Member Resources

If you want to become more self-confident, a Toastmasters meeting is the place to be! By practicing your communication and leadership skills each week in a hands-on, learn by doing workshop you’ll be well on your way to speaking confidently and leading with purpose.

On this page you’ll find resources to help you get the most out of your Toastmasters membership.

  • The Toastmasters Educational Program is at the heart of every Toastmasters journey and forms the basis of every Toastmasters meeting.
  • By assuming various meeting roles each week Toastmasters can learn communication and leadership skills every time they attend a meeting.
  • There are opportunities to begin to participate outside your home club by getting involved in District programs such as: the Club Ambassador Program and Speakers for Stagetime.
  • Consider becoming a Club Officer to further challenge yourself and improve you leadership and communication skills.
  • Use your experience to help other clubs through the Club Coach Program and New Club Mentor Program. You’ll learn a lot about leadership and communication in the process and broaden your experience of the Toastmasters community,
  • Consider becoming a District Officer to challenge and develop you communication and leadership skills while helping other clubs in the district.
  • Help yourself and your club by giving presentations from the Better Speaker, Successful Club, and Leadership Excellence Series.  You can download these programs free from Toastmasters International; click here for a list of the programs and direct links to each one.

Toastmasters Educational Program

The following principles form the basis of the Toastmasters Educational Program:

  • By giving speeches and assuming meeting roles, Toastmasters is a learn by doing workshop to improve communication and leadership skills.
  • It is a self-paced program were members proceed through the communication and leadership tracks at their own speed.
  • Peer evaluation provides feedback about members’ strengths and opportunities for improvement.
  • Mentoring is an integral part of the experience where members provide help, support, and encouragement to each other.

Currently, members may follow one of two educational programs: the Pathways Educational Program and the Traditional Educational Program. The Traditional Educational Program is available until June 30, 2020 for members who joined Toastmasters prior to September 19, 2017.

 

Pathways Educational Program

The following graphic provides a summary of the Communication and Leadership Tracks for the Pathways Educational Program.

Pathways Road to DTM

Traditional Educational Program

The following graphic provides a summary of the Communication and Leadership Tracks for the Traditional Educational Program.

 

Meeting Roles

At every Toastmasters meeting there are several functionaries who participate in the meeting to make it run smoothly, improving their communication and leadership skills in the process. Members are encouraged to hold a different role every meeting so that we can polish skills in a variety of situations.

 

  • The Toastmaster directs the meeting sure everyone follows the agenda and stays on time.
  • The Prepared Speakers present manual speeches so that everyone can learn from their presentations.
  • The Table Topics Master provides opportunities for participants to practice impromptu speaking skills giving priority to members without another assigned role so that everyone has an opportunity to speak at every meeting.
  • The Table Topics Speakers present 1-2 minute impromptu speech prompted by the questions from the Topics Master to practice and improve their ability to think quickly on their feet.
  • The Speech Evaluators provide verbal and written feedback to the Prepared Speakers reviewing strengths and opportunities to make the speech even better next time.
  • The Ah-Counter notes overused filler words so that members become aware of their use and can work towards eliminating them.
  • The Grammarian notes when speakers use the language well and also looks for opportunities to improve language usage.
  • The Timer help everyone stay on time by communicating within predetermined time limits.
  • The General Evaluator evaluates everything that happens in the meeting looking for strengths and opportunities for improvement, and often oversees the evaluation portion of the meeting.