by Bert Yow DTM
You may think that Toastmasters just teaches public speaking. That’s true about public speaking, but the fundamental skill set that Toastmasters teaches is to organize your thoughts, put those thoughts into words, and deliver those words … all seamlessly. Imagine being the person who consistently says the right thing at the right time. Toastmasters teaches this skill by giving speeches, participating in table topics, and performing evaluations.
In table topics, you’re given a topic and you have to expound on that topic for about a minute or two. Evaluations are much more difficult because you have to listen to a speech, decide what you like about the speech, decide how you’re going to tell the speaker what he or she needs to improve on, prepare a two-minute evaluation, and do all this within 15 minutes while the meeting is going on. It’s hard, and there are times I’m not sure what I said, but this will teach you to organize your thoughts, put your thoughts into words, and get the words out.
Giving an evaluation can help you grow, but getting an evaluation on a speech helps as well. When I first started in Toastmasters, the evaluations from my first few speeches went like this: Enjoyed your speech; seemed a little nervous, particularly at the beginning of your speech; you could really improve if you would move away from the lectern. I’ll never be a world champion speaker, but I am a lot better than I was, and that’s the whole point of Toastmasters–to be better than we were.
At first, the changes occurring in your skill set are imperceptible. Slowly, however, the changes compound, and then you realize real growth has occurred. Every waking hour we use these skills. Yes, I am Sold On Toastmasters.