Ladies and Gentlemen:
One of the common questions asked out there goes: - "What's this thing they call Toastmasters?" Otherwise, if you are already one of them, one of the so-called Toastmasters, the question would be -"Just what do you do in there?" And I think that is a good question.
Do we toast bread? Do we make toasters? Or do we raise our wine glasses in celebration and offer someone our best wishes or congratulations? I'd say we go by the third allusion because in Toastmasters, we do celebrate. We celebrate speech, we celebrate oral communication, ... and in Toastmasters, -because we are goal-oriented, we celebrate goals achieved!
Toastmasters is an international organization geared to help people be competent and comfortable in front of people. It also addresses people who'd rather die than speak in front of an audience. But more important, this organization of nearly 250,000 members in more than 12,000 clubs in some 106 countries offers an enjoyable way of practicing communicative and leadership skills.
Like any normal organization, Toastmasters International has a structure which looks like this.
Here, the Member belongs to Toastmasters International in terms of World Headquarters through a system of governance from the Club he belongs to, to the Area, the Division, and the District. So starting from the Member, that's you, it takes at least 20 active members to form a club; - 20 individuals interested in being a better listener, a better thinker, a better speaker. Then it takes at least 3 contiguous clubs to form an Area led by an Area Governor; 3 contiguous Areas to form a Division led by a Division Governor, and in turn, at least 3 contiguous Divisions to form a District led by a District Governor; and finally, - all the Districts all over the world are under the supervision of World Headquarters of Toastmasters International, which by the way, is located at Mission Viejo in California of the USA. The names of the Officers and of the Board of Directors you will find in each copy of The Toastmaster, a monthy magazine which you, as a Member, receive from Headquarters together with your speech manuals.
Now the Club, like any other club, has Officers from out of the membership to keep it running: A President, The Immediade Past President, 3 Vice-Presidents (one for Education, one for Membership, and one for Public Relations), a Treasurer, a Secretary, a Sgt-at-Arms. These officers are responsible for trying to achieve club goals, one of which is to help its Members achieve their own goals as well. They are further responsible for well-planned regular Club Meetings which identify as the heart of the Toastmasters Club. It is in these structured meetings where the Members enjoy fun and camaraderie as they gain knowledge by participation... where they gain self-confidence with each attendance they make.
Well then, dear Friends,- being in this particular Toastmasters' Meeting right now, you certainly recognize the structured parts. The three major portions point out to The Introductory Portion, The Educational Portion, and The Evaluation Portion. We had fun of sorts listening to the Joke Master and participating in the Table Topics Session during the Introductory Part. The Table Topics Session invited some members to speak impromptu for 2 minutes on the theme topics prepared by the Table Topics Master. As I speak, we are brought to the Educational Portion which calls for members who are ready to deliver prepared manual speeches.. This will then be followed by the Evaluation Portion where the General Evaluator handling this portion will call on the individual Evaluators of each speech to point out the excellent aspects of the speech as well as the aspects where the speaker could improve on. The General Evaluator will also call on the Members assigned to give a report on how we managed our time in speaking, how correct our grammar was, and on how well we tried to avoid uttering linguistic crutches like 'ah', 'umm', 'you know', and others... after which, he will also comment on how well the meeting as a whole was handled. From there, the Meeting ends. But I must mention the fact that meetings, while following standard parts all over the world, could also be governed by certain cultural differences.
Time now to return the focus on the Member, dear friends. Because Toastmasters International is goal-oriented, you would understand why goal-achieving starts with the Member. There is what we call the Educational System in Toastmasters. As a Member, you will get to know the complete picture so that for tonight's purposes, allow me to just go through it briefly.
This system provides Members with a curriculum to develop both his Communicative and Leadership skills. By going through both tracts in his own good time and pacing, the ultimate goal would be a norm or award conferred by Toastmasters International on the Member.... that of Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM). The Communication Tract found on the left has the Member first achieve the Competent Communicator norm, followed by the three levels of Advanced Communicator, namely: Bronze, Silver, and Gold.. Simultaneously with, or one after the other, the Leadership Tract on the right has the Member achieve the Competent Leader norm, followed by the two levels of Advanced Leader: Bronze and Silver. After the Member has achieved both the Advanced Communicator and Advanced Leader norms, then is he conferred the highest norm, which is Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM).
But see, what I have given you is just a tip off the iceberg regarding what Toastmasters is all about....just a showcase window. The next thing for me is now to invite you to come into the store and look closer into the many good things Toastmasters offers you. To you, our Guests, come join us within the context of intellectual fun and camaraderie that you can experience only in a Toastmasters Meeting such as this. And having said that, may I invite you further as I propose a toast. (raise wine glass) Ladies and Gentlemen, here's to excellence in the name of Toastmasters!
Mister Toastmaster......
No comments:
Post a Comment