Amiga Plus 1995 #2

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Amiga Plus 1995 #2 / Amiga Plus CD - 1995 - No. 2.iso / internet / faq / englisch / toastmastersinternational < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1995-04-11 | 57.8 KB | 1,217 lines

Archive-name: toastmasters-faq/part1 Alt-org-toastmasters-archive-name: faq/part1 alt.org.toastmasters Frequently Asked Questions part 1 of 5: What is Toastmasters International? 1. What is Toastmasters? Toastmasters International is a non-profit educational corporation headquartered in Rancho Santa Margarita, Califor- nia. Its mission is to improve communication and leadership skills of its members and in general. Mainly, this works out to 'improving public speaking skills' but there is also a potent leadership and management aspect to the organization if you aspire to reach that level. 2. Is this just a group for people in the USA or for people who speak English? No. The organization includes approximately 180,000 members in 54 countries, including Australia, the Bahamas, Canada, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philip- pines, Singapore, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. Toastmasters International publishes a complete set of materials in English and basic materials in French, Spanish, and Japanese. As translators make themselves available, more materials are translated. 3. How is Toastmasters organized? All Toastmasters members belong to one or more clubs. Clubs consist of at least eight members and may have forty or more. The recommended size for a club is twenty or more. Clubs exist in communities around the world, especially in North America, and it's a rare locality in the United States that doesn't have at least one Toastmasters club within thirty minutes' driving time. There are, at present, over 8,000 clubs around the world, and most of them are in the United States. There are many sorts of clubs: community clubs, military clubs, company clubs, prison clubs, collegiate clubs, and so on. At this time, the majority of the *new* clubs being chartered are 'company clubs', i.e. clubs chartered at and meeting at businesses and organizations, in many cases open only to employees or members of those organizations. Never fear, however; there are thousands of community clubs already in existence as well. 4. Where can I find a club? If you'd like to visit a club meeting, simply telephone Toastmasters International World Headquarters at (714) 858- 8255 and ask for the locations of the clubs near you. Alternately, drop a postcard to TI WHQ, P.O. Box 9052, Mission Viejo CA 92690 and ask for the local clubs' listings. You may be VERY surprised by how many clubs there are in your area. Quite a few clubs don't get around to advertising in the newspaper. If you'd like to find a club via email, email drex@kaiwan.com and ask. Dan Rex is in charge of marketing and extension at Toastmasters International World Headquarters and can look the local clubs up for you off their computers, but he needs to know where you live and what type of club you're interested in: morning, noon, evening, etc. Don't delay! Ask now! 5. Do I have to ask permission before attending a meeting of a club in my area? Usually no. If you're visiting a community club, it might not be a bad idea to let them know you're coming so they can tell you any details like what time members arrive to eat and what time members who don't come to eat arrive, but community clubs are almost always open to all and they'll be delighted to have you come to the meeting. Clubs that meet at companies and organizations, on military bases, or in prisons are often, but not always, restricted to members or employees of the sponsoring body. These clubs are happy to have guests but you sometimes need to call ahead to get through security or to find out specifically where the club meets. Unlike some other organizations, where one must have a sponsoring member who _invites_ you to the meeting and introduces you to the group, Toastmasters welcomes all guests. If the club is open to membership from the community, you will usually be offered a membership application at the end of the meeting. 6. Is Toastmasters a social or drinking organization in some regard? The name "Toastmasters" is a holdover from the founding of the organization, when one of the main types of public speaking a member of society would engage in was after-dinner speaking, a.k.a. toastmastering. It is rare that formal drinking and toasts take place, and these are usually at major banquets or conferences. In general, though, you'll find two types of clubs: those that have a meal with their meetings and those that don't. Clubs that have a meal with their meeting may charge their members for the meals in advance and pay the restaurant in one lump sum or may have members order off the menu. Since breakfast and lunch clubs are popular with the business community, you can often kill two birds with one stone by joining Toastmas- ters: educating yourself and having a meal with business associates. You'll also find some clubs that get meeting space by having dinner before their meetings -- and half the members wait until dinner is over to arrive. There's infinite variety to it all. This is one good reason to call in advance. Many clubs do *not* have meals with their meetings, though. Quite a few clubs meet after dinnertime in a public meeting room at a bank or library or at a church, have their meeting, and go home. 7. What happens at a meeting? The format varies slightly from club to club, but the basics include: * the business meeting (usually very brief) * introduction of the Toastmaster of the Meeting, who presides over the program that day and explains the meeting as it goes along * prepared speeches from members (of which more below) * impromptu speeches from members (also known as Table Topics, of which more below) * oral evaluations of the prepared speeches (of which more below) * reports from other evaluation personnel, such as speech timer, grammarian, "ah" counter, wordmaster, and General Evaluator. Meetings last anywhere from one hour (especially at lunch or breakfast) to three hours (if the club meets infrequently or has long-winded speakers). 8. What's a "prepared speech?" When you join Toastmasters (see the "Membership" FAQ) you receive a basic speaking manual with ten speech projects. Each project calls on you to prepare a speech on a subject of your own choosing but using certain speaking principles. Each manual project lists the objectives for that speech and includes a written checklist for your evaluator to use when evaluating the speech. Thus, if you're scheduled to speak at a meeting, you generally pull out your manual a week or two in advance and put together a speech on whatever you like but paying attention to your goals and objectives for that speech. Then, when you go to the meeting, you hand your manual to your evaluator and that person makes written comments on the checklist while you speak. At the end of the meeting, that person (your evaluator) will rise to give oral commentary as well. The purpose of the extensive preparation and commentary is to show you what you're doing well, what you need to work on, and driving these lessons home so you're constantly improving. 9. What speech projects are there for me to work on? In the basic ("Communication and Leadership" manual), there are ten speech projects: 1. Icebreaker - 4 to 6 minutes - getting over nervousness by introducing yourself to the club. 2. Be In Earnest - 5 to 7 minutes - continue to get over nervousness by speaking about something you believe deeply in. 3. Organize Your Speech - 5 to 7 minutes - work on giving a well-organized speech. 4. Show What You Mean - 5 to 7 minutes - not a "Show and Tell" speech, this project calls on you to work with gestures and body language during your speech. Unfortunately, many members somehow confuse the issue and show up with a bag full of props that they use in a "Show and Tell" style speech. Don't do that. 5. Vocal Variety - 5 to 7 minutes - work on rate of delivery, volume, speed, pitch, emphasis, etc. 6. Work with Words - 5 to 7 minutes - work on proper word choice, avoiding jargon and generalizations, etc. 7. Apply Your Skills - 5 to 7 minutes - go back and practice everything you've learned up to this point. 8. Be Persuasive - 6 to 8 minutes - give a persuasive speech on a controversial issue. 9. Speak With Knowledge - 7 minutes, plus or minus 30 seconds - research an issue, write a speech, and then *read* that speech to the audience (as opposed to using notecards or notes or whatever you used for the previous eight speeches)... and have it well-rehearsed, so it doesn't run long or end too soon. 10. Inspire Your Audience - 8 to 10 minutes - The final speech in the manual calls on you to move and inspire your audience in a well-presented and well-prepared speech. As you can see, all ten projects above are wide-open for you to choose whatever topic you like. Even if you pick a controversial subject, most Toastmasters audiences will evaluate you on how well you presented your subject, not on whether they agreed with you or not. For further information about the speaking program, see the "Educational Advancement FAQ." 10. What is "Table Topics?" Table Topics is fun! It's also terrifying. Basically, it calls on you, the guest or member, to present a one to two minute impromptu speech on a subject not known to you until the moment you get up to speak! A member of the club assigned to be Topicsmaster will prepare a few impromptu topics and call on members (or guests, if they've given assent in advance to being called on) to stand up and speak on the topic. Topics might include current events (e.g. "What would you do about Haitian boat people if you were President?") or philoso- phy ("If you had no shoes and met a man who had no feet, how would you feel?") or the wacky ("Reach into this bag. Pull an item out. Tell us about it."). 11. What is Evaluation? The Evaluation program is the third of the three main parts to the meeting. All prepared speakers, as noted above, should have their speaking manuals with them and should have passed them on to the evaluators beforehand. During the speech, and after, each person's evaluator should make written notes and furthermore, plan what to say during the two to three minute oral evaluation. Evaluation is tough to do well because it requires an evaluator to do more than say "here's what you did wrong." A good evaluator will say "here's what you did _well_, and here's why doing that was good, and here are some things you might want to work on for your next speech, and here's how you might work on them." It's important to remember that the evaluator is just one point of view, although one that has focused in on your speech closely. Other members of the audience can and should give you written or spoken comments on aspects of your speech they feel important. 12. What's all this emphasis on time limits? As noted above, speeches have time limits, Table Topics have time limits (1-2 minutes, usually) and evaluations have time limits (2-3 minutes, usually). This is in order to drive home the point that a good speaker makes effective use of the time allotted and does not keep going and going and going until the audience is bored. In the real world, quite often there are practical limits on how long a meeting can or should go; by setting time limits on speeches and presentations, partici- pants learn brevity and time management and the club meeting itself can be expected to end on schedule. Time limits are rarely enforced to the letter. In only a few situations will you find yourself cut off if you go too long, and that's up to the individual club. Most clubs don't cut speakers off if they go overtime. It is common for clubs to use a set of timing lights to warn the speakers of the advance of time. All speeches and presentations have a time limit expressed as an interval, e.g. 5 to 7 minutes. A green light would be shown at 5 minutes, amber at 6, and red at 7. In Table Topics, the lights would go 1, 1.5, and 2 minutes respectively. When the green light comes on, you've at least spoken enough, though you need not finish right away, and when the yellow light comes on, you should begin wrapping up. If you're not done by the time the red light comes on, you should finish as soon as possible without mangling the ending of your speech. The only times you're actually *penalized* for going over or under time is in speaking competition; in speech contests (see the "Contests FAQ") you must remain within the interval or be disqualified. Some clubs hold an audience vote for "best speaker," "best topic speaker," and "best evaluator" during the meeting and it's a practice in some clubs to disqualify people who go over or under time from these meeting awards. Check with the particular club to see what they do. 13. Why all this structure to the meeting? If meetings sound complicated, we're sorry. Meetings general- ly are not complicated once you get used to the timing lights in the back and the different roles members of the group play. Since the average club is expected to have 20 or more members, you need a lot of roles for people to play in order to involve everyone. And, since meeting assignments vary from meeting to meeting, everyone gets practice doing everything over the course of several meetings. One meeting, you'll be assigned to give a speech; the next, you might be timer; the next, you might be the Toastmaster of the Meeting, running the whole show. It keeps you flexible and it keeps you from having to prepare a speech EVERY meeting, which would get old quickly. 14. I'm scared to death of speaking! Why should I look into Toastmasters? EVERYONE is afraid of speaking. In poll after poll, "public speaking" comes up as more feared than "death." Public speaking is the nation's #1 fear. You are no different. Even if you think you're really good at speaking, there will come times when your heart stops and your palms sweat and you freeze before an audience. Toastmasters can help with that. Remember that EVERYONE in a Toastmasters club is there because at some point they realized they needed help communicating and speaking before audiences. Almost everyone will remember how wretched they felt when they gave their first speech. You may be startled to find out how supportive a Toastmasters club really can be. [The author of this FAQ recruited a friend to Toastmasters who was so overwrought and nervous that she sobbed as if her heart was broken after her first speech. Ditto for the second. Some tears after the third. Eventually she realized that we weren't going to eat her alive and she came to enjoy it. By the time she earned her CTM, she consistently won "best speaker" votes at our meetings.] If you're aware how nervous you are but aren't convinced that you should do anything about it, stop and think what skill is more important than any other when it comes to getting and keeping a good job? Think you're already an excellent speaker? People who think they're really good sometimes come into Toastmasters and find out how unstructured and sloppy they really are. Being comfortable doesn't mean that you're actually GOOD. Even if you ARE good, you can always get better. Toastmasters can give you a lot of skills and keep good speakers improving. If you still don't know whether you'd like Toastmasters, why not visit a meeting? If you still don't think it's your cup of tea, we'll still be happy you came by. 15. How is Toastmasters more beneficial than other forms of speaking improvement? College and high school courses in public speaking usually involve the students sitting through dozens of lectures followed by one or two speaking opportunities. When the speeches are over, you get a grade. Often, you get graded on what you did wrong. This isn't a way to build reassurance and motivation. Then too, you rarely get much of a chance to practice by doing. You get up at the end of the semester, give your speech, and sit down. Toastmasters is constant reinforcement and constant improvement. You learn by doing, not by sitting there while someone lectures for hours. For-profit courses such as Dale Carnegie can be very good for their participants. They also cost a lot and when they're over, they're over. Toastmasters costs $36 per year (plus club dues, if any) and it can last a lifetime. 16. Where should I go for further information? See the Membership FAQ, the Educational Advancement FAQ, the Leadership and Organization FAQ, and the Miscellany FAQ. Ask questions in alt.org.toastmasters. Write the poster of this FAQ. Call Toastmasters International at 1-714-858-8255. Write Toastmasters International at P.O. Box 9052, Mission Viejo, California, 92690-7052. Toastmasters is a great organization! Check it out! Archive-name: toastmasters-faq/part2 Alt-org-toastmasters-archive-name: faq/part2 alt.org.toastmasters Frequently Asked Questions part 2 of 5: Membership in Toastmasters International 1. How does one go about joining Toastmasters? First, of course, you must have found a club to join. If you have visited a club and found it to your liking, ask a member (preferably an officer, who is more likely to be able to help you) for an application form. According to the bylaws all Toastmasters clubs operate under, any new member of a club must be voted into membership by the club. In practice, this rarely happens. Instead, members are welcomed enthusiastically into the club as soon as a standard membership application ("Form 400") is turned in with a check for the appropriate dues. 2. How much does membership cost? Upon joining Toastmasters, you will find yourself paying three different fees. One is the standard $16.00 fee that every new member must pay in order to receive educational materials (see below). One is the standard International dues, $3.00 per month. One is your Club dues, if any. All Toastmasters clubs are billed in March and September for semi-annual dues for their members who wish to remain members for the next six months. If you join in between those periods, you submit a _pro-rated_ share of the dues. Clubs usually charge dues on top of the world dues. This is so they'll have money in the treasury for expenses. It's up to each club what they want to charge. Some clubs waive the club dues for new members and only assess them at the semi- annual dues payment dates. So, to make a long story short, if you join at the following times, you'd owe: April or October: $16.00 + $18.00 + club dues May or November: $16.00 + $15.00 + club dues June or December $16.00 + $12.00 + club dues July or January $16.00 + $9.00 + club dues August or February $16.00 + $6.00 + club dues September or March $16.00 + $3.00 + club dues Then, once you're signed up, dues of $18.00 are assessed every six months, in September and March. * Note: due to California law, members of _California_ clubs pay sales tax on their new member fee. 3. Are my dues tax deductible? In the United States, they are -- IF your job is of a sort that requires or necessitates good communications skills. In other words, it must be an educational expense to be tax deductible. Toastmasters International will send you complete tax deduction explanations if you request them to do so. 4. What do I get for my dues? Your $18.00 semi-annual dues paid to World Headquarters goes partly for a subscription to the _Toastmaster_ magazine (which, to be honest, is an excellent magazine), partly to support development of new educational programs (they've got some *nice* new programs coming out these days), partly to support operations at World Headquarters (i.e. the staff who process membership applications, CTM applications, new club applications, etc. etc. ad nauseam), and partly to support your local District organization. Furthermore, when you finish your CTM, you get three of the Advanced project manuals for no extra charge to work toward your ATM with. Dues went up for the first time in over ten years last year and as a result, dues should not rise for a long time (it was like pulling teeth to get the most recent dues raise through, and some members remain unconvinced that it was necessary). This raise had a lot to do with printing costs and so forth quintupling over the last decade. Your club dues generally go to pay for the club's supplies, such as ballots, awards, ribbons, and educational materials. In some cases, such as when your club has a meal at each meeting, your dues may go to pay for that. 5. What do I get for my New Member fee? Your $16.00 New Member fee gets you the following: * the Communication and Leadership project manual * the "Gestures - Your Body Speaks" manual * the "A Speaker's Guide to Evaluation" manual * the Voice manual The latter three are instructional manuals rather than project manuals. Only the first is a workbook. 6. If I want to drop out of Toastmasters after joining, what do I do? Simply wait for March or September to arrive and don't pay your dues again. It'd probably be a good idea to let your Vice President Education know to stop scheduling you for speeches, though. 7. How receptive are clubs to new members? Since most people are genuinely terrified of public speaking, Toastmasters has its hands full recruiting members. There's virtually no chance that you won't be enthusiastically welcomed into any club you join and immediately be considered one of the gang. Occasionally, however, people get into bad situations, but the same is true of ANY organization. There are jerks everywhere. Toastmasters probably has its share. For this reason, the author of this FAQ considers it a good idea to visit ALL Toastmasters clubs in your area before deciding which one you want to join. If a club that you visit turns out to be full of jerks, please don't assume that this is true of the entire organization. Once in a while, people come to forget that they're part of a larger organization and act as though the message and mission of Toastmasters doesn't concern them. Please nod, leave, and visit some other club. This is definitely the exception, but we cannot honestly say that it never happens. 8. If I join, will they make me speak? No. You will not be asked to speak unless you're ready to. If you feel more comfortable waiting a few months, that's fine. Give Toastmasters a try! (Call (714) 858-8255 to find out the names and phone numbers of the clubs are in your area, or send mail to drex@kaiwan.com to contact a Toastmasters International employee who'll look your local clubs up for you if you tell him where you live.) Archive-name: toastmasters-faq/part3 Alt-org-toastmasters-archive-name: faq/part3 alt.org.toastmasters Frequently Asked Questions part 3 of 5: Educational Advancement in Toastmasters International 1. What should my main objective be as a new Toastmasters member? Well, there are two "right" answers to this question. The first is that your main objective should be to attend every meeting you can and participate to the fullest, helping yourself and the other members of the club to become better communicators. The other "right" answer is that you should be working toward the CTM award. 2. What does CTM stand for? It stands for "Competent Toastmaster." The CTM is the basic speaking certification offered through Toastmasters. Many members join, earn their CTM, and drop out of the organization. It's the basic "diploma." 3. What do I have to do to earn a CTM? You have to complete the Communication and Leadership (C&L) manual, which in effect means you have go work your way through the ten speech projects contained therein. When you finish your manual, you'll complete the registration information in the back of the manual and send it in to World Headquarters in California. 4. Do I have to give all the speeches at Toastmasters club meetings? No. So long as you are giving the speech to an audience with at least one Toastmasters member in attendance, and so long as a fellow Toastmas- ter completes the manual evaluation for that project, you may count that speech toward a CTM. 5. Do I have to work through the C&L manual in the order the projects are given? No. You can do the projects out of order if you like. It is recommended that you follow the order given since the projects progress upwards in difficulty but if you have a speech idea or opportunity that better suits one of the later projects you may skip over earlier ones and do that one first. 6. When I finish the CTM what happens? When you finish, there's a form in the back of your manual to fill out, sign, and send in to World Headquarters. When your paperwork is received at World Headquarters they enter it into the computer and you are issued a CTM certificate. If you mark it on the registration sheet they will also send a letter to your employer letting them know. Also, when you send in the registration sheet you're asked what three advanced manuals you'd like copies of, so you can start working on the ATM. 7. What's the ATM? ATM means Able Toastmaster. It's the next level of Toastmasters achievement after the CTM. If you like, you can consider the CTM the "core curriculum" and the ATM your actual "major." As there are 12 "specializations" you can work on to get your ATM, this is a fairly accurate generalization. 8. What do I have to do to get an ATM? Well, it's a little more difficult than a CTM, for starters. You have to: 1) have received a CTM, 2) completed three of the Advanced manuals, each of which has five speech projects, 3) have served a complete term as an elected club officer (e.g. President, VP Education, VP Membership, VP Public Relations, Secre- tary, Treasurer, or Sergeant at Arms). A term is one year in clubs that meet twice monthly or monthly and six months in clubs that meet weekly. 4) have given three speeches before non-Toastmasters groups 9. What advanced manuals are available? There are fourteen manuals available, each with five speech projects of various lengths: The Entertaining Speaker Speaking To Inform Public Relations The Discussion Leader Specialty Speeches Speeches By Management The Professional Speaker The Professional Salesperson Technical Presentations Communicating On Television Storytelling Interpretive Reading Special Occasion Speeches Interpersonal Communication You receive three of these for no cost when you complete your CTM. Additional manuals cost $2.25 plus postage and handling. 10. Other than the CTM and ATM, what educational opportunities are there in Toastmasters? Well, there's the DTM, of which more in a moment, but there are also Success/Leadership modules. If you'd like to delve in detail into subjects such as management, the qualities of a leader, effective listening, parliamentary procedure, creative thinking, and so forth, Toastmasters International offers pre-packaged course materials for you or a member of your club to present to a group of participants. These courses are called Success/Leadership modules. The modules come complete with instruction manuals for the participants and for the coordinator, as well as overhead transparencies and so forth to use during the session. The modules cost anywhere from $15 to $45, with proceeds going to pay for development of MORE modules. Modules are currently available on the following subjects: conducting productive meetings, parliamentary procedure, Speechcraft (an eight-week public speaking education program), effective listening, effective evaluation, mental flexibility, the power of ideas, characteristics of effective leaders, developing leadership skills, training, and develop- ing management skills. There is an additional course available called "Youth Leadership" which is similar to Speechcraft except that it's targeted for children and teenagers and it's not formally part of the Success/Leadership program. The modules average just over two hours each. Modules are ordered through the Supply Catalog (available for a dollar from World Headquar- ters), but veteran members own many of them and will share them with newer members. Toastmasters International has recently published a Leadership Manual which contains various leadership projects. If you wish to undertake a personalized development of your leadership skills, you may purchase the Leadership manual and get the assistance of your club in working on its projects. This training in leadership takes you along the same path you travel on the way to a DTM and when you complete the Manual, you receive a certificate attesting to your leadership excellence. 11. What happens after I earn an ATM? The first thing that happens is that you send in the registration and receive your certificate for your achievement. Members who earn ATM's are listed in Hall of Fame section of the Toastmaster magazine, and TI World Headquarters will send a letter to your employer if you wish notifying them of your accomplishment. After earning an ATM, you have two courses of action open to you. One is to continue giving advanced manual speeches, and work towards the ATM Bronze and ATM Silver awards. The other is to seek leadership opportuni- ties and earn the DTM. The paths are NOT mutually exclusive; members are encouraged to continue working down both avenues as they continue their membership in Toastmasters. 12. What is an ATM Bronze and ATM Silver? The ATM Bronze and ATM Silver are further advances along the Able Toastmaster route. The requirements for the ATM Bronze are as follows. You must have: 1) completed an ATM, 2) completed three ADDITIONAL advanced manuals, 3) given five speeches, seminars, or workshops to non-Toastmasters audiences in the previous two years, 4) coordinated two additional Success/Leadership modules. As with the ATM, you must send in the registration to receive credit, and again you are recognized in the Toastmaster, and may have a letter sent to your employer. The requirements for the ATM Silver are as follows. You must have: 1) completed the ATM Bronze, 2) completed three more advanced manuals other than those used for the ATM and ATM Bronze, 3) have conducted a training seminar in a company or in public OR have conducted a Toastmasters training session for Club or District officers within two years of application. 4) have judged two Toastmasters speech contests above the club level. 5) presented a platform-style speech to an audience of not less than 50 people. As with the ATM, you must send in the registration to receive credit, and again you are recognized in the Toastmaster, and may have a letter sent to your employer. 13. Is there an ATM Gold award? No. 14. What is a DTM? DTM stands for "Distinguished Toastmaster." The DTM is the highest level of certification presently awarded by Toastmasters International. The DTM is also the hardest award to earn. In order to qualify for a DTM, you must: 1) be an ATM, 2) have four years continuous membership as of date of application, 3) have coordinated at least one registered Speechcraft program within two years of application, 4) have coordinated at least one registered Youth Leadership program within two years of application, 5) have presented to other than a Toastmasters audience at least five speeches, 6) have served a complete term as an elected club officer, 7) have served a complete term as a District officer (e.g. District Governor, any District Lieutenant Governor, Division Governor, Area Governor, Secretary, Treasurer, or Public Relations Officer), 8) have served as official sponsor or mentor of a new club within four years of application (note, up to four members may so qualify for each new club) OR have served as Club Specialist (appointed by the District Governor) in rebuilding an existing club with 9 members or less to a total of at least 20 members within four years of application. 9) have sponsored five new members within one year of application. These may not be charter members of a new club sponsored or mentored by the applicant. To receive credit your name must appear as the sponsoring member on the new members' membership application forms. 15. What happens after I've earned a DTM and an ATM Silver? You have several options. You may go back at any point after earning a CTM and work your way through the C&L manual again and earn another CTM. Some members earn a new CTM every year. This is one way in which veteran members may remain polished at the fundamentals of public speaking. You may also earn multiple ATM's and DTM's if you fulfill the requirements multiple times. You can work on the Leadership Manual or on presenting Success/Leadership projects. Given that the DTM and ATM Silver take a minimum of four years to complete, and often longer, one will not soon run out of things to work on in Toastmasters. 16. Is there anything else? Well, yes. The very, very best speakers may qualify for the Accredited Speaker program, a TI program to recognize those with professional speaking skills. The requirements to qualify as an Accredited Speaker are as follows. The applicant must: 1) be a current member of a Toastmasters club. 2) have given a minimum of 25 speaking engagements to non-Toastmas- ters audiences within three years of application date. Copies of five letters of acknowledgement or appreciation from any of the 25 engagements must be provided as documentary evidence of successful presentations. 3) pass a rigorous two-stage judging process. Fewer than 25% of the members who apply for the Accredited Speaker program become Accredited Speakers, and very few Toastmasters apply in the first place. This program is only for the best. 17. Have you considered making a "speech bank" of good speeches presented by Toastmasters members available for gopher or FTP? Yes, this has been considered. Some people think it would be an excellent idea, as they feel that there is no better way to learn how to write a good speech than to study others' speeches at length. Others, however, feel that a speech bank would lend itself more to Toastmasters and non-Toastmasters alike using speeches without attribution in speaking assignments or in speech classes, and that's not something we want to encourage. Toastmasters is a learn-by-doing type of environment, not a "copycat, adhere to this form or that form that someone, somewhere called 'good'" environment. Furthermore, a written copy of a speech contains none of the presentation and style the speaker put into its delivery and, as such, cannot be considered a full speech. To appreciate a speech and learn from it, you must see it presented. Hence, as yet, no "speech bank" has been set up. There's a lot to do in Toastmasters! Start today! Archive-name: toastmasters-faq/part4 Alt-org-toastmasters-archive-name: faq/part4 alt.org.toastmasters Frequently Asked Questions part 4 of 5: Leadership and Organization 1. What leadership opportunities within the club are open to me as a member of Toastmasters? All clubs have a staff of club officers. These are elected once or twice a year, depending on whether the club meets weekly or every other week (or monthly, etc.). Clubs that meet weekly usually elect for six month terms. Elections usually take place in May for the term July 1 to June 30 and, where applicable, in May for the term July 1 to December 30 and in November for the term January 1 to June 30. Club offices (and their rank within the club) are as follows: * President - chairs meetings and supervises all other officers * Vice President Education - schedules meeting assign- ments and works with members to see that their needs are met * Vice President Membership - runs club membership drive and also works to keep members satisfied and happy * Vice President Public Relations - makes sure club meeting listings appear in the media, puts posters up, etc. * Secretary - sends correspondence on behalf of the club, keeps club records and minutes * Treasurer - handles financial affairs, such as dues and purchases * Sergeant of Arms - sets meeting room up, puts stuff away, greets guests, etc. Club offices are open to ANY member. There is no reason why a new member cannot run for President without serving in any other club office. 2. What leadership opportunities are open to me OUTSIDE the club? You can serve as Area Governor, Division Governor, District Secretary, District Treasurer, District Public Relations Officer, District Lieutenant Governor Marketing, District Lieutenant Governor Education and Training, District Governor, International Director, International Vice-President, or International President. To explain what all these mean, you need to know more about each level. 3. What is an Area? Clubs are grouped into Areas of three to eight Clubs. Each Area has its own Area Governor, a member of one of the clubs appointed by the District Governor to serve the Area. Areas have Area Speech Contests several times a year, with winners from the Club levels going on to the Area Contest. The winner of the Area Contest goes on to the Division. Areas also share Area goals, determined by formulas set at World Headquarters, such as "x number of clubs at 20 members in strength" and "x number of CTM's in the various clubs." If an Area meets or exceeds all its goals, its Area Governor is recognized for hard work motivating the clubs. 4. What is a Division? Areas are grouped into Divisions. Divisions may be as small as one Area in size (rarely) or as have five, six, or more Areas. Each Division has its own Division Governor. Division Governors must be members of clubs within their Division and are elected once a year at the applicable District Spring Conference. The Division Governor works with his Area Governors to motivate the clubs to high membership and to have good, effective educational programs. Divisions have Division Speech Contests several times a year, with winners from the Areas coming together to compete. The Division winners go on to the District level. Divisions have Division goals, just as Areas do. A good Division Governor will work with his clubs and Areas to increase membership and educational effort. 5. What is a District? Districts in some cases are equivalent to "states" and in other cases are smaller or larger. If you think of a District as "the state organization" you won't be too far off. Districts are comprised of several Divisions. Districts are the main level of organization outside the Club; Areas and Divisions are _sub-units_ of the District. California has several Districts because there are so many clubs there. North Carolina, on the other hand, is a single District. England and Scotland and Ireland are one District all together, and Australia and New Zealand comprise several Districts. Smaller countries with only a few clubs each are Unincorporated clubs which report directly to World Headquar- ters instead of to Districts. Each District has its own set of officers, most of whom are elected at the District Spring Conference (or Fall Conference in the Southern Hemisphere). The officers include: District Secretary, District Treasurer, District Public Relations Officer, District Lieutenant Governor Marketing, District Lieutenant Governor Education and Training, and District Governor. The last three are always elected and the first three are elected or appointed depending on local preference. If they are appointed in your District, it's the newly elected District Governor who does the appointing. And yes, Districts have their own District-wide goals. The various District officers work with the clubs, Areas, and Divisions to build membership, start new clubs, promote the earning of CTM's and ATM's, and so forth. Districts have speech contests several times a year, as the Division winners come together at the District Conferences to compete for the District crowns. 6. Whoa! That sounds complicated! It is, but that's the price you pay for: * having enough offices to fill that a lot of people get the opportunity to serve, and * having enough officers on the spot to help out clubs that have problems (e.g. low membership). Let's look at a made-up example to illustrate the organiza- tion: Joe belongs to the Wide Valley Toastmasters Club (club 9521). The Wide Valley Toastmasters club belongs to Area 4, Central Division, District 95. Area 4 is the city of Wide Valley with four clubs. The Central Division is Areas 4, 5, and 6, comprising the mid-state area. District 95 is the eastern half of the state. Area 4 has an Area Governor who works with the Wide Valley club and the other three clubs in the Area. The Central Division has a Division Governor who works with all 12 clubs in his Division and with the three Area Governors under her. District 95 has five Divisions and its own set of officers. Joe goes to various speech contests in his Area, Division, and District and once a year represents his club at the Spring Conference to elect new officers and vote on other District policy matters. 7. How do I get to be a District officer? If you want to be an Area Governor, show up at a lot of events outside your club and get to know the people around your District. Work hard within your club. Eventually, you'll be considered for appointment as an Area Governor. It doesn't hurt to ask the people who are running for District Governor to consider appointing you. If you want to be a Division Governor or other District Officer, you've usually got to run for the office. Each club in a District gets two votes and the clubs that have representatives at the Spring Conference vote and decide who'll serve for the next year. Terms always run July 1 to June 30, by the way, so elections are usually held in April or May. Another good way to get to be a District officer is to volunteer to help a District committee. You don't get DTM credit for helping a committee or serving as a District committee chair, but you get *known* and that's usually all it takes to get asked to serve the next time around. 8. What levels are beyond the District? Technically, none -- just Toastmasters International. The Districts *do* get together for *Regional* Conferences in June of each year, but the Regions are not formally constituted bodies. They're just groupings of eight or so Districts. Each Region is entitled to representation on the Board of Directors of Toastmasters International in the form of two International Directors who serve two-year terms, with one being elected each year, but it is the world body that elects these officers, not the Regions themselves. The main require- ment for representing a Region is that you have residency and membership in a club in that Region. Once you are elected, however, you serve the world, not just the clubs of your Region. At the Regional Conferences, you also find speech contests, with the various District winners squaring off. Only one contestant goes on to the World level; the humorous speaking and evaluation contests stop at the Regional level, leaving the International Speech Contest contestants to decide the World Championship of Public Speaking each August at the World Convention. Regions do not have regional goals. They're not organized bodies. 9. What's the World Convention? The World Convention takes place each August in a North American city. The main feature of the Conference, other that presentation of awards for effort during the preceding year, is the Annual Business Meeting, at which International officers are elected and policies are made and changed. The clubs have the voting strength at the world level, with two votes each. Districts often wind up voting the proxies for clubs which don't make it to the Annual Business Meeting each August. There are a dozen elections to be held each August: eight (or nine, if it's the year to elect the director from Overseas) International Directors, three Vice Presidents, and one President. As there are eight Regions (with two Directors each) and one amalgamated Overseas area (with one Director) sending Directors to the world board, necessarily there are seventeen Directors, serving two-year terms each. There is an International President and three International Vice-Presi- dents who serve over the whole kit and kaboodle. They serve one year each. 10. So the Board of Directors and the President and Vice Presidents make all the decisions about dues and so forth? Yes and no. Any proposals they wish to see adopted that constitute actual changes to the constitution and bylaws of the organization require a vote by the assembled clubs, with each club having two votes. As above, the District officers gather proxies from any clubs that aren't going to be at the annual business meeting in August. 11. What do I get for serving as an officer? If you serve as a club officer, you earn credit toward an ATM. If you serve as a District officer, you earn credit toward a DTM. Service on the International level doesn't earn you anything in particular because you've usually already earned everything there is to earn by that point. But, more importantly, you get tremendous leadership experi- ence. With everyone a volunteer and no club HAVING to do what its District officers suggest, you have to develop powerful persuasive abilities to guide the clubs and members in the right direction. There's a lot of opportunity to grow in Toastmasters. Check it out! Archive-name: toastmasters-faq/part5 Alt-org-toastmasters-archive-name: faq/part5 alt.org.toastmasters Frequently Asked Questions part 5 of 5: Toastmasters International Speech Contests 1. What's all this about speech contests? In order to provide for people who enjoy competitive speaking, and in order to showcase the best, Toastmasters clubs hold speech contests as many as five times a year. Each contest starts at the club level and works its way up through Area and Division to the District. Three contests go on to Regional and one goes on to the World Convention each August. The contests are: * Tall Tales - 3 to 5 minutes in length. A tall tale, which must be original (you can't use someone else's material). Goes as far as the District level. * Table Topics - 1 to 2 minutes in length. Impromptu speak- ing. All contestants are taken out of the room and brought back in one by one to speak on the *same* topic, which should be general in nature and not require specialized knowledge which some contestants might have while others might not. Since no contestant hears the topic before his turn to speak on it, you can judge their impromptu speaking abilities by the way in which each person's effort stacks up against the others. Goes as far as the District level. * Evaluation - 2 to 3 minutes in length. A target speaker gives a speech which all the evaluation contestants are to evaluate. The contestants are taken from the room and given five minutes to prepare their speeches and make notes. Then, their notes are taken away and they are brought back into the room one by one (at which time the contestant gets his notes back) to deliver their oral evaluation of the target speech. Since no contestant hears what another said about the target speech, the judges can compare the analytical abilities of the contestants. Goes as far as the Regional level. * Humorous speech - 5 to 7 minutes. Humorous speaking, which must be original. Year after year, people hear the rules read to them and then stand up and present Bill Cosby routines and then act puzzled when they're disqualified. It's supposed to be a *speech*, not a monologue, and it MUST be original. It should also be "clean." So-called "blue humor" will get you zero points in the "appropriateness" column of the judges' forms. In other words, it should be a five-to-seven minute speech with a lot of humor value, but ALSO displaying good speechmaking abilities. Goes as far as the Regional level. * International Speech - 5 to 7 minutes. Any topic at all, so long as it's original. Can be funny, serious, whatever. It should be the best speech you can give, and it must be original. Did I mention that it must be original? Don't do what so many speakers do and crib at length from someone else's works and then expect that no one in the audience will smell a rat. The reason this contest is called "International Speech" instead of "General Speech" or "Miscellaneous Speech" is because it's the only one of the five contests that goes as far as the World level. Each August, winners from the eight Regions and the Overseas clubs (9 contestants in all) compete at the World Convention in the World Championship of Public Speaking. 2. How do you pick the winners? Each contest has a set of rules which mandate originality and lay down the procedures. If you go over your time limit by thirty seconds, you're eliminated. If you go UNDER your time limit by thirty seconds, you're eliminated -- except in Table Topics, where you must speak at least one minute, no less. Out in the audience, there'll be a set of judges, scattered among the audience, each with a points form that they use to rate you against what a winning effort should be and how you stack up against the others. There's a different form for each contest, since each contest involves different skills. 3. Who gets to compete? Any member in good standing (i.e. you've got your dues paid) can compete when the contests come around -- except for current District and International officers and candidates for same -- except for the International Speech Contest. To compete in the International Speech Contest, you must have joined on or before the previous July 1, and you must have given at least six manual speeches towards your CTM. This requirement is intended to prevent professional speakers from joining Toastmasters out of the blue solely to compete toward the World Championship of Public Speaking. District and International officers are barred so the judges won't be swayed by their titles. 4. When do the contests take place? It varies from District to District. Some Districts have two contests in the fall, one in the winter, and two in the spring. Others have two in the fall, two in the winter, and one in the spring. All that matters as far as Toastmasters International is concerned is that all Districts must have held their Evaluation, Humorous, and International Speech contests by the time the Regional conferences roll around in June. 5. What do I get if I win a contest? At the club level, sometimes all you get is a handshake and some applause. By the time you've gotten up to Division and District levels, you're getting some fairly impressive trophies. 6. My District has different rules for the various speech contests. Is this permitted? This situation came up recently in District 37 (North Carolina). A club was told that the official District rules for the Humorous Speech Contest mandated similar eligibility requirements for the Humorous contest as for the International Speech contest, to wit, all contestants had to have been members on or before July 1 of the current year, and had to have given at least four (I.S. requires six) manual speeches. According to the District officers involved, these were the official rules for all Humorous Speech contests held in North Carolina, and even though the official rules mailed to all clubs by Toastmasters International mandated that the only eligibility requirement be membership in good standing in a club in good standing, the District 37 rules applied nonetheless. The club President in question checked with TI WHQ and was told in no uncertain terms that any District which holds speech contests must use the official Toastmasters International rules and that Districts are not permitted to change the rules as published by Toastmasters International in any way. This policy of course doesn't apply to contests the District has invented on its own, but for the Big 5 (International, Humorous, Table Topics, Tall Tales, and Evaluation), if your District has changed the time limits, eligibility requirements, or policy regarding originality (one District supposedly waived the origi- nality requirement for the Tall Tales contest), they're in the wrong. If they don't believe this to be the case, ask them to contact Toastmasters International World Headquarters themselves. They'll be swiftly corrected. Why is this important, by the way? Simple: the only official rules most clubs get for the contests are the ones TI themselves mail out. It would be tremendously discouraging to be belatedly told that the rules your club had used for the contest you won were not the official rules as practiced in YOUR District, and thus, you can't compete at the next level. In many cases, 'Offi- cial District Rules' are known only by those who have a dog-eared photocopy that's five years old (as was the case in District 37). That's wrong. If your District has changed the rules, tell them they can't, and if they say "Sure we can," let TI World HQ know. Contests are fun, but it's important to run them the same way everywhere around the world. Fairness and a level playing field aren't just luxuries. They're required. 7. Hey, what about the Debate Contest or the Interpretive Reading Contest or some other contest you didn't mention? Districts can hold whatever contests they want in addition to the five sanctioned International contests listed above. However, these vary from District to District and it would not be possible to list all the various speech contests held throughout the world of Toastmasters here in this FAQ. Find out when your next speech contest is, and ask about competing or being a judge. It's fun!