Join Toastmasters, it’s the smart thing to do!
If you’ve ever dreaded standing up at a meeting to voice your opinion; or to facilitate a meeting; or to make a presentation to customers, colleagues or your company management, then join us in our quest to overcome those debilitating feelings—it’s the smart thing to do!
Our club provides a non-threatening environment that allows us to hone our speaking, listening, thinking and leadership skills. Our members come from all walks of life. Whether man or woman, whether you work in the home or in industry, you’ll feel equally comfortable at our meetings.
The "Toastmaster Way" includes training manuals, a monthly magazine and instant feedback, called peer evaluation, of our speeches and leadership skills. We encourage members to progress at their own pace. Moreover, each member has an opportunity to lead the various meeting segments.
Our normal meetings are divided into three primary segments:
- The extemporaneous speaking opportunity, called Table Topics—
- The scheduled speaking segment—
- The evaluation portion—
During Table Topics, a Topicmaster calls on several members to speak on a topic—so far unknown to the member. The member then attempts to speak on this topic for two minutes. This usually creates some humorous results. Guests and brand-new members, however, are never exposed to this challenge.
In the scheduled speaking segment, several members present a prepared speech, usually based on a requirement from the manual. For example: a member may wish to practice his/her gestures, or vocal variety, or story-telling skills, etc.
For the evaluation segment of the meeting, several members have been assigned to evaluate the scheduled speakers’ presentations. The evaluators have been counseled by manuals and by more experienced members to provide this feedback in a loving and non-threatening manner. The evaluators report to the speakers their observations of the speech just given. The evaluation is framed in a manner that encourages the speakers to continue on their quest to improve, then are given a few pointers where—in the evaluators’ opinions—improvement is possible.
We’d be pleased to have you as our guest. You’ll quickly notice that we’re having a great time at the meetings and that you are welcome, Just come to any of our meetings (about ten minutes early, so we can greet you properly).
Go to Agenda
Jenks America Toastmasters, Club 2599
freddc3@gmail.com