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ABOUT TOASTMASTERS INTERNATIONAL
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Whether you're a professional, student, stay-at-home parent or retiree, Toastmasters is the best way to improve your communication skills. Toastmasters can help you lose the fear of public speaking and learn skills that will help you be more successful in whatever path in life you've chosen. You'll be a better listener. You'll easily lead teams and conduct meetings. You'll comfortably give and receive constructive evaluation. You already have some or all of these skills. In Toastmasters, you will enhance them.
History
Toastmasters International is a non-profit organization 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 Internationals 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, who provide services to the clubs and Districts.
What do you actually do?
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 for about an hour. Each meeting gives everyone an opportunity to practice:
Conducting meetings
Meetings usually begin with a short business session which helps members learn basic meeting procedures.
Giving impromptu speeches
Members present one-to two-minute impromptu speeches on assigned topics.
Presenting prepared speeches
Three or more 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.
Offering constructive evaluation
Every prepared speaker is assigned an evaluator who points out speech strengths and offers suggestions for improvement .
The Tools You Use
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 government agencies now use Toastmasters training.
Company Benefits
A company's success also depends on communication. Employees face an endless exchange of ideas, messages, and information as they deal with one another and with customers day after day. How well they communicate can determine whether a company quickly grows into an industry leader or joins thousands of other businesses mired in mediocrity. Toastmasters provides the tools that enable employees to become effective communicators and leaders all at a very low cost. Toastmasters training helps employees:
Give better sales presentations
Hone their management skills
Work better with fellow employees
Effectively develop and present ideas
Offer constructive criticism
Accept criticism more objectively
Community Benefits
Toastmasters has helped many members in their community service activities. Using the speaking and leadership skills developed in Toastmasters, people have become more active in business, churches, and service and charity organizations. Toastmasters members are able to organize activities, conduct meetings, and speak in public as their organizations representative. Some even become active in local, state or national government.
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Toastmasters: Helping people communicate
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Becoming a Member
Toastmasters is for individuals 18 years or older. The more than 170,000 members are from a variety of occupations and backgrounds. They include doctors, auto mechanics, executives, teachers, home-makers, artists, college students, supervisors, attorneys, engineers, salespersons, and more. Joining is easy. Simply attend a meeting, and then apply for membership.
The Benefits are Clear
Think about what you gain as a member of Toastmasters. By joining, you:
Improve speaking, listening, thinking, and leadership skills
Discover hidden abilities and bring latent talents into use
Obtain an expanded vision of the role of communication.
Increase self-esteem through active participation in personal development.
NEEDS & SOLUTIONS:
Here are some needs and Toastmasters activities that will help:
Prepared speeches: Communication and
Leadership Program
Impromptu speaking: Table Topics
Conducting meetings: Toastmaster of the Day
Personnel review: Evaluator
Management/support: Participation as a Club officer
Leadership Development: High Performance Leadership Program
Other Benefits
PRICE At per year (plus Club
dues), the Toastmasters program
is extremely cost-effective (around $1 per meeting)
TIME Our club meets for one hour once a week. You'll appreciate the relatively small time commitment.
CONVENIENCE We schedule meetings in the lunch hour on Wednesday so there are no timetable clashes. We are located on campus around 2 minutes walk from the Duck Pond (Bldg 3 Rm 121)
QUALITY More than 3 million people have benefited from Toastmasters since it began more than 70 years ago. The educational materials are continually upgraded to provide the best products available.
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UOW TOASTMASTERS
Building 8, Room G.21
University of Wollongong
Northfields Avenue
North Wollongong NSW 2500
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