It doesn’t matter where you live in the world but you will notice that many people struggle with public speaking. It can be very nerve-wracking to stand in front of a group of peers and articulate a message in an interesting and informational way. One organization that hopes to help people strengthen their confidence in public speaking is Toastmasters International.
Toastmasters is an international non-profit educational organization that teaches leadership and public speaking skills through a network of 15,800 clubs worldwide. Since 1924, Toastmasters International has accumulated over 300,000 members in more than 149 countries.
Here, in Moose Jaw, the community is lucky to have access to two separate Toastmasters Clubs, the Toastmasters Big Country Club and TAP Toastmasters. Both clubs are currently meeting on Zoom, though they hope to be able to hold their meetings in person at some point in September.
The Toastmasters Big Country Club originated in 1962. Their members meet every Wednesday at 7 P.M. on Zoom. The membership fee to join is $75 per six-month period. These Zoom chat rooms are a positive environment that works to build up the confidence of those speaking.
The group has around three speeches a night, with individuals chosen to help the speaker with things like word fillers and topics. Additionally, they do table topics, which are topics unknown to the speakers that are meant to help an individual with impromptu speaking.
"Being a toastmaster builds self-confidence; it improves your ability to communicate with family and friends. You will learn how to give and get constructive feedback, and it is a supportive learning environment at all the meetings. People learn leadership skills that they can apply in a workforce," says Wayne Cameron, the president of the Toastmasters Big Country Club.
The Toastmasters at Pallister (TAP) was established in 1998. Their members meet every Tuesday at 7 P.M. on Zoom. The membership fee is still $75, and the set-up of the meeting is like the Toastmasters Big Country Club. The group will have around three speakers a night, with individuals aiding their speaking with feedback, topics, and filler words. Additionally, this club also does table topics.
A new program that the Toastmasters Big Country Club and TAP Toastmaster are implementing, is a program called Pathways. Toastmasters Pathways is a learning experience that is exciting, flexible, and interactive. This program concentrates on finding your voice and learning how to use it. They do this with the eleven specialized learning paths.
Those paths are: Dynamic leadership, effective coaching, engaging humor, innovative planning, leadership development, motivational strategies, persuasive influence, presentation mastery, strategic relationships, team collaboration, and visionary communication. They will assess you on their website to help you decide which path is right for you.
Both organizations specialize in helping make people stronger leaders, communicators, and listeners. To learn more about Toastmaster Big Country Club visit their website at https://bigcountry.toastmastersclubs.org/.
To learn more about TAP Toastmasters you can visit their website at https://tap.toastmastersclubs.org/.
To learn more about Toastmaster International you can visit their website at: https://www.toastmasters.org/.
