All About Toastmasters

Baylor Orators Toastmasters at Lunch
According to opinion polls, speaking in public is one of the greatest fears in life. Do you fall into this category? Would you like to overcome your fear and improve your communication skills in a supportive and professional environment? If so, The Baylor Orators Toastmasters Club is for you. For more than 75 years, Toastmasters International has provided the tools to enable employees to become effective public speakers and leaders. Members learn by speaking to groups and working with others in a supportive environment. During weekly meetings, you will learn at your own pace how to conduct meetings, evaluate oral presentations, give short answers to impromptu questions and, yes, deliver a variety of speeches before an audience of fellow club members who provide you with needed moral support and helpful advice. The leadership and listening skills you acquire will prove invaluable in your work place. Visit the Baylor Orators Toastmasters Club to see what it's all about! We meet every Friday from noon - 1:00 p.m. in the Clifton Robinson Tower, Room 451 (4th Floor Classroom). Bring your lunch and join us for some stimulating communication!

How Toastmasters works.
At Toastmasters, members learn by speaking to groups and working with others in a supportive environment. A typical Toastmasters club is made up of 20 to 30 people who meet once a week for about an hour. Each meeting gives everyone an opportunity to practice:

• Conducting meetings. Meetings usually begin with a short business session which helps members learn basic meeting procedures.
• Giving impromptu speeches. Members present one-to two-minute impromptu speeches on assigned topics.
• Presenting prepared speeches. Three or more members present speeches based on projects from the Toastmasters International Communication and Leadership Program manuals. Projects cover such topics as speech organization, voice, language, gestures, and persuasion.
• Offering constructive evaluation. Every prepared speaker is assigned an evaluator who points out speech strengths and offers suggestions for improvement.

The Tools You Use.
Upon joining a Toastmasters club, each new member receives a variety of manuals and resources on speaking. Members also have access to other books as well as audio and video cassettes on speaking and leading. They also receive the award-winning The Toastmaster, a monthly magazine that offers the latest insights on speaking and leadership techniques.

Toastmasters and Leadership.
Leadership cannot be learned in a day. It takes practice. In Toastmasters members build leadership skills by organizing and conducting meetings and motivating others to help them. Club leadership roles and a leadership development program also offer opportunities to learn and practice. Just as Toastmasters members learn to speak simply by speaking, they learn leadership by leading.

Company Benefits.
A company's success also depends on communication. Employees face an endless exchange of ideas, messages, and information as they deal with one another and with customers day after day. How well they communicate can determine whether a company quickly grows into an industry leader or joins thousands of other businesses mired in mediocrity.

Toastmasters provides the tools that enable employees to become effective communicators and leaders all at a very low cost. Toastmasters training helps employees:

• give better sales presentations
• hone their management skills
• work better with fellow employees
• effectively develop and present ideas
• offer constructive criticism
• accept criticism more objectively

Toastmasters produces results. Around the world more than three million men and women of all ages and occupations have benefited from Toastmasters training, and more than one thousand corporations, community groups, universities, associations, and government agencies now use Toastmasters training.

Community Benefits.
Toastmasters has helped many members in their community service activities. Using the speaking and leadership skills developed in Toastmasters, people have become more active in business, churches, and service and charity organizations. Toastmasters members are able to organize activities, conduct meetings, and speak in public as their organization's representative. Some even become active in local, state or national government.

About Toastmasters International.
Toastmasters International is a non-profit organization governed by a Board of Directors elected by the membership. The first Toastmasters club was established on October 22, 1924, in Santa Ana, California, by Dr. Ralph C. Smedley, who conceived and developed the idea of helping others to speak more effectively. More clubs were formed, and Toastmasters International was incorporated under California law on December 19, 1932.

Toastmasters International's business and services are administered by its World Headquarters, located in Rancho Santa Margarita, California. It employs no paid promoters or instructors. It has no salaried staff except the Executive Director and World Headquarters staff, who provide services to the clubs and Districts.

Become a Member
Ready to join? Follow this link to our Become a Member page to find out how!

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Earlybird Toastmasters
Division 25 Toastmasters