WHAT IS TOASTMASTERS?
Toastmasters International is a non-profit educational corporation headquartered in Rancho Santa Margarita, California. Its mission is to improve communication and leadership skills of its members and in general.
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HOW IS TOASTMASTERS ORGANIZED?
Clubs consist of at least eight members and may have forty or more. The recommended size for a club is twenty or more. Over 8,000 clubs exist in communities around the world, especially in North America. There are many types of clubs: community clubs, military clubs, company clubs, prison clubs, collegiate clubs, and so on.
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WHAT'S A "PREPARED SPEECH?"
When you join Toastmasters you receive two basic communication and leadership manuals with ten speech projects and leadership projects. Each communication project allows you to prepare a speech on a subject of your own choice using specific speaking objectives. Each manual project includes a written checklist for your evaluator to use when evaluating the speech or leadership project. Then, when you go to the meeting, you hand your manual to your evaluator and that person makes written comments on the checklist while you speak. At the end of the meeting, that person (your evaluator) will give oral commentary as well. The purpose of the extensive preparation and commentary is to show you what you're doing well, what you need to work on so that you're constantly improving.
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WHAT SPEECH PROJECTS ARE THERE FOR ME TO WORK ON?
In the basic ("Communication and Leadership" manual), there are ten speech projects:

1. "The Icebreaker" - 4 to 6 minutes - getting over nervousness by introducing yourself to the club.
2. "Organize Your Speech" - 5 to 7 minutes - deliver a well organized speech
3. "Get To the Point" - 5 to 7 minutes - Make direct points for the audience to follow.
4. "How You Say It" - 5 to 7 minutes - Select vivid, accurate words to present a clear message.
5. "Your Body Speaks" - 5 to 7 minutes - use gestures, body language, expression to augment your speech objectives.
6. "Vocal Variety" - 5 to 7 minutes - work on rate of delivery, volume, pitch emphasis, pitch.
7. "Research Your Topic" - 5 to 7 minutes - incorporate research, statistics to validate speech points.
8. "Get Comfortable with Visual Aids" - 5 to 7 minutes - use appropriate visual aids for your speech.
9. "Persuade With Power" - 5 to 7 minutes - persuade audiences to adopt your viewpoint or take action.
10. "Inspire Your Audience" - 8 - 10 minutes - The final speech in this manual. Inspire and challenge the audience using stories, quotes, drama.
    
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    WHAT IS "TABLE TOPICS?"
    Table Topics is fun! Basically, it calls on you, the guest or member, to present a one to two minute impromptu speech on a subject not known to you until the moment you get up to speak! A member of the club assigned to be Topic Master prepares a few impromptu topics and call on members or guests to consent to stand up and speak on the topic. Topics might include current events (e.g. "What would you do about Haitian boat people if you were President?") or philosophy ("If you had no shoes and met a man who had no feet, how would you feel?") or the wacky ("Reach into this bag. Pull an item out. Tell us about It.")
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    WHAT IS AN EVALUATION?
    The Evaluation program is the third of the three main parts to the meeting, "Better Listening." All speakers, as noted above, are evaluated by an assigned evaluator according to the speech objects in their manuals. A robust evaluation is tough to do well. A good evaluator will say "here's what you did well, and here's why doing that was good, and here are some things you might want to work on for your next speech, and here's how you might work on them." It's important to remember that the evaluator is just one point of view, although one that has focused in on your speech closely. Other members of the audience can and should give you written or spoken comments on aspects of your speech they feel important to emphasize.
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    WHAT'S ALL THIS EMPHASIS ON TIME LIMITS?
    As noted above, all speeches have time limits. Table Topics have time limits (1-2 minutes) and evaluations have time limits (2-3 minutes). The point is that a good speaker effective uses the time allotted rather than bore the audience. Participants learn brevity and time management and the club meeting itself can be expected to begin and end on schedule. Time limits are rarely enforced to the letter. In only a few situations will you find yourself cut off if you go too long, and that's up to the individual club. Most clubs don't cut speakers off if they go overtime. It is common for clubs to use a set of timing lights to warn the speakers of the advance of time.
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    I'M SCARED TO DEATH OF SPEAKING! WHY SHOULD I LOOK INTO TOASTMASTERS?
    EVERYONE is afraid of speaking. In poll after poll, "public speaking" comes up as more feared than "death." Public speaking is the nation's #1 adult fear. You are no different. Even if you think you're really good at speaking, there will come times when your heart stops and your palms sweat and you freeze before an audience. Toastmasters can help with that. Remember that EVERYONE in a Toastmasters club is there to provide a mutually supportive environment, so get comfortable and open up your mouth and speak!
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    WHAT DO I GET FOR MY NEW MEMBER FEE?
    Your New Member fee ($20.00) gets you the following: * The Communication and Leadership project manual * The "Gestures - Your Body Speaks" manual * The "A Speaker's Guide to Evaluation" manual * The Voice manual The latter three items are instructional manuals rather than project manuals. Only the first is a workbook.
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    IF I JOIN, WILL THEY MAKE ME SPEAK RIGHT AWAY?
    No. You will not be asked to speak unless you're ready to. If you feel more comfortable waiting a few months, that's fine. Most clubs attempt to arrange the meeting schedules in such a way that most members are involved in some capacity at each meeting, so you'll need to let them know what your wishes are.
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    WHAT IS AN AREA, DIVISION, DISTRICT?
    Clubs are grouped into Areas of three to eight Clubs. Each Area has its own Area Governor, a member of one of the clubs appointed by the District Governor to serve the Area. Area Governors are usually, but not always, members of a club in the Area they are responsible for. Areas have Area Speech Contests several times a year, with winners from the Club levels going on to the Area Contest. The winner of the Area Contest goes on to the Division.
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    WHAT IS A DIVISION?
    Areas are grouped into Divisions. Divisions may be as small as one Area in size (rarely) or as have five, six, or more Areas. Each Division has its own Division Governor. Division Governors are usually members of clubs within their Division and are elected once a year at the Annual District Business Meeting. The Division Governor works with his Area Governors to motivate the clubs to high membership and to have good, effective educational programs.
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    WHAT IS A DISTRICT?
    Districts in some cases are equivalent to "states" and in other cases are smaller or larger. If you think of a District as "the state organization," you won't be too far off. Districts are comprised of several Divisions. Districts are the main level of organization outside the Club. Areas and Divisions are sub-units of the District. California has several Districts because there are so many clubs there. Georgia, on the other hand, is a single District. England and Scotland and Ireland are one District all together. Each District has its own set of officers, most of who are elected at the District Spring Conference. Districts have speech contests several times a year, as the Division winners come together at the District Conferences to compete for the District crowns.
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    WHAT'S ALL THIS ABOUT SPEECH CONTESTS?
    In order to provide outlets for members who enjoy competitive speaking, and in order to showcase the "Best", Toastmasters clubs hold speech contests throughout the year. Each contest starts at the club level and works its way up through Area and Division to the District. The International Speech Contest goes on to the Regional and International levels.

    The contests are:

    * Evaluation - 2 to 3 minutes in length. A target speaker gives a speech, which all the evaluation contestants are to evaluate. The contestants are taken from the room and given five minutes to prepare their speeches and make notes. Then, their notes are taken away and they are brought back into the room one by one (at which time the contestant gets his notes back) to deliver their oral evaluation of the target speech. Since no contestant hears what another said about the target speech, the judges can compare the analytical abilities of the contestants. It goes as far as the District level.

    * Humorous Speech - 5 to 7 minutes. Humorous speaking, which must be original. It should be a five-to-seven minute speech with a lot of humor value, but ALSO displaying good speechmaking abilities. Goes as far as the District level.

    * International Speech - 5 to 7 minutes. Any topic at all, so long as it's original. Can be funny, serious, whatever. It should be the best speech you can give, and it must be original. The reason this contest is called "International Speech" is because it's the only one of the contests that goes as far as the World level. Each August, winners from the eight Regions and the overseas clubs (9 contestants in all) compete at the World Convention in the World Championship of Public Speaking.

    
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