What is Toastmasters??

The Rambling Irishman asked me what Toastmasters is. To best answer that I've copied the following from their web site.

From a humble beginning in 1924 at the YMCA in Santa Ana, California, Toastmasters International has grown to become a world leader in helping people become more competent and comfortable in front of an audience. The nonprofit organization now has nearly 220,000 members in 11,300 clubs in 90 countries, offering a proven – and enjoyable! – way to practice and hone communication and leadership skills.

Most Toastmasters meetings are comprised of approximately 20 people who meet weekly for an hour or two. Participants practice and learn skills by filling a meeting role, ranging from giving a prepared speech or an impromptu one to serving as timer, evaluator or grammarian.

There is no instructor; instead, each speech and meeting is critiqued by a member in a positive manner, focusing on what was done right and what could be improved.

I really enjoy going to the meetings and am pretty much always taking part in one way or another. They are always fun and interesting, informational. Through Toastmasters program, you can learn both public speaking and leadership skills. In 1997 I earned my CTM (Competent Toastmasters Award) by completing the first manual made up of 10 speech assignments, each designed to teach you something new. I then, due to life, left the club until this year. I'm now back and fully enjoying the experience. I love public speaking. The only thing I don't like is the crazy way we spell things... like speech with ee and speaking with ea... why don't they both have ee or both ea?? Dumb! haha.

The CTM is now called CC (Competent Communicator) and there is now the CL (Competent Leader). What was ATM (Advanced Toastmaster) is now AC (Advanced Communicator), and there are 3 levels to achieve: Bronze, Silver and Gold. Each one is achieved by completing 2 manuals from the Advanced program, each manual having 5 speech projects in it. There is also the AL (Advanced Leadership) Bronze and Silver. Once you have your AC Gold and your AL Silver, you become a DTM (Distinguished Toastmaster) and that's a major achievement.

I've now done 2 speeches towards my AC Bronze, or AC-B, and will be doing #3 next Monday, and #4 January 7th, the day before my birthday. I've done a few of the things I need towards my CL now, too. That manual has a lot of things in it that you much do, so will take some time. Some of it is being evaluated as an evaluator, a timer, a Table Topics speaker, and Table Topics master, etc etc etc. Table Topics are 2 minute impromptu speeches, and the TT Master is the one that gives out the topics for the speaker to talk on. It can be very fun. I like the challenge of getting up there, being told what the topic is, and finding a creative way to speak on that for 2 minutes.

I have posted my speeches on another of my blogs... my new blog Born2Cree8 on my own domain. Go check them out... and please leave me comments. It's a new blog that needs to be christened with your words.