All About Toastmasters

How Toastmasters works.
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.

Your success in business is based on how effective you are.  Through participation in the Toastmasters program, people from all backgrounds learn to effectively speak, conduct meetings, manage a department or business, lead, delegate and motivate.

How Toastmasters Works

• As your improved communication skills become obvious within the workplace, increased visibility, recognition and promotion will follow.
• Your improved presentation skills will win you the respect and admiration of your colleagues and employees—and make them wonder what you did to change!
• Leadership skills acquired through participation in Toastmasters will increase your management potential.
• You will acquire an increased ability to motivate and persuade, making you more effective as a supervisor or manager.
• You’ll have access to a wide range of educational materials, including books, CDs, DVDs and seminar programs, available at reduced cost through the Toastmasters International Supply Catalog.

• Toastmasters International uses time-tested programs that are continually updated to meet participants’ needs.
• Self-paced programs allow you to progress as rapidly or as gradually as your needs dictate.
• The hands-on Competent Communication and Competent Leadership programs provide the “how-to” and the practical experience so critical to progress.
• Toastmasters clubs meet at various locations in the morning, at noon and in the evening. You’re sure to find a club that fits your schedule.
• The Toastmasters program is cost-effective, especially when compared to seminars charging hundreds of dollars per day.
• There is a U.S. $20 new member fee and $27 dues every six months. Clubs may also assess local dues to cover local expenses.
• An atmosphere of professional camaraderie makes your Toastmasters club a unique learning environment—informal, yet dedicated to learning.
• The Toastmasters program can be tailored to meet your personal objectives. Whether you want improvement in prepared or impromptu speaking or greater skill in the use of visual aids, you’ll gain experience and knowledge.

• The Toastmasters program exposes each participant to a wide range of communication and leadership experiences.
• Each new member receives a New Member Kit which includes the Competent Communication and Competent Leadership manuals, general orientation materials, and helpful booklets on evaluation, using gestures and vocal variety.
• If you want to focus on improving your speaking skills, you’ll want to work in the Competent Communication manual. If you prefer to develop your leadership skills first, you may work in the Competent Leadership manual. Or you may work in both manuals at the same time. The choice is yours.
• Each of the projects in the Competent Communication and Competent Leadership manuals focuses on developing a specific speaking or leadership skill.
• After completing each project in the manuals, you’ll receive a constructive evaluation that will recognize your strengths and offer suggestions for improvement.
• You’ll have the opportunity to participate in the advanced communication and advanced leadership programs, where you can further refine your communication and leadership skills. The advanced communication program features 15 manuals on such topics as public relations, management and technical presentations. The advanced leadership program gives you the opportunity to serve in leadership positions at the club and district levels, where you learn how to motivate and lead others to achieve goals.

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.

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

Toastmasters produces results. Around the world more than three million men and women of all ages and occupations have benefited from Toastmasters training, and more than one thousand corporations, community groups, universities, associations, and government agencies now use Toastmasters training.

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 organization's representative. Some even become active in local, state or national government.

About Toastmasters International.
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 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, who provide services to the clubs and Districts.