The Toastmasters program is not a college, trade school, or other forms of course in public speaking. There are no instructors,         professor or classroom. No one’s work is graded and no tests are    administered in Toastmasters. Member members learn by studying the manuals, practicing and helping one another. Learning takes place in the Club environment. Club meetings are workshops where you study and practice Communication and Leadership skills with  others who are there for the same reasons as you. You learn by doing and by watching fellow Club members. So, what happens during the meetings?

 

1)        Toastmasters learn to conduct meeting. It helps members learn the basics of meeting procedure.

2)        Toastmasters give impromptu speeches. Members present one to two minutes impromptu speeches on assigned topics.

3)        Toastmasters present prepared speeches. At a meeting, often 3 members will present speeches based on projects from the    Toastmasters International, Communication & Leadership Program manual. The manual book has 10 speech projects. Each designed to develop your speaking skills one step at a time. Every project builds upon what you have learned in the preceeding project, so you should present the speeches in numerical order. You’ll begin with “The Ice Breaker” speech. Since it will be your first speech before the Club, it will be based on an easy subject—yourself.

4)        Evaluation is the foundation that Toastmasters is built on. Every prepared speaker is assigned an evaluator who points out the speech strengths and offers suggestions for areas of improvement.