Global Toastmasters Club Visit
Toastmasters International is a global non-profit organization that advocates to individual leadership growth and communication development. It takes the approach of "learning-by-doing" as all members need to speak by taking various meeting roles, instead of sitting passively to listen. To ensure sufficient participation for each member, the recommended club size is 20-30 people. The meeting locations and time vary a lot, from community center to hotels, from early morning to evenings.
I will document some of the clubs I have visited during this special period of time. They are classified into 3 categories:
1. Advanced Toastmasters Clubs
There is no advanced club in the region I live, so I am particularly excited about the opportunity to visit advanced clubs. Usually the criteria to join an advanced club is a member who has completed their first 10 speeches (e.g. CC) or Pathway Level Two. Some advanced clubs have additional criterion (e.g. having served as a club president or district officer).
2. Dining Toastmasters Clubs
In many important occasions, speeches take place after a meal. It is very different to speak when the audience has eaten and drunk from when the audience sit in a classroom-like meeting room. The former is closer to some major business events in the real world (e.g. fund-raising, award-ceremony, annual conventions, etc.). Organizing a TM meeting inside a restaurant requires special negotiation skills because it involves coordination in terms of budgeting, food selection, dining environment, and etc.
3. Morning Toastmasters Clubs
I was never a morning person. The majority club meetings in my city are evening clubs with a few during the day time (e.g. lunch time or weekend afternoon). Out of curiosity, I visited a few morning clubs to get a sense of the population composition and their dynamic differences. Because I am still not a morning person, these morning clubs are usually not in my own time zone. 😁
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