Toastmasters

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Staccs

New member
May 14, 2010
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Anyone a regular? How is it?

First heard about it through How To Win Friends & Influence People, did a quick search and found out there are 3 local clubs in my area, 1 having new member registration available.

I'm thinking of stopping in and checking it out, though I'd likely be the youngest person there, by far.

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I was a member for a year or so and it really helped me a lot. Went from not being able to speak at all in public settings to getting a job with Tony Robbins as a speaker/sales guy. I'd highly suggest investing the time if speaking is at all interesting/important to you. Typically a great group of nuturing people with a similar goal.
 
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smaxor said:
I was a member for a year or so and it really helped me a lot. Went from not being able to speak at all in public settings to getting a job with Tony Robbins as a speaker/sales guy. I'd highly suggest investing the time if speaking is at all interesting/important to you. Typically a great group of nuturing people with a similar goal.
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Great to hear. I consider myself a pretty good public speaker, but I'd love to be a great public speaker. I'll look up when the next meeting is and check it out.
 
I was looking at a local meetup last month too, then I thought it would just be cheesy and somehow involve upsells/pyramid schemes and forgot about it. Maybe I should reconsider...
 
This Toastmaster?

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnk0Na0aU2g&has_verified=1[/ame]
 
Staccs said:
Great to hear. I consider myself a pretty good public speaker, but I'd love to be a great public speaker. I'll look up when the next meeting is and check it out.
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Sit through a meeting or two before joining.

I went to a local one and joined on the spot - it turned out every other person there was from the same company and 3/4 had recently learned English as a second language.

It wasn't a particularly constructive experience for me, but I think it would have been with a different group.
 
One of my good friend was in it for a while and he told me it help improve his public speaking skills because you get put on the spot with random topic. Check it out man. Doesn't hurt to try.
 
no firsthand experience but I've heard nothing but good things from a friend who has been a member of a local group. He's a damn good speaker too so its definitely worth your time to check out a couple groups and find one thats right for you.

Question for smaxor and anyone else who has been a member: is there a curriculum and specific skills/strategies that they systematically teach or is it just get up there give a speech and listen to people's feedback?
 
I've went to a a few meets but never went ahead to join, mainly just due to time constraints. However, I can easily see it being very beneficial if you want to learn how to speak well.

They do tend to have a 'curriculum' of sorts, I can't remember the details but I know they require you to write speeches on various topics with varying lengths and each speech focuses on a different aspect of public speaking. They also have little exercises during the class such as providing everyone with a quick on-the-spot topic that you have to go up and talk about for 2 minutes or so.

I've always considered myself a pretty solid public speaker, but this definitely takes you a little out of your element.
 
Proud member here - it may not be for everyone, but those who want to improve their public speaking, overall communication, and leadership skills will find it most useful.

If Toastmasters was a boxer, it'd be Pacquiao. It appears to be a small worthless package at under $100/yr, but it packs a mean and powerful punch, and will change your life.

Good luck!

As many others have suggested, go as a "guest" to as many meetings as you'd like, and check out a few clubs until you find one with personalities you can gel with.
 
Regular member and officer here.

If you almost mess yourself when starting to speak then this is a great place to start. here in OKC we have several clubs. It is non-profit so there is no huge pressure put on you to join a particular club. But each club does have membership goals each year so expect a little pressure.

Membership here is $33 2x a year. That will be pretty close to most clubs. That is national and regional dues plus a little extra for the club.

There is a curriculum and with each completion of 10 speeches you gain a designation. There are also two tracks - leadership and speaking. You can do them one at a time or in parallel. Once you have have completed all designations on both tracks you earn the highed distinction you can get -DTM or Distinquished Toastmaster. By that time you will have probably given 40 prepared speeches and served in a lot of leadership roles. You don't have to work on the designations but it is expected if you are going to be in a club. It is a way of showing progress. After each speech an assigned evaluator will evaluate you verbally in front of the club on how well you did for the objectives for **that** speech. They evaluate on presentation, not content. Think constructive criticism. The rest of the members are supposed to write you a private note with their feedback.

I have not completed all of the objectives but since I want to get paid for speaking I am scaling back my TM work and looking at joining NSA - National Speakers Association. There are very serious speakers there that are interested in the business of speaking. To join NSA you have to show proof of paid public speaking gigs. Unlike TM not just anybody can join NSA.

Hope it all helps.
 
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Joined my ex-company's toastmasters before I went into sales. Was fun, good internal networking, and I had to do some good thinking on my feet. Had a few wins, and a few serious bombs. Great learning lessons.

I recommend it if you suck at public speaking and need to/want to get better. As for me, I no longer currently have a use for public speaking and would now rather put my time into health, wealth, and happiness. No reason to tweak something that I'm not gonna use often.
 
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