Anyone a member of Toastmasters

[Webster J. Duck]

I’ve actually been giving presentations for years (to be honest it’s never been my favorite activity). I’ve also suffered courses and training classes (academic and professional, voluntary and forced) on public speaking. But, in the interest of continuous improvement and honing my skill sets I went to the local Toastmasters.

While it’s pretty basic, I have to admit I really liked it. There’s quite a diversity of experience, but very little ego. That’s the part that’s endearing… from advanced to beginners, it was all about presentation. I’ve given good presentations in font of hundreds and horrible ones in front of five. I’m always up for shared experiences.

Anyone else tried Toastmasters?

[SteveO]

My late wife and I were members in the early-mid '90s. She used it to hone her skills (in tandem with hiring a speaking coach) and launch a speaking career that netted her $11,000 gigs (this one was one of the last gigs she did before she died suddenly; it was for IBM). Yeah, I'd recommend Toastmasters.

[blusubaru]

My wife is and loves it.

[AAA]

I hate speaking so much that I did not do the one speech we needed to in a college course, and took a B instead of an A for the overall class. I was very happy with that. I would have taken a C perhaps to forego the speech.

[JEBB]

I recommend it. It helped me a lot.

You can, indeed, give it a try and, if you don't like it, quit.