the 'responsibility list' in church, also called a prospect list in the business world. Many companies are willing to sponsor a club and/or pay dues for their employees to attend because it's good for employee development and it's inexpensive.

In short, 20 people is not such a hard thing to achieve.

[Billy Cox]

A coworker at my former workplace was interested until he realized that Toastmasters was not a wine tasting club.