Frequently Asked Questions

Nearly everyone is afraid of speaking. In fact, surveys often show people fear public speaking more than death! Even accomplished speakers may experience moments when their heart races, palms sweat and mind freezes before an audience. Toastmasters can help with that.

Members and guests attend meetings for help in communicating and speaking before audiences. Skill level can vary from beginner to accomplished, but remember that veteran members have themselves experienced the anxiety of their own first club speech, and consequently are ready to offer support to new members starting their own journey.

Aware you're nervous, but not convinced you should do anything about it? Consider this: Communication is often the most important skill necessary to getting and keeping a good job.

Many times people who think they're highly skilled come to Toastmasters and discover there's plenty of room for improvement. Being comfortable doesn't necessarily mean that you're actually good at communicating. In addition, even good communicators find ways to improve. Toastmasters can give new speakers a lot of skills and keep good speakers improving.

If you still don't know whether you'd like Toastmasters, why not visit a meeting?   You can visit our club for free. If you decide it’s not your cup of tea, we'll still be happy you came by.

Many current courses, including on-line classes, in public speaking typically involve instructional lectures and a few speaking opportunities. Speech feedback often focuses on what went poorly. Unfortunately this approach may not build confidence or motivation and crucial repetition is limited. On the other hand, Toastmasters offers steady practice, reinforcement and ultimately, improvement. You learn by doing as well as observing.

Paid courses such as Dale Carnegie can be very good but are expensive and time-limited. Toastmasters costs very little, and participation can last a lifetime.

When you join Toastmasters, you will enroll in an online learning tool called Pathways™. Each Path has a different emphasis, such as Presentation Mastery or Motivation Strategies. You choose your own Path, then do a series of speech assignments designed to enhance your communication and leadership skills. For each assignment, you will prepare a speech on a subject of your own choosing, then deliver it to the club.

Each time you give a prepared speech, you receive a 2 to 3 minute oral evaluation from a preassigned evaluator. A good evaluator will say "here's what you did well, here's why doing that was good, here are some things you might want to work on for your next speech, and here's how you might work on them." Not only does the speaker receive very useful feedback, but being an evaluator gives you the opportunity to improve your own ability to practice critical judgment and to give constructive feedback along with positive reinforcement, encouragement, and motivation for others.

Table Topics are fun! They may seem intimidating, but that's the point! You, the guest or member, are called upon to give a 1 to 1½ minute answer to a question not known to you until the moment you get up to speak! Great practice for thinking "on your feet!" Topics might be serious (e.g. "What would you do about the national deficit if you were President?") or wacky ("Reach into this bag. Pull an item out. Tell us about it.").

Each type of speech has certain time limits. Most prepared speeches are 5-7 minutes, Table Topics usually 1 to 1½ minutes, and evaluations 2-3 minutes. This drives home the point that a good speaker makes effective use of the time allotted and does not keep going and going and going until the audience is bored. In the real world, quite often there are practical limits on how long a meeting can or should go. By setting time limits on speeches and presentations, participants learn brevity and time management, and the club meeting itself can be expected to end on time.