I’d like to make a toast
This past Friday, I attended my first Toastmasters meeting. The idea here being, to get out, meet some people and hone the ‘ole speaking skills. Getting involved with Toastmasters was one of those tasks that was always on the list, but I never seemed to be able to get it checked off.
For those of you not familiar, Toastmasters is an international organization that provides a supportive environment where one can develop their communication and leadership skills. That means they tend to not throw tomatoes. Yup, that’ll work. The dues are more than affordable and it sure beats shelling out a boat load of dough for the latest self-help CD set, seminar or training session (typically where you’re supposed to close your eyes, fall backward and hope the guy behind you likes you enough to catch you on the way down to the floor.)
For the record, public speaking ranks higher than death on the stressful things to do list. No kidding. But, even if you’re not planning to become a silver-tongued orator, this kind of training, feedback and experience will help you make better presentations and take a leadership role in projects and client management. Heck, it can even help you convince your significant other that going out for Italian is a better choice than Mexican. That sure can’t hurt.
The meeting was fairly small. The people were friendly and I was addressed as the “honored guest.” It was obvious that these folks don't know me yet. Give it a few weeks. I'm sure "honored" will digress to something along the lines of "hey you." Plus, the coffee was free. What more could you want? They’re a diverse group in terms of age, gender and occupation / vocation. The format was a bit more formal than I expected, but it was kind of refreshing and fun.
There were three speakers, each of whom spoke on their topic for roughly 6 minutes. Speeches are timed and the talks are critiqued by an “evaluator.” I thought the evaluations where honest, and helpful. There’s also a person to check your grammar and word usage and another who calls you on the carpet for using those little gems like, “Um,” “Er” “You know,” or, “Ahhh ...”
All in all, a good time was had. I met some delightful folks, including a guy who is the president of a $40 million company in one of my target markets. Yeah ... I think we’re going to get chummy with him. Plus, he seemed to be a really nice, down-to-earth guy.
If you haven’t done the Toastmasters thing yet, I highly recommend it. It’s an inexpensive way to sharpen your communication skills, meet some great people and get yourself loaded up on java for the day to come.
For those of you not familiar, Toastmasters is an international organization that provides a supportive environment where one can develop their communication and leadership skills. That means they tend to not throw tomatoes. Yup, that’ll work. The dues are more than affordable and it sure beats shelling out a boat load of dough for the latest self-help CD set, seminar or training session (typically where you’re supposed to close your eyes, fall backward and hope the guy behind you likes you enough to catch you on the way down to the floor.)
For the record, public speaking ranks higher than death on the stressful things to do list. No kidding. But, even if you’re not planning to become a silver-tongued orator, this kind of training, feedback and experience will help you make better presentations and take a leadership role in projects and client management. Heck, it can even help you convince your significant other that going out for Italian is a better choice than Mexican. That sure can’t hurt.
The meeting was fairly small. The people were friendly and I was addressed as the “honored guest.” It was obvious that these folks don't know me yet. Give it a few weeks. I'm sure "honored" will digress to something along the lines of "hey you." Plus, the coffee was free. What more could you want? They’re a diverse group in terms of age, gender and occupation / vocation. The format was a bit more formal than I expected, but it was kind of refreshing and fun.
There were three speakers, each of whom spoke on their topic for roughly 6 minutes. Speeches are timed and the talks are critiqued by an “evaluator.” I thought the evaluations where honest, and helpful. There’s also a person to check your grammar and word usage and another who calls you on the carpet for using those little gems like, “Um,” “Er” “You know,” or, “Ahhh ...”
All in all, a good time was had. I met some delightful folks, including a guy who is the president of a $40 million company in one of my target markets. Yeah ... I think we’re going to get chummy with him. Plus, he seemed to be a really nice, down-to-earth guy.
If you haven’t done the Toastmasters thing yet, I highly recommend it. It’s an inexpensive way to sharpen your communication skills, meet some great people and get yourself loaded up on java for the day to come.
Labels: marketing, neil tortorella, networking, public speaking, speaking, Toastmasters
