Join the Strong Towns Toastmasters Club!
(Source: Unsplash.)
Update: The Strong Towns Toastmasters club is up and running! We are meeting the 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month at 7:55 p.m. (ET)/6:55 p.m (CT)/5:55 p.m (MT)/4:55 p.m. (PT) on Zoom and everyone is invited! Email strongtownstoastmasters@gmail.com to receive the meeting link and make plans to join us!
A few years back, I realized I was in a fairly common predicament: my social circle was getting smaller. I had fallen into the same routine experienced by many full-time working parents with little kids—that is, work, family, sleep, repeat. I wasn’t involved in a community group like a church or volunteer organization where I could see and meet new people, and since I was on a tight budget, all of our meals were at home.
Eating at home with family is awesome, but sometimes it's light on new dinner companions.
Then, I had an embarrassing jury duty experience. When the judge called on me to answer some basic questions, I froze. Saying simple things like my name and profession in front of several hundred people was nearly impossible. I shook. I quavered. I managed to say my name (I think?) and mangled my way through the rest of the answers before sitting down in shock and humiliation.
I did some research into solutions for public speaking anxiety and learned about Toastmasters, an international non-profit organization that builds local clubs that support their communities by providing a safe place to practice public speaking and leadership skills. Even better, reviews of the organization suggested it could solve my shrinking social circle problem, as well. Club members reported finding a deep satisfaction in being able to meet other people who were motivated to improve themselves and help those around them.
Fast-forward five years through a job change and worldwide pandemic, and joining my local Toastmasters club was probably one of the best choices I’ve ever made. Not only did it build my public speaking confidence, but the connections I made have been some of the best in my adult life. And the most rewarding part has been seeing the development and successes of my fellow members, resulting in job promotions, career changes, community speeches, and starting new businesses. Every person I’d see come into the club would grow week by week as they took on roles, gave speeches, and helped other members.
This experience made me convinced of this truth: everyone has something important to say. Each person has unique experiences and perspectives that can be shared to help other people who are close to them improve their lives. And many people are not naturally comfortable with public speaking. This means that we, as a community, are not lacking in the knowledge of HOW to make positive changes, we are lacking in the ability or confidence to communicate that knowledge.
A typical in-person Toastmasters meeting. Clubs meet in person, online, or a hybrid of both.
Find Your Voice with Strong Towns Toastmasters
Strong Towns is a bottom-up revolution working to change the face of our communities: to make them safer, more profitable, and more beautiful to live in. To spread this message, Strong Towns members are speaking to other members in their communities, proposing changes to council members and engineering committees, and so much more. Not all people who have a message start off with the confidence to share it, but every person who has a message can BUILD the confidence to share it.
A strong community is all about communication. It’s about hearing the voices of all members of a community and making small, incremental changes that improve both the present and future circumstances of the people who live there.
I’ve been a member of Strong Towns since 2017 and truly believe in the Strong Town message, and also believe that this message can be difficult to share. A person’s difficulty in sharing a message can be anything from public speaking anxiety (77% people have anxiety surrounding public speaking) to uncertainty of how to build an effective presentation for a particular target audience. Sometimes sharing a message is not about a one-time presentation to a committee; sometimes it’s about having the confidence to take on a leadership role and creating an environment where other people can participate, engage, and have an impact.
Toastmasters has given me the chance to practice all of these skills…so why not bring this powerful resource into the Strong Towns community with a Strong Towns-themed Toastmasters club? This virtual club will be open to people from all over the country and will provide a safe and supportive environment to practice delivering their messages and build confidence. People who join this club as members will have the benefit of speaking to and hearing from other passionate people who can give them feedback on both their speaking techniques and their speech content.
What Does a Toastmasters Meeting Look Like?
Each Toastmaster club has a unique flavor or focus supporting the needs of its members. All follow a similar meeting format and structure in order to help people build communication skills, such as impromptu speaking, prepared speaking, and critical thinking and listening skills.
Impromptu Speaking: In the impromptu speaking portion of the meeting, a moderator asks a series of questions to different audience members based on the theme of the day. Audience members practice answering in a polished manner with no prior time to prepare a response. Where can you use these skills? Impromptu speaking is often used in interviews, or any time a person is asked to speak or present without prior notification of the question or topic.
Prepared Speeches: A member presents a 5–7 minute speech to the audience. The speech is written by the member and follows a Toastmaster speech project that teaches members different speaking techniques or focuses on developing a leadership skill. Where can you use these skills? Prepared speeches are used in numerous professional and community settings and delivered to a wide range of target audiences.
Speech Evaluations: A member gives a 2–3 minute evaluation of a prepared speech. They speak on aspects of the speech that were effective and give tips or suggestions about what the member can do to make the speech even stronger for next time. Where can you use these skills? Learning to give positive, constructive feedback not only helps develop critical thinking and listening skills, it’s a fundamental skill great leaders need to mentor and guide their team.
Functionary Evaluations: Meeting functionaries improve their critical thinking and listening skills by taking on the task to evaluate the speaker’s grammar and filler word usage. Speakers use feedback to improve their delivery and effectiveness of their presentation. Where can you use these skills? Critical thinking and listening skills are essential for effective group planning sessions.
How People Benefit
People benefit from joining a Toastmasters club in a variety of ways.
Confidence: Practicing a variety of roles, giving speeches, and participating in Table Topics boost members confidence.
Speaking Skills: The Pathways educational program has dozens of speech projects focusing on techniques speakers can use to improve their speech writing and presentation techniques. The online materials include topic overviews, helpful example videos, etc. After a member gives a speech, another member prepares a formal evaluation of the speech discussing the strong points and the areas of possible improvement.
Leadership: Taking on roles within the club, such as helping other members with a speech or helping to organize a club meeting, gives real-life leadership experience in a supportive environment.
Networking: Toastmasters clubs are a great way of meeting other people who are focused on personal improvement. For clubs with a strong theme, it's also a good way of meeting other people with similar interests or goals.
(Source: Benefits of Toastmaster Membership.)
Do You Want To Build Your Skills? Join Our First Demo Meeting!
To get the new club kicked off we are setting up a club demo meeting open to all guests who are interested in learning more about this educational program. The demo meeting will be structured just like a regular Toastmasters meeting, with examples of impromptu speaking, prepared speeches, and evaluations. After the meeting, information about how to join the new club as a member will be sent to you.
Strong Towns Toastmasters Club Demo Meeting
LOCATION: Zoom | DATE: Thursday, June 2, 2022 | TIME: 8:00-9:30 p.m. CT
People who decide to join the club as chartering members will pay Toastmaster International club dues every six months and join more than 300,000 other active Toastmasters members worldwide in their mission to build better communication and leadership skills.
Testimonial from Strong Towns Member Norman Peterson:
I joined Toastmasters to learn how to be a better communicator of things I care about—and that’s exactly what has happened!
My time in this club has helped me become a really passionate example of the benefits of Toastmasters, as I've grown in confidence as a speaker, perceptiveness as a speech evaluator, and capacity as a leader. As a member of a weekly club, I am able to practice skills and try new things as a speaker and leader without the fear that there will be ramifications for my work life if I mess something up. Our club regularly receives young professionals who are nervous to speak and being passed over for advancement in their work because of it. This is especially the case with members who speak English as an additional language that they are still mastering. Within a month or two, these same individuals blossom into bolder, stronger, and more impactful speakers because they have had a chance to speak up, receive insightful feedback, and try out a bunch of things that help them defeat their nerves and discover a style that works best for them. The transformation from stammering over the basics to articulating complex concepts is remarkable.
People ask me why I'm still in Toastmasters if I speak as a pastor every week, and I explain that I love being able to practice all kinds of different speaking techniques in a non-stressful and non-consequential setting. I won't be booed or reprimanded if my efforts to try something new don't really work out as I envisioned it. I'm also a big fan of evaluating other speakers because it forces me to learn about the structures and techniques of effective communication in real time.
Toastmasters clubs can really vary, but the two I've belonged to have been fun, friendly, and filled with a diverse blend of people. The same can be said for Strong Towns and I am really excited about the prospect of bringing those two worlds together in a Strong Towns Toastmasters Club. I have been a member of two Toastmasters clubs for six years and a member of Strong Towns for 8eight years, and I regularly give speeches inspired by things I've picked up from Strong Towns.
If you'd like to learn how to share your thoughts and ideas with anyone you meet in a convincing way, don't hesitate to get involved! You'll be really glad you did and I'll be really glad to meet you!
Jennifer Gaughran works as the Marketing Lead at centrexIT, a leading IT services provider. She joined Toastmasters in 2017 to develop better communication skills, with the belief that excellent communication skills extend the possibilities of a person's professional and personal life. She is interested in permaculture, personal growth through imagination, constantly working outside of one's comfort zones, and how a city's infrastructure affects the happiness levels of people. She and her family live in San Diego and run an adventure story podcast for kids called The Adventures of Red Knight. You can connect with Jennifer on LinkedIn.