Things that you always wanted to know about Toastmasters but never asked: Toastmasters 101

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Toastmasters International is a non-profit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills. It has more than 270,000 members across the globe. Since 1924, Toastmasters International has helped people of all backgrounds become more confident in front of an audience. Ralph C Smedley started the Toastmasters organization in a basement in Santa Ana in California. In 1930’s it became an International Organization when a club from Canada joined Toastmasters.
Today India, China and Middle East are the fastest growing regions for Toastmasters International.

The toastmasters program consists of two tracks - a Communication track and a leadership track. On completion of the basic communication track, a member is awarded the competent Communicator certificate and for completing the Leadership basic track one is awarded the competent leader certificate.
Last year 24,000 ,members were awarded the competent communicator and 17,000 members were awarded the competent leader. More details on these projects can be found on www.toastmasters.org.

Why is Toastmasters important?

The very essence of what we do in a civilized society is guided by two basic principles - communication and Leadership. Both are interlinked and effective leaders are usually good communicators. There are other organizations that teach communication and leadership skills through seminars and correspondence courses, but these mostly last a day or a few months at most.
The toastmasters program is different. It helps a person evolve into an effective communicator and leader at their own pace. Toastmasters clubs hold weekly or bi-weekly meetings to help members develop a wide range of skills essential to be an effective communicator and leader.

How can one become a toastmaster?

Toastmaster clubs are present across the world. There are 13,000 clubs globally in 116 countries. There are 70 Toastmaster clubs in Bangalore both Community and corporate clubs. Garden City Toastmasters club in Bangalore incidentally is India’s First Toastmasters club. India today has about 222 Clubs.You can check for a toastmasters club near you by visiting www.toastmasters.org.

How is Toastmasters relevant in today’s world?

Toastmasters has constantly evolved with times. In the 1930’s it went international by admitting the first club outside the United States. In 1973 they permitted women to join as members, since many women were entering the workforce around that time. In the 1990’s the Organization decided to proactively add the leadership track recognizing the need for leaders in the backdrop of globalisation. The basic Toastmasters courses cover various areas such as language, pronunciation, vocal variety, body language, using visual aids etc – all of which are relevant today. The advanced courses are designed keeping in mind one’s specific interests and career goals. Like for example if you want to enter the training and development field there are specific advanced manuals that help you do that.

Who can Join Toastmasters?

Anyone can join Toastmasters, as long as they are more than 18 years of age. Also people in prisons and hospital patients may not be allowed to join Toastmasters. The diversity that you can find in Toastmasters is very vast. Some famous celebrities who are Toastmasters include Tim Allen, host of the show Home Improvement, Napoleon Hill , Author and Motivational Speaker and Leonard Nimoy, who played Spock on StarTrek

One thing that every Toastmaster has to do is be supportive of other members of the club. As a matter of fact Toastmasters has a nick name - the Clap Club – because members clap to encourage fellow members and guests. To ensure that everyone feels at home, three topics are never discussed in a Toastmasters club meetings - Sex, Religion and Politics.


Last year I interviewed DTM Lee Abrahamson as part of my Speaking on Television Project from the advanced manual and there was something he told me that that I feel would help our audience. Toastmasters according to him were a laboratory and it allows every member to experiment within the guidelines. So the best thing to do is to experiment with your speaking style.
As of August this year, Toastmasters International has embarked on a brand refresh campaign. If you go to the Toastmasters Website you can see the logo has changed, and also the Tag-line has become ‘where leaders are made’. In the last couple of years though the number of Competent Communication awards have grown by around 5%, the number of Competent Leader awards have grown by almost 25-30%. This represents the paradigm shift in the evolving needs of the members and hence the brand refresh. Also for the first time, Toastmasters International is going to appoint Brand Ambassadors including past presidents, current and former world champions to serve as influencers. The campaign was launched on August 13th, and will continue till 2012.

The best way to connect with TMI is the website www.toastmasters.org. Also they can always get in touch with their Club, area or division officers for any clarifications. Other ways to connect with Toastmasters across the globe is through Social Media. Toastmasters have a group on LinkedIn it’s called The Official Toastmasters International Members Group; currently it has about 17,000 members. Toastmasters are also present on Twitter with around 13,000 followers, Facebook with 3,000 odd members and the Toastmasters You Tube Channel has more than a Million views for its videos.

I think the most important way to improve is to adhere to the manual. The manual is an excellent guide and as long as one sticks to the guidelines they can do well. Secondly I think Toastmasters should also plan to give some of their projects outside their own club, this gives them exposure to a new environment and one can always learn something new by watching other clubs. Thirdly, practice, which is an important part of the process, every speech should be written down and practiced at least 7-8 times, in front of the mirror or even recorded to make sure that a there are no flaws when the speech is delivered in the club. Watch as many videos of International Speech Contests as possible. These feature some of the best speakers in the world like Craig Valentine, who was the 1999 World Champion of Public Speaking and one my favorites. Work with a mentor, find a senior Toastmaster and ask him to mentor you, my mentor JP is a DTM twice over, and is again doing his CC, I was the 2006 National management debate champion before I joined Toastmasters, working with JP has taken my public speaking skills to another level. And it because of his mentor-ship that I was able to become the Humorous Speech Area champion twice.