Improve Your Communication Skill With Toastmasters

When Gaia Dong was up on stage with her speech ready, she was terrified. The light in the room suddenly seemed brighter, the audience stricter, their eyes turning into laser guns shooting into her eyeballs, streaming into her brain cells and disturbing her normal brain waves, causing her mouth to stutter. She knew she had failed.

It was her first Toastmasters speech. She had joined to improve her public speaking skills. And when she finally came down the stage after finishing her speech, things were looking up. She had fared better than she had thought. By the time she had finished giving 10 speeches, she had gained a lot of confidence and her nervousness had almost vanished into thin air. Toastmasters had worked wonders for her.

What is Toastmasters?

Do you feel that you have been singled out to be the sacrificial lamb in front of a room full of people when you walk up to stage for a speech? Then Toastmasters International would be the dream come true for you. It is a non-profit educational organization operating clubs worldwide to help members improve their:

• Communication
• Leadership and
• Public speaking skills.

In other words, people get together for fun, deliver short talks and get supportive feedback. But the best part is, all the participants are trying to achieve the same goal: better communication. It was founded on October 22, 1924 by Mr. Ralph C. Smedley and presently, it boasts over 313000 members and over 14560 clubs in 126 countries with an annual membership growth of 7.3%.

How Toastmaster works?

Each Toastmasters membership comes with a bunch of 15 manuals. Each manual contains guidelines to speaking assignments. For example, the first manual comprises guidelines for 10 assignments on foundation skills such as, eye contact, gestures, organization and delivery. There’s plenty to learn.

Each speaker is assigned an evaluator, who provides a written feedback for every speech delivered by their respective participant. Their valuable feedback goes a long way in helping participants. “There was a local newscaster in our club who I desperately wanted to emulate. I remember this one time I was trying to match her very regal, refined style, but I failed miserably. She encouraged me to find my own voice and to always share my personal connection to the topic”, says Lisa B. Marshall, who was once a member of a Toastmasters club.

A timer is a person who makes sure that the speaker sticks to his/her allotted time slot. A grammarian points out errors in pronunciation and grammar. Apart from that, an overall evaluator evaluates the whole process and points out what went well and what did not.

Recommended read: Ways to build self-confidence in your child

How Toastmasters helps in communication?

Did you know that, by 2020, the amount of knowledge in the world will double every 73 days! Since we live in a world where content intimidates us everyday, communication becomes the only way to make such content accessible to people. This is where public speaking comes in. And Toastmasters work wonders.

• You would get to meet people who share the same goal as you: leadership, public speaking and excellent communication skills.
• You would get an enormous amount of practice with Toastmasters since you are required to deliver speeches frequently. You would learn to develop proper hand and eye gestures and co-ordination, the right ways to convey information, voice modulation and more.
• The feedback you get are extremely valuable to help improve your skills. Even if you are fluent enough, there is always room for improvement. At Toastmasters, you are encouraged to find your stand, your unique voice instead of drowning in the medley of chaos.
• Participants are taught to manage time while delivering their speeches and correct their grammar and expressions to match the one required in the respective speeches.
• Toastmasters presents a very organized and structured atmosphere to every participant and a strong emphasis is laid on being supportive of the people around you. The best thing about being a Toastmaster is the feeling of being welcomed. And when you feel comfortable in an environment, your confidence soars and your nervousness vanishes.
• “One of the aspects of Toastmasters that surprised me most was just how fun the meetings are. Even without all the skill and relationship benefits, I would go to meetings sheerly for entertainment”, Scott H. Young talks about his Toastmasters experience.

There is an interesting section in the meeting called the Table Topics. This is where the Table Topics Master comes to the meeting with a prepared set of questions and ideas and picks out a participant randomly and asks him/her to respond to the question posed. Even though it might seem scary, this extemporaneous round helps in boosting your self-confidence.

Joining a Toastmasters club is easy. All you need to do is visit a club near you, fill out a form and a New member Kit will be sent to you. It’s that easy!

Share this post:

MyPrivateTutor UAE

MyPrivateTutor is an online marketplace for all kinds of tutoring and learning services. We provide a platform to help learners find home tutors, online tutors, expert trainers,tutorial centers, training institutes and online tutoring schools. Learners can also find local classes, workshops, online courses and tutorials on a huge variety of topics. We operate in 12 countries worldwide and our community of learners, teachers and training businesses numbers over 200,000. We provide an opportunity for individual tutors and tutoring businesses to promote and grow their business.