And impressively enough, they’ve managed to almost create a ‘business as usual’ atmosphere through their meetings, using the wildly popular Zoom app to gather virtually, refine their speaking abilities and just generally have fun.
Al Doucette is the president of the Big Country Toastmasters, who meet every Wednesday night in the virtual arena. The Toastmasters at Palliser club are just as active, holding their meetings on Tuesday nights.
And with what he’s seen so far, there’s been plenty of adaptation to the unique format.
“If it was face-to-face we’d be having coffee and donuts, but that’s pretty hard to do when you can’t get together,” Doucette said with a good-natured laugh. “But we’re having fun with it and that’s the most important thing.”
While many are familiar with the basic premise of Toastmasters -- learning to speak in public -- the club brings a lot more to the table, especially when it comes to building confidence and learning solid communication skills.
That’s where one of their main mottos comes into play: Where Leaders are Made.
“It’s more than just speeches, it’s more than learning how to speak to groups,” Doucette said. “Not only by taking on leadership in the executive of the club, but also through communication. A good communicator is a good leader and a good leader is a good communicator. But then, at the same time, it involves public speaking and learning how to speak effectively.”
Meetings for both clubs start at 7 p.m. sharp, with Zoom doors opening at around 6:30 p.m.
Even though everything is online, the clubs still follow the traditional meeting pattern: a Toastmaster is in charge of the meeting, a grammarian will help with grammar during speeches and also provides the ‘word of the day’ that speakers will try and use as much as possible.
You’ll have your Table Topics master, who will help everyone learn to speak on a wide range of subjects, usually featuring a unique and fun topic.
“It really gives you the ability to speak right off the cuff,” Doucette explained. “Say the boss comes up to you and there’s a conversation you’re involved in, and they look at you and say ‘what do you think’ and it’s ‘uh, uh, uh’. To avoid that, it’s something we practice in Toastmasters.”
With everything online, a moderator will also help with cameras and lighting, and a moderator will also keep an eye on the chat. Other than that? Business as usual.
Toastmasters from the District 42 area -- which includes Moose Jaw -- come from all walks of life and include CEOs and corporate leaders to regular folks just looking to pick up on some new skills.
“It’s an eclectic group of people, some of whom are very, very experienced in what they do,” Doucette said.
Should you fall into the whole thing and become a member, there’s all sorts of directions you can take with your Toastmasters’ journey.
“We call it Pathways,” Doucette explained. “There are 10 paths you can take and each of the paths have five or six levels, and you can choose whatever one you want. You can choose leadership, speaking better or speaking humourously, or anything else you might be interested in.
“Toastmasters is literally for everybody, there’s something for everybody.”
For more on the local clubs, including info on how to join their Zoom meetings, visit Big Country Toastmasters at https://bigcountry.toastmastersclubs.org/ and Toastmasters at Palliser at https://tap.toastmastersclubs.org/.
