Maximize Your Toastmaster Experience

By Calvin Dorsey, DTM and Chair D25 Speakers Bureau

Other than a billion dollars, what does Jeff Bezos of Amazon fame have that you can acquire for just $90 a year?

The answer is confidence. Not just epistemic confidence — a feeling of certainty about your skills and your knowledge — I’m talking about social confidence. Self-assuredness. An annual Toastmasters’ membership can provide the means for you to develop your social confidence like the billionaire Jeff Bezos.

At club meetings, do you act like you belong, that you deserve to be there? Are you secure in yourself and your role? When you speak, are you confident that you have something to say regardless of shark attacks that might come your direction?

If you speak as if you’re worth listening to, you are displaying social confidence. Jeff Bezos has it! And some of the most successful and likable people have it, too.

As chair of the D25 Speakers Bureau, I talk to a lot of people who think you have to aspire to be a professional speaker to join the bureau. That’s not the case!

Here are the qualifications:

• Must be an active paid member of a club in District 25
• Complete the Competent Communicator Manual or Levels 1 and 2 in Pathways
• Strong desire to speak outside the club to organizations and community groups
• Present a 10-15 minute audition speech

For more information, go to d25toastmasters.org. 

What are best practices to maximize the Toastmaster’s experience? Thank you for asking.

Plain and simple: the curriculum.

• Read all the material in your Pathway, complete the self-assessments and projects, watch the videos, then practice until it becomes second nature.
• Create your speaking calendar and set target dates for making speeches in order to complete all of the levels in your paths.
• Serve as a club officer to develop and sharpen your leadership skills. This crucial experience will greater enhance your social confidence.
• Attend as many TLI events as possible. Learn and grow.
• Volunteer for a district leadership role.

One of the traits of a potential member of the Speakers Bureau is social confidence. It’s key to represent yourself and District 25 to the best of your ability.

Maximize your Toastmaster experience by joining the Speakers Bureau!