What Is Toastmasters ? (part-01)

“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much”, said the famous American Author, Helen Keller. Also, one of the many lessons learnt from covid-19 is: “United we Rise but Disjointed we fail”.Following the principles of Unity, District 20 Toastmasters International Club welcomed two new countries: Iraq & Egypt, in the first week of October.

Let us unravel more in our journey in understanding Toastmaster International and District 20 Toastmasters Club.

 

Toastmasters International is a worldwide Non-Profit Educational Organisation that empowers individuals to become more effective communicators and leaders.Since its inception in 1924, Toastmasters International has helped people from diverse backgrounds become more confident speakers, communicators, and leaders.Headquartered in Englewood, Colorado, USA, the organization's membership exceeds 300,000 in more than 15,800 clubs in 149 countries. 

District 20 Toastmasters Club provide a supportive and positive learning experience in which members are empowered to develop communication and leadership skills that result in greater self-confidence and personal growth.

 

District 20 Toastmasters originally comprised of Bahrain and Kuwait. Toastmasters in these nations were major contributors in making the region on top of the world stage in growth, numbers and dynamism.District 20 Toastmasters want to promote a friendly, informative and enjoyable online experience for members of the International Fraternity & their inclusion of Iraq and Egypt in District 20 Toastmasters Family shows their endeavor in this regards.

 

 

4 countries (Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq & Egypt), 85+ Cities, 146+ Clubs, 2,856+ Members. 

The excellent District 20 Leadership is committed to facilitate every District & Club Officers in achieving their potential and act as the district’s proud legacy. 

 

 

1999 – Gulf Toastmasters (TM’s) became the Gulf Territorial Council (GTC)

2003 – GTC became District 79: (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman & Jordan)

2011 – District 79 was reformulated into District 79 and District 20: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia became District 79 and District 20 comprised of 7 Countries(Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Jordan & Lebanon)

2017 – District 20 comprised of three counties(Bahrain, Kuwait & Qatar)

2018 – Two countries in District 20 (Bahrain & Kuwait)

October, 2021 – Family of District 20 Toastmasters Club expands to 4 (Welcome inclusion ofIraq& Egypt in the Family)

 

Toastmasters empowers us all to become more effective speakers, communicators and leaders:It is basically a peer to peer interaction and hence facilitates easy communication and learning. The structured team meeting motivates us all to be more effective in essential skills like impromptu speaking, prepared speech presentations, leading and managing a team, an effective team leader, master of the ceremonies etcetera.

These skills are developed through regular and periodic club meetings, providing opportunities to develop and practice skills in a variety of situations:

 

 

• Prepared speeches: Assigned members practice their public speaking skills by giving a prepared presentation (typically 5-7 minutes in length) from one of the 11 paths in the Pathways training system. Everyone is at a different level and with Toastmasters your goal is to improve your communication. You do that at the pace you are most comfortable.

 

• Evaluations/Feedback: Good evaluations allow people to grow as communicators and leaders. These evaluations provide feedback on how the evaluators saw the presenters, point out the positive aspects of the speech and give some possible areas for improvement. 

 

• Impromptu speeches (Table-Topics): This exercise teaches you to think on your feet, in a constructive fashion. An impromptu speech should be 1 – 2 minutes in length and consist of an introduction, a body and a conclusion.

 

In addition to speeches, roles of various members are quite essential in the smooth functioning and quality of a club’s meeting. They can be envisaged as follows:

• The Toastmaster/Toastmistress of the Day (TMOD) prepares and leads the meeting and can be easily understood by visualizing them as master of ceremonies.

• The Table Topics Master/Mistressis the one who presides over the impromptu speaking/Table-Topics segment.

• A grammarian plays a vital role in helping all club members improve their grammar and vocabulary. 

• The General Evaluator is responsible for the evaluation section.

• The role of Timer is to check and remind the speakers/evaluators regarding the optimum use of time for their speeches/evaluation.