Toastmasters International is the world's largest association whose aim is to make effective oral communication a reality.Toastmasters International offers everyone the opportunity to master the art of listening, thinking and speaking, life skills that facilitate personal achievement, enhance leadership potential, foster understanding between people, thus contribute to the improvement of our society. Toastmasters International is a nonprofit organization governed by a board of directors elected by the members. The first Toastmasters club Federated emerged in October 1924 in California Santa, thanks to Dr. R. Smedley, who had the idea of this concept, to help all individuals to speak more effectively in public.Since then, several clubs were created. For example in 2004, the club joined the 10000th and the association already had 200 000 members. In 2014, over 100 countries offering clubs are listed. New York has more than 250 clubs, half of which is sponsored by companies for the permanent training of employees. The mission of "Toastmasters Club" is to provide a mutually stimulating and positive learning environment in which every individual member has the opportunity to develop oral communication skills, command of native or Foreign Language, self-confidence and personal development. To carry out this mission, the Club:
• help its individual members improve their ability to communicate effectively;
• provides for the formation of its individual members educational materials and opportunities to develop their skills and give them experience in the preparation and delivery of speeches;
• encourages individual members to read and listen analytically;
• provides its individual members in a fair and constructive in their efforts to improve evaluation;
• increases among its individual members, knowledge of the rules of parliamentary procedure and the ability to conduct meetings and participate in group discussions;
• provides leadership training to its individual members; gives individual members the opportunity to speak in public, and encourages them to express themselves confidently. What do we do at a Toastmasters meeting?
- Prepared Speeches :
Upon subscription, you will have to prepare and deliver speeches with successive goals as you improve on specific aspects of your communication (structuring your speech, stress management, body movement, use of visual aids, change your voice etc.). Manuals are provided to you and you are assigned a mentor to help you get started and your progress.
- Improvisation sessions
We are regularly involved on various topics without preparing specifically our involvement. Our improvisation exercises allow to prepare and familiarize oneself with that need to be effective in your communication even when it is spontaneous.
- Roles for our self-assessment
One of the keys to the Toastmasters method is evaluation. That is, the need to meet again in the mirror at the end of training session to analyze the level of goal achievement. For this evaluation, we can cite key roles as:
Timekeeper: It manages time and ensures that the session starts and ends at the regular time. Compliance time is crucial in Toastmasters. The grammarian: The guardian of the language. He noted the inappropriate use of the language adopted by the club for its sessions. The Ah counter : He has tics and crutches that litter our speaking and reduce the impact of our interventions. To discover all the roles in a Toastmasters meeting, join us and take roles as soon as you are a member. Toastmasters, Punctuality - Attendance - Friendliness
