| About Toastmasters |
 |
 |
 |
|
Toastmasters is a non-profit organization that has been helping people learn public speaking and leadership for decades. It currently has hundreds of clubs on the major continents all around the world. Toastmasters International is governed by a Board of Directors elected by the membership. The first Toastmasters club was established on October 22, 1924, in Santa Ana, California, by Dr. Ralph C. Smedley, who conceived and developed the idea of helping others to speak more effectively. More clubs were formed, and Toastmasters International was incorporated under California law on December 19, 1932.
Toastmasters International's business and services are administered by its World Headquarters, located in Rancho Santa Margarita, California. It employs no paid promoters or instructors. It has no salaried staff except the Executive Director and World Headquarters staff.
How Toastmasters works.
The mission of a Toastmasters club is to provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment in which every member has the opportunity to develop communication and leadership skills, which in turn foster self-confidence and personal growth.
At Toastmasters, members learn by speaking to groups and working with others in a supportive environment.
A typical Toastmasters club is made up of 20 to 30 people who meet once a week or every other week for about an hour or two. Each meeting gives everyone an opportunity to practice. Everyone talks - that's why you're there! You'll build "quick-thinking" skills as you're asked to give a one- to two-minute impromptu speech during Table Topics. Later, you may be the person asking the Table Topics questions. Eventually you'll introduce speakers, give prepared speeches, conduct meetings, and perform many other roles.
Members present speeches based on projects from the Toastmasters International Communication and Leadership Program manuals. Projects cover such topics as speech organization, voice, language, gestures and persuasion.
Every prepared speaker is assigned an evaluator who points out speech strengths and offers suggestions for improvement. This is the heart of the Toastmasters program. Whenever you give a prepared speech, your evaluator will point out the presentation's strengths and offer suggestions for improving your next speech. In the beginning, your Club members will applaud your effort, but later they'll applaud your skill.
Basically, each Toastmaster club meeting gives everyone an opportunity to practice on:
Learning Resources
Upon joining a Toastmasters club, each new member receives a variety of manuals and resources on speaking. Members also have access to other books as well as audio and video cassettes on speaking and leading. They also receive the award-winning The Toastmaster, a monthly magazine that offers the latest insights on speaking and leadership techniques.
Toastmasters and Leadership
Leadership cannot be learned in a day. It takes practice. In Toastmasters members build leadership skills by organizing and conducting meetings and motivating others to help them. Club leadership roles and a leadership development program also offer opportunities to learn and practice. Just as Toastmasters members learn to speak simply by speaking, they learn leadership by leading.
Recognition System
The Toastmasters recognition system features a communication track and a leadership track. It gives members opportunities for communication and leadership training and more recognition for leadership achievements. All members, including those who already have earned CTM, ATM and DTM awards, are encouraged to work toward awards in the new system. |
