This is a FreeToastHost.org website.
Main Menu
For more information on Toastmasters International, visit toastmasters.org
Articles
Members Only
|
Overview of Toastmasters
OVERVIEW OF TOASTMASTERS Mission of Toastmasters International
Toastmasters International is the leading movement devoted to making effective oral communication a worldwide reality.
Through its member clubs, Toastmasters International helps men and women learn the arts of speaking, listening and thinking -- vital skills that promote self-actualization, enhance leadership potential, foster human understanding and contribute to the betterment of mankind.
It is basic to this mission that Toastmasters International continually expand its worldwide network of clubs, thereby offering ever-greater numbers of people the opportunity to benefit from its programs.
Mission of the Club
The mission of a Toastmasters club is to provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment in which every member has the opportunity to develop communication and leadership skills, which in turn foster self-confidence and personal growth.
Toastmasters International Education Program The Toastmasters educational program provides members with a proven curriculum that develops communication and leadership skills one step at a time, with many opportunities for awards and recognition along the way. The communication and leadership tracks are not mutually exclusive and can be pursued simultaneously. You progress along each track by working through a series of manuals, each of which offers a set of carefully crafted projects to complete. Each project includes an evaluation guide, which gives club members an easy way to provide immediate feedback as the project is completed. Once you become a member, you can begin the educational program right away.
History of Toastmasters International
In 1924, Ralph C. Smedley held the first meeting of what would eventually become Toastmasters International in a basement at a YMCA in Santa Ana, California.
Smedley began working as director of education for a Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) after he graduated from college. He observed that many of the young patrons needed “training in the art of public speaking and in presiding over meetings” and Smedley wanted to help them. He decided the training format would be similar to a social club. During the early 1900s the word “toastmaster” referred to a person who proposed the toasts and introduced the speakers at a banquet. Smedley named his group “The Toastmasters Club” because he thought it suggested a pleasant, social atmosphere appealing to young men.
When Smedley started the Toastmasters group at the YMCA in Santa Ana, California, members practiced speaking skills in a supportive, informal atmosphere. The seedling club blossomed. Word spread about Smedley’s YMCA experiment and soon people in other communities and even other states began asking for permission and help to start their own Toastmasters meetings. By 1930, the burgeoning clubs had established a federation to help coordinate activities and provide a standard program. Toastmasters became Toastmasters International after a speaking club in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada, expressed interest in joining the organization.
A series of rented office spaces in Southern California served as Toastmasters International’s “home office” until 1962. That year the staff moved into its first World Headquarters building in Santa Ana, not far from the YMCA where the first Toastmasters club met. Over the next three decades the number of Toastmasters grew, and so did the need for a larger staff to service them. World Headquarters relocated in 1990 to its new building in Rancho Santa Margarita, California, about 20 miles south of Santa Ana.
The evolution of its educational programs and resources are a big part of Toastmasters International’s success and growth. Training has expanded from the 15-project manual Basic Training for Toastmasters, developed by Smedley, to include other materials to help members develop skills in listening, giving feedback, decision-making, delegating and mentoring. With more than 12,500 clubs and more than 250,000 members in 106 countries, Ralph Smedley’s “basement brainstorm” continues to thrive in the 21st century.
History Taken from the Toastmasters International Website
|
