At The Core

Toastmasters is known as a place for people to work on public speaking. That has been Toastmasters' calling card since Ralph Smedley started forming speaking clubs a century ago.

Recently, Toastmasters International decided to rebrand itself, redesigning the Toastmasters logo and establishing the motto "Where leaders are made." to emphasize Toastmasters' leadership skills development program.

Developing members' communication and leadership skills has been the core emphasis of Toastmasters throughout my 13 years, however my experience is that Toastmasters' has something much more fundamental at the core.

Those who join and participate in Toastmasters come from all walks of life and all sorts of different experiences and beliefs, but they do have one thing in common: Every active member is working to improve himself or herself.

Every Toastmasters that I have ever known that completed the first 10 speeches in the Competent Communication manual has of course improved his or her communication and presentation skills, but each also improved his or her confidence, organization, perception, awareness, and self-esteem. Because of these changes, every member's personal and professional lives improved.

When I was going through my divorce, I was having an emotionally difficult time, and for several months there was almost no one I could really talk to. I was also very unhappy at my job, so the two Toastmasters meetings I went to each week were my only respite. Watching my fellow Toastmasters continue to grow and improve I was continually reminded that things do and will get better.

I finally needed to speak out in order to heal, so I gave a speech at each club telling them about my pending divorce and my emotional turmoil. I even broke down in front of everyone. My evaluator evaluated the speech with poise, empathy, and suggestions -- and stuck to evaluating the speech. My fellow Toastmasters were supportive and encouraging.

At the core, Toastmasters is not about communications or leadership; it is not about making leaders or public speaking. In truth, Toastmasters is the best support group not just for fear of public speaking, but for ANY problem. At the core, Toastmasters is about building better people.