These are the new-member onboarding instructions for Mountain View Toastmasters.
Create your Toastmasters account at https://toastmasters.org/login (after the officers have registered and paid for you, of course)
You should have received an email from Toastmasters International to create your account.
Once you're signed in, use the Choose a Path page to start picking a Path.
Pathways is the name of Toastmasters' education system, and there are eleven different Paths you can pick from.
You can browse and pick a Path, or take an assessment to get some suggested Paths.
However, if you're still unsure, no worries! Our club allows new members to do their first speech without picking a path (see step #4)
Sign up for meeting roles at the club sign-up sheet at mvtm.club/signup!
Make sure to be signed into the account you registered with (which might require creating a Google Account, since editing the spreadsheet is for club members only!
If you have any trouble with getting editing access, reach out to the club officers and they'll help you find a workaround
Sign up to give your first speech, The Ice Breaker (use the club sign-up sheet, mvtm.club/signup)
If you've chosen a Path: find and follow the Ice Breaker curriculum in your Path's project list
If you haven't chosen a Path yet, use this link to follow the curriculum: Level 1, Ice Breaker
First meeting: Do a Table Topic
Second meeting: Sign up for and perform a minor functionary role that includes speaking & observing
(Ah Counter, Timer, Wordmaster/Grammarian are good roles to start with)
Third meeting: Sign up for and deliver your Ice Breaker speech!
Great! Listen and watch at meetings, ask questions of the club officers and other club members, and just dive in!
Actually...we recommend this to all members! Use these rough guidelines to make progress:
If you're attending a meeting, aim to speak at least once: you should be either delivering a speech, holding a functionary role, or giving a Table Topics speech!
A steady rate of progress is giving a prepared speech every 6 to 8 weeks
If there's a Toastmaster event or process that you've never tried (a functionary role you've never taken, attending a TM conference, being a club officer, competing in contests, or helping to run contests)...that's a sign you should try it!
The content below has thorough details on how to get the most out of Toastmasters, plus some helpful logistics.
Also, don't hesitate to ask experienced members or club officers!
These are ordered roughly from most foundational to more advanced:
Prepared speeches & Pathways
Speech projects are defined in the Toastmasters' education system, which is called Pathways
Improve your writing, editing, communication, self-promotion, and self-reflection skills
Functionary roles in meetings
Improve your live-analysis, listening, logistics, and moderation skills
Conferences
Learn and network with other people looking to improve themselves
Speech contests
Contestants: contests provide an amazing communications-improvement intensive
Contest organizers: learn larger-scale event logistics. If you can run a speech contest, you can run anything!
Club officer roles & leadership roles beyond the club
We rarely get decision-making and leadership opportunities in work/personal life with an encouraging group
Club, area, division, district, and Toastmasters International-level officer roles provide that rare opportunity
Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) certification
Toastmasters' highest individual award is the DTM
It's earned by completing two paths, and a defined list of projects and leadership roles at the club and district levels
Common questions are how often to give a speech, how to pick a topic, and how to make progress:
A steady rate of progress is giving a prepared speech every 6 to 8 weeks
Remember also Toastmasters is self-paced; it's important to balance Toastmasters with everything else in your life too!
You can pick any topic for your speeches.
You'll pretty much always have success if you talk about things you really care about, things you know really well, or things you're really interested in.
That said...embrace the project goals! ...and choose topics that help you do that.
This will help you expand your skills and grow your comfort zone.
Is the project focused on vocal variety? Pick a story with dialogue and big emotional moments. Try a range of vocal variety that's outside your comfort zone.
Is the project focused on moderating a panel? Avoid super-easy topics ("Today is a panel is about why public speaking is important") and pick something that will invite discussion...and perhaps disagreement! That way, you can practice listening, analysis, and moderation skills.
[Content & instructions are coming later!] The UI design of Basecamp can be tricky, but it's learnable.
In the meantime, ask experienced members, or the VP of Education for help!
A good rule to follow is, if you're in a meeting, aim to speak at least once: you can be delivering a speech, holding a functionary role, or giving a Table Topics speech!
Give at least as many speech evaluations as speeches you deliver
Giving evaluations are actually one of the top ways to improve your own speaking (as well as the speaker's)!
Take on a variety of roles
This gives you a variety of skills, and gives other club members the same opportunity!
Use the sign-up sheet at mvtm.club/signup
Sign up any time, and feel free to sign up for roles in future weeks!
You can find instructions for every role in the leftmost column of the sign-up sheet, and also here: mvtm.club/meeting-resources
If it's your first time holding the role, or you haven't held it for a few months, read through the details to double check for any new changes
If you've held a role in the last few months, you can just reference the "Cheat sheet" at the top of the instruction docs
Functionary roles let you practice these many skills that are useful in our work and personal lives:
Weekly Toastmaster: organization, time management, emceeing skills. Learn how to be a great meeting director and host.
(MVTM role) Jokemaster: writing, humor, adapting, read-the-audience skills
General Evaluator: critical thinking, giving feedback, motivational, and team-building skills
Ah Counter: observational and listening skills
Timer: time management skills
Wordmaster/Grammarian: vocabulary, grammar, critical listening, and evaluation skills
Table Topics Master: organization skills, time management, and facilitation skills
(MVTM role for hybrid meetings) Tech Chair: event production, hybrid-meeting setup, listening skills
(MVTM role for hybrid & remote meetings) Zoom Master: inclusive communication, awareness, facilitation skills
Especially for the price (District events are free or typically less than $20), Toastmasters conferences are an amazing value!
Other Toastmasters have lots of great advice and tips to share.
If you've NEVER been to a Toastmasters conference, do it!
If you're a club member, register for a conference when your officers share about them.
Or...watch the sessions later on YouTube (District 101, Toastmasters International). Lucky for us, our District often records and posts the education sessions! (Though...not all sessions can be recorded, so that's a benefit of attending!)
The International Conference has started offering the recordings for streaming if you pay a small access fee.
If you're an officer, consider picking a Toastmasters Leadership Institutes (TLI) for your officers' training if one is available. Attend some additional educational sessions since you're spending a couple hours on officers' training anyway!
Our district and Toastmasters International holds three main types of conferences:
Toastmasters Leadership Institutes (TLIs)
Held about two times a year by District 101
These are mini conferences, usually just a morning on a weekend with a keynote and a few rounds of education sessions
Sometimes they're paired with club officer trainings during one of the sessions
There's often golden advice and tips in TLI education sessions
District 101 conferences
Held twice a year in spring and fall, together with the District-level speech contests
Often over two days with a couple keynotes, multiple education sessions, and the speech contests
Some District business (electing district officers, voting on by-law changes...) is also done at these conferences
Toastmasters International Annual Conference
Held once a year, usually in August, together with the International Speech contest semi-finals and finals
Includes many education sessions from accomplished Toastmasters from around the world
We encourage all Toastmasters to compete in contests and help run contests.
If you've NEVER participated, or NEVER organized, you should do it! Reach out to the VP of Education or other members for information.
And if someone asks you to compete or be an organizer or functionary, take them up on the offer!
To help your poor VP of Education! No just kidding:
For participants, speech contests provide a rare opportunity to live the saying, "Great speeches aren't written, they're re-written." Between each round of contests, contestants can practice at other clubs and get feedback and refine their speech even more. It's like a speech-writing/speech-delivering intensive!
For contest organizers and functionaries, you learn logistics, how to scale processes, and event-handling skills: emcee-ing, moderation, etc.
Judges learn listening and live-analysis skills
The Chief Judge, ballot counters, timers, sergeant-at-arms, and tech chair (for remote/hybrid contests) also learn about fair and inclusive processes for competition events
You'll surprise yourself with how many life events you can apply these skills too (work summits, company announcement events, conferences, reunions/weddings/social events)
Contests proceed in multiple rounds, where winners or top-finishers move to the next round; here's a summary of Toastmasters' regional groupings:
About 5–6 clubs make up an Area
About 5–6 Areas make up a Division
Anywhere from 6–10 Divisions make up a District
Pertains to the International Speech Contest only: 10-ish (sometimes more, sometimes less) Districts make up a Region (District & Region map)
See our main page for the names of our Area, Division, District, and Region.
Contests are held twice a year in our District (District 101):
Spring:
International Speech Contest (goes to international level) + one other contest (goes to District level only)
Contests run February to May (and into August for the International Speech Contest)
Fall:
Two contests that go up only to the District level
Contests run September to October
There are currently five types of speech contests:
International Speech: 5–7 minutes; this contest heavily favors inspirational/motivational speeches
Humorous Speech: 5–7 minutes; an organized, humorous speech (not just a series of jokes)
Tall Tale: 3–5 minutes; an exaggerated story meant to entertain
Evaluation: 2–3 minutes; a well-organized speech evaluation, with all contestants evaluating the same speech
Table Topics: 1–2 minutes; a well-organized impromptu speech in response to the same prompt given to all contestants
The International Speech contest progresses in this way:
Club → Area → Division → District → Recordings from the District contest are judged for the Regions → Semifinals → Finals
All other contests progress in this way, and go only up to the District level:
Club → Area/Quarter-finals → Division/Semi-finals → District
Full details:
Club winners compete at Area/Quarter-final contests (against 4-5 other clubs)
Area winners compete at Division/Semi-final contests (against 4-5 other Area/quarter-final winners)
Division winners compete at the District (against 4-9 other Division/semi-final winners)
International Speech Contest (ISC) only:
During June/July:
Video recordings from the District contests are judged to select two semi-finalists from each Region
At the Toastmasters International's annual conference in August:
Semi-finalists compete live to pick ten finalists
The ten finalists compete live to pick 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place for the title of World Champion of Public Speaking
The finalists must use a speech that has never been delivered in a past semi-final or a past final
Yes, this means ISC finalists need two great speeches!
[Cat N, Winner of the 2021 District 101 International Speech Contest] "When I joined Toastmasters, I didn't think contests would be for me. But when I finally prepared seriously for a contest season, I was surprised how much I learned during the experience. First, contests just make you up your game a bit. Second, your writing improves noticeably. In the case of evaluation contests, you'll noticeably improve your live-analysis skills. Third, practicing your speech multiple times helps you process lots of feedback more quickly. Lastly, you get to meet great people and speakers at the clubs you visit while practicing your speech. I was a cynic about contests, but now I'm a total convert."
If someone asks you to consider an officer's role at the club, or beyond...go for it!
Take a look at the skills that come with each officer role. See something you want to work on? Nominate yourself for that role at the next officers' election!
Or...nurture a fellow club member and nominate them!
We're rarely handed opportunities to practice leadership in our jobs, or personal lives, especially not in a safe/supportive setting with low risks. Take advantage of this rate opportunity!
So much personal growth and learning happens when helping others.
Give back to your club and the Toastmasters community. Officers are why Toastmasters is such a great organization!
There are seven official club officer roles. Some clubs may have more (Mentorship Chair, Technology Chair, etc.).
Club President: Setting strategy, decision-making, delegation, collaboration
VP of Education: Motivation, giving recognition, logistics, collaboration
VP of Membership: Sales, persuasion, event logistics
VP of Public Relations (PR): Self-promotion, writing, event logistics
Club Treasurer: Budgeting, decision-making, planning
Club Secretary: Listening, moderation, writing
Sergeant-at-arms: Event logistics, being a key face of an organization during meetings
[Work-in-progress!]