All this talk about the Big Society has prompted me into print again! If you had said to me, ten or twelve years ago, that I would regularly get into my car, drive hundreds of miles and spend time helping people without receiving any payment for it, I would have laughed. ‘I don’t work for nothing’, I would have said, and that would have been the end of the conversation.
Then, in 2003, I discovered Toastmasters International. It’s the largest not-for-profit educational organisation in the world and we are fortunate to have well over 200 clubs in the U.K. and Ireland today.
So, what goes on in a Toastmasters club? Well, our members give speeches and have their speeches evaluated by their peers. We also have a session where we develop our impromptu speaking skills. We are careful to be supportive and motivating in our comments, and we see people grow in confidence as their speaking skills develop. There are countless stories about how people have gone on to huge achievements after joining Toastmasters. We help stammerers to overcome their dread of speaking, fathers and mothers of brides and best men and women to give confident speeches at weddings, and businessmen and women to promote their businesses and give more effective presentations.
I joined Toastmasters because I was afraid of speaking to large groups of people – seven years later I have the confidence and ability to market myself as a public speaker, and am able to speak to audiences of any size.
Three years after I joined Toastmasters, I was asked to become President of my club, then I went on to be an Area Governor, supporting six clubs. This year I am proud to be a Division Governor, supporting six Areas with thirty clubs throughout Central and Eastern England. Toastmasters International has given me the opportunity to develop my leadership skills too, and all for the price of dinner in a reasonable restaurant. That’s right, membership typically costs between £60 amd £100 per year, dependent on your club and location.
All the work I do for Toastmasters is completely voluntary – I get my ‘payback’ from seeing other people grow. I currently belong to Anglia Communicators , Huntingdonshire Speakers and Cornerstone Communicators and spend a lot of my time helping out and providing support to other clubs. Toastmasters also helped give me the confidence to set up my own business in 2010.
Please leave a comment if you would like to know more about my version of ‘The Big Society’ – I promise to get back to you!