Your membership provides you with professionally prepared educational material and resources on speaking. All of this material is available online.
Pathways
Upon joining our club, you will be introduced to the Toastmasters Pathways system. There are 11 paths in total, and you would choose the one that suits you best.
Dynamic Leadership.
The basic communication and leadership path including handling of problems.
Effective Coaching.
Development of others.
Innovative Planning.
Project management and problem solving.
Leadership Development.
Planning and leading a team.
Motivational Strategies.
Motivating a team.
Persuasive Influence.
Negotiation.
Presentation Mastery.
Public speaking.
Strategic Relationships.
Developing relationships in a diverse team.
Team Collaboration.
Team building.
Visionary communication.
Communication within a group.
Engaging Humour.
Build your skills as a humorous and engaging public speaker.
You will be given an online assessment to determine what is the best path for you but if you don’t like what’s recommended you can choose your own.
Each path starts the same by getting you used to speaking in front of an audience, after that you focus on the main theme of your path.
Each path contains a series of 15 assignments designed to provide instruction and practice in the basic techniques of public speaking and leadership depending on which path you choose.
Your first speech will be an “Icebreaker” – a chance to introduce yourself to your fellow Toastmasters. From then on, you work at the pace that suits you. You will be introduced to techniques on how to identify and state your purpose, and how to properly construct a speech. You’ll gain experience in the use of voice variety, word pictures, and persuasion, and you will learn how to make what you say crystal clear to your listeners.
Leadership
Pathways contains a series of leadership assignments designed to provide instruction and practice in the basic techniques of leadership as you perform the various leadership roles in the meetings and in special leadership projects.
Evaluation
To assist the member, the Toastmasters programme includes effective evaluation. This evaluation of each members’ prepared speaking effort is performed by fellow Toastmasters in a constructive and helpful manner, utilizing a prepared evaluation procedure that is an integral part of the Toastmasters programme.
Table Topics
You will be given ample opportunities to practice expressing your thoughts in conversation through Table Topics. This is speaking off the cuff.
During the programme, all those who are not assigned a prepared speech or other role are offered a table topic. This is a one to two-minute impromptu speech, on any topic; it is usually spiked with lots of humour it is a real fun part of the evening..
The Toastmaster Magazine
Every month, You will receive the Toastmaster Magazine, it provides new insight into the ever-changing world of communication and leadership. The ideas, opinions and techniques featured in each issue are alone worth Toastmasters’ modest dues.
Beyond The Basics
Advanced Communication and Leadership Programme
Upon completion of first path, the opportunities do not stop there. The next step is to take on another path, and at Florida you can combine it with the advanced programme series. This programme offers challenging projects that are geared to your specific career needs. Titles include: Speeches by Management, Public Relations, The Entertaining Speaker, Speaking to Inform, Specialty Speeches, The Conference Speaker, The Professional Speaker, Technical Presentations, Humorously Speaking and the Professional Salesperson.
Success/Leadership Series
Toastmasters International has created a series of seminar modules designed for supplemental educational programming in your club. You will have the opportunity to build your thinking power and learn how to give effective evaluations, to listen effectively, to conduct productive meetings, various aspects of leadership and to learn parliamentary procedure.
Speechcraft, and Youth Leadership
You can share your Toastmasters training with others outside of the organization when you participate in these programmes. The Speechcraft programme is an eight-week course for adults on the fundamentals of public speaking. Many clubs present this course to local company employees. The Youth Leadership Programme teaches young men and women under the age of eighteen the basic techniques of public speaking and helps prepare them for taking positions of leadership in today’s society.
Audio and Visual Tools
For use outside your club meeting, Toastmasters International also offers nearly 100 Video Recordings on the subject of communication and leadership and associated topics.
Leadership
As you become more experienced and confident, you’ll be given opportunities to learn the basic skills of leadership. You’ll serve as Toastmaster of the meeting; master of ceremonies, lead group discussions, serve as a chairman or member of a committee, or become a club officer.
Later on there will be opportunities to become a district officer And you can go on and on to become a member of the national committee called the Cabinet.
You will gain experience in conference, convention and programme arrangements – learning while doing in an atmosphere of fellowship and fun with your fellow club members.
Minimal Cost/Maximum Benefits
There is a charge for joining (For the online system), plus a semi-annual subscription, you can become the successful person you want to be.
It is the best value self-development organisation in the world.
The current costs are:
Joining fee R300
Semi-annual dues R810