Toastmasters
International
Making
Effective Communication
A Worldwide Reality
D.T.M
- Distinguished Toastmaster
March 22, 1984 Certificate#1907
This
is Toastmasters International highest recognition
of excellence as a Toastmaster
A
Toastmasters club is a "learn-by-doing"
workshop in which men and women hone their skills
in a comfortable, friendly atmosphere. A typical
club has 20 to 40 members, who meet weekly or biweekly
to learn and practice public speaking techniques.
The average club meeting lasts approximately one
hour.
Upon
joining a Toastmasters club, members progress through
a series of 10 speaking assignments designed to
instill a basic foundation in public speaking.
When
finished with the basic speech manual, members can
select from among 15 advanced programs to develop
speaking skills that are geared to specific career
needs. They are: Public Relations, Specialty Speeches,
The Entertaining Speaker, Speaking to Inform, The
Discussion Leader, Speeches by Management, The Professional
Speaker, Persuasive Speaking, Technical Presentations,
Communicating on Television, Storytelling, Interpretive
Reading, Interpersonal Communication, Special Occasion
Speeches, and Humorously Speaking. Members also
have the opportunity to develop and practice leadership
skills by working in the High Performance Leadership
Program and serving as leaders at various organizational
levels.
There
is no instructor in a Toastmasters club. Instead,
members evaluate one anothers oral presentations.
This evaluation process is an integral component
of the overall educational program. Besides taking
turns delivering prepared speeches and evaluating
those of other members, Toastmasters give impromptu
talks on assigned topics, usually related to current
events. They also develop listening skills, conduct
meetings, and learn parliamentary procedure.
The
effectiveness of this simple learning formula is
evidenced by the thousands of corporations that
sponsor in-house Toastmasters clubs. These clubs
serve as communication training workshops for employees.
Every year, more and more business and government
organizations are discovering that Toastmasters
is the most effective, cost-efficient means of satisfying
their communication training needs.
Toastmasters
clubs can be found in the U.S. Senate and the House
of Representatives, as well as in a variety of community
organizations, prisons, universities, hospitals,
military bases and churches. |
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