Toastmasters makes learning fun!
This non-profit organization offers a proven – and enjoyable
– way to practice communication and leadership skills. Here's
how it works:
• A Toastmasters meeting is a learn-by-doing workshop in
which participants hone their speaking and leadership skills in
a friendly atmosphere. A typical group has 20 to 40 members who
meet weekly or biweekly to practice public speaking techniques.
The average meeting lasts one hour.
• Members learn communication skills by working in the Competent
Communication manual, a series of 10 self-paced speaking assignments
designed to instill a basic foundation in public speaking. Participants
learn skills related to use of humor, gestures, eye contact, speech
organization and overall delivery. When finished with this manual,
members can choose from 15 advanced manuals to learn skills related
to specific interests.
• Members also learn leadership skills by taking on various
meeting roles and serving as officers at the club and district
levels, and by working in the Competent Leadership manual and
the High Performance Leadership program. In our learn-by-doing
approach, we don't lecture our members about leadership skills;
we give them responsibilities and ask them to lead.
• There is no instructor in a Toastmasters meeting. Instead,
members evaluate one another’s presentations. This feedback
process is a key part of the program’s success. Meeting
participants also give impromptu talks on assigned topics, conduct
meetings, serve as officers in various leadership roles and learn
rules related to timing, grammar and parliamentary procedure.
Thousands of corporations sponsor in-house Toastmasters clubs.
Businesses and government organizations have discovered that Toastmasters
is an effective, cost-efficient means of meeting their communication
training needs.
Toastmasters groups also can be found in governmental agencies,
as well as in a variety of community organizations, prisons, universities,
hospitals, military bases and churches.