Toastmasters
makes learning fun!
This non-profit organization offers a
proven – and enjoyable – way to practice communication
and leadership skills. Here's how it works:
A Toastmasters meeting is
a learn-by-doing workshop in
which participants hone their speaking and leadership skills in a
friendly atmosphere. A typical group has 20 to 40 members who
meet weekly or biweekly to practice public speaking techniques.
The average meeting lasts one hour.
Members learn
communication skills by
working in the Competent
Communication manual,
a series of 10 self-paced speaking assignments designed to instil
a basic foundation in public speaking. Participants learn skills
related to use of humour, gestures, eye contact, speech
organization and overall delivery. When finished with this
manual, members can choose from 15 advanced manuals to learn
skills related to specific interests.
Members also learn
leadership skills by taking on
various meeting roles and serving as officers at the club and
district levels, and by working in the Competent
Leadership manual and
the High Performance
Leadership program. In
our learn-by-doing approach, we don't lecture our members about
leadership skills; we give them responsibilities and ask them to
lead.
There is no instructor in
a Toastmasters meeting. Instead,
members evaluate one another’s presentations. This feedback
process is a key part of the program’s success. Meeting
participants also give impromptu talks on assigned topics,
conduct meetings, serve as officers in various leadership roles
and learn rules related to timing, grammar and parliamentary
procedure.
Thousands of corporations sponsor
in-house Toastmasters clubs. Businesses and government
organizations have discovered that Toastmasters is an effective,
cost-efficient means of meeting their communication training
needs.
Toastmasters groups also can
be found in governmental agencies, as well as in a variety of
community organizations, prisons, universities, hospitals,
military bases and churches.
Please contact
either Colin Davies (colin@colindaviescoaching.com)
or Derek Myburg (derekmy@absa.co.za)
for more information.
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