Why do clubs hold meetings?

In Toastmasters, you learn by doing. The club meeting is the practice venue, where you rehearse and refine your skills by participating in a variety of roles.

This is also an opportunity to experiment, to try out different techniques while you develop your own style.

Feedback is an important part of Toastmasters. The feedback is for the benefit of the speaker; it helps you refine your speaking skills and style.

As you get feedback, you learn what went well, and what you can do to make your speeches even better. You learn how long your speech lasted, and if you used filler words ("ah", "um", "you know..", etc.).

You can also learn by watching others give speeches and listening to their feedback. You may pick up new techniques to try out in your next speech.

What happens at a club meeting?

Do you want to pay a virtual visit to a club meeting? See a 13-minute video.

A standard Toastmasters meeting has three main sections.

Prepared speeches - Members give speeches, where you practice a variety of presentation skills.

Table topics - You learn to think on your feet by answering impromptu questions with a 1-2 minute speech.

Evaluations - Evaluators give feedback on everyone who spoke during the meeting.

Speech evaluators will give an evaluation (yes, it's also a speech!) for each prepared speech. The evaluators also provide a written evaluation. As you get feedback, you learn what went well, and what you can do to make your next speeches even better.

The Timer will give you feedback on how long your speech lasted. The Ah Counter will give you feedback on your use of filler words. The Grammarian will give you feedback on grammatical issues.

But I'm a guest!

As a guest, you can choose to simply observe the meeting. If you’re feeling more adventurous and want to get up and speak, you can participate in Table Topics. All of the meeting roles are speaking roles, so you can also volunteer to take on a role (the Timer role is a good place to start).

You need to be a current member of Toastmasters International in order to get credit for a manual project, such as a prepared speech.