New Toastmasters club in Edinburgh Doubles Public Speaking Opps

[PennyPR]

Toastmasters International (TMI) has launched a new branch in Edinburgh called Waverley Communicators offering cost-effective training and qualifications in Public Speaking & Leadership skills.
Waverley Communicators joins Capital Communicators, the original Edinburgh club.
Both the Edinburgh clubs meet at fortnightly at 7 for 7.30-9.30pm.
Waverley Communicators meets every second Thursday on 8th floor, Jury's Inn, behind Waverley station, Edinburgh. The next meetings are 7 & 21 May, 4 & 18 June 2009 and fortnightly thereafter.
Capital Communicators meet on 1st floor, Theosophical Society, 28 Great King Street, Edinburgh. Their next meetings are 12 & 26th May, 9 & 23 June and ongoing every second Tuesday.
Members span every walk of life from students, professionals, academics and entrepreneurs to retirees and provide a supportive environment for practising public speaking and leadership skills following a proven set of manuals and procedures.
Toastmasters is the world's largest public speaking skills training organisation with over 12,000 branches throughout the world and once you join TMI, you can attend any meeting of TMI anywhere as a guest so it's a great way to network in new cities and countries.
Both the Edinburgh TMI clubs offer a free 3 meeting turn up and try deal. Thereafter each club charges £42 for 6 months, and there is a one-off single joining fee of £20 to TMI which covers admin and a monthly magazine.

 

[Peter Stewart]

Re: New Toastmasters club in Edinburgh Doubles Public Speaking Op

I would recommend Toastmasters, I joined the Aberdeen club this year and have found it very beneficial.

 

[abs]

Re: New Toastmasters club in Edinburgh Doubles Public Speaking Op

I also recommend Toastmasters, I have just joined the Dundee one after an very interesting first visit.

Theresia

 

[theprofitdetective]

Re: New Toastmasters club in Edinburgh Doubles Public Speaking Op

Penny

Thanks for the information on Toastmasters. As a result I decided to go along to the Waverley Communicators meeting last Thursday.

I've done some speaking and presenting in the past but just felt my skills need a brush up. There's absolutely no doubt that the confidence to speak publicly flows through other aspects of your life and gives you greater confidence everywhere.

Waverley Communicators are around 19 members strong, all ages, very welcoming and great fun. If you want a stress free environment to develop and polish your speaking skills I highly recommend them.

In fact I enjoyed it so much I joined them. :thumbup1:

Rob

FYI their next meeting is Thursday September 10th at the Central Library, George IV Bridge, 7:15pm.

 

[PennyPR]

Re: New Toastmasters club in Edinburgh Doubles Public Speaking Op

Fantastic Rob that you were able to make it - and joined!
I can return the favour by bringing my hubbie to your new 4Networking club launch on 15th September in Leith. I loved the buzz at the 4Networking Edinburgh Haymarket launch and think the speaking opportunities 4Networking offers means there's a real synergy between Toastmasters & 4N. And good to see 4N committed to another club at The Gyle opening on 30 September.
I heard you really threw yourself into the Waverley Communicators Toastmasters meeting, taking on an impromptu 2-minute speech in the Table Topics section. Well done you and so sorry I wasn't able to make the meeting.
I was toastmaster at Capital Communicators last night, the other Edinburgh Toastmaster club, which grew to the point that we had to sponsor another club. Both clubs are great fun and produce visible results as we work through the prepared speech projects and develop leadership skills by volunteering for the support roles. I think it's the best bargain in training I've ever seen, at £20 joining fee and £42 for 6 months of fortnightly training and speech practice meetings. Currently Waverley Communicators, being smaller, offers more chances to gain speaking practice. It meets every second Thursday. And alternates weeks with Capital Communicators which meets on a Tuesday evening. I've joined both to double my public speaking skills!

 

[Scottish Business Owner]

Re: New Toastmasters club in Edinburgh Doubles Public Speaking Op

Now this is an area I really feel I need alot of work on. Would I get dropped in it right from the first evening or would I get a little time to find my feet?

I think I need to force myself to do this

 

[theprofitdetective]

Re: New Toastmasters club in Edinburgh Doubles Public Speaking Op



You can take it at the pace you're comfortable with. But the real key is that you're in a very supportive, positive environment.

Talk to me about it if you want. I'll hold your hand ... metaphorically of course!

Pity you can't make the 4N meeting in Leith on the 15th because as well as Penny (and myself) there will be another Toastmaster attendee there whose opinion you could seek.

Rob

 

[anned]

Re: New Toastmasters club in Edinburgh Doubles Public Speaking Op

I would recommend Toastmasters too.
I joined Linlithgow when it first started and got about half way through the programme before I had to give up due to other commitments.
It's so supportive and you can join in as much or as little as you like when you first go along -though you will find yourself wanting to take part.

Great value for money

 

[PennyPR]

Re: New Toastmasters club in Edinburgh Doubles Public Speaking Op

Everyone in the room has been there. Public speaking came second to walking into a roomful of strangers - And death came third in the list of our biggest fears! The book called And death came third addresses both very well and is a quick succinct read, but you need to practice the theory to embed it and get rid of the nerves - which is what Toastmasters' meetings excel at.
There's also a wide range of abilities, from people who could barely speak English a few months ago, to people who are experienced.
There's no pressure - stand by to join in the intros as we go round the room. Also guests are asked at the end to briefly comment on the evening. You may be asked if you want to join in the impromptu table topics session, but members get first choice as this is one of the most valuable parts as it teaches thinking on the feet.
If you want to delay and watch further, after you join, you can get stuck into taking on a support role, which is a good way to gain insight into the different aspects of speaking that each role focuses on. You are asked to briefly explain the role and report on how we did at the end (there's plenty of information on toastmasters.org and in the manuals you get when you join). You clock up 'credits' for that work in your leadership manual - but ask someone to evaluate your performance in the role and fill in your manual.
You'll also be asked if you want a mentor assigned to you for at least 3 of the speech projects. You can rely on them to answer most of your questions and you can use them to plan & rehearse speech projects - as people are volunteers this may have to be by telephone, depending on the mentor's free time.
You can continue being mentored beyond the 3 speech stage if you want.
The public speaking training centres round a project manual containing 10 speech projects - you book a speech slot (generally 4 -8 weeks ahead of the speech) when you feel ready. By the time you have done them all, you'll have addressed all the key aspects of making a speech and getting up on your hind legs will seem second nature (well, almost). Expect to see really big improvements from about speech 5 on, but you should be feeling generally more confident after a few meetings.
At £42 per 6 months for fortnightly training plus a one-off £20 joining fee, it is one of the best offline training bargains I've seen, especially as it is a well proven training system that has trained over 4m people world-wide.