Toastmasters helps turn a fear of public speaking into a joy

Emmanuel Idemoh is more confident speaking in front of others thanks to joining TRU’s Toastmasters club.

Rather than continuing to be terrified of speaking in front of his classmates, Business student Emmanuel Idemoh chose to do something about it and joined TRU’s Toastmasters club.

And in the few short months since, he has found the confidence he was looking for.

“Now when I go and present in my classes, instead of thinking I’m facing a pack of animals waiting to devour me, I just try and picture my Toastmasters friends, think of their names, and picture their smiling faces — their supportive faces,” said Idemoh, who is one of about 20 to have joined the club since it was created on January 20, 2014.

He now describes his presentation style as confident, calm, prepared, and relaxed. Now time seems to fly by to the point of wishing he had more minutes.

Meetings are most Mondays, 12:15-1:15 pm, in the TRU Students’ Union Boardroom located in the Independent Centre portion of Campus Activity Centre. An open house is scheduled for Jan. 26, 2015 and everyone is welcome to attend.

Toastmasters is an international organization founded in 1924 and whose goal is to provide people with speaking and leadership skills through the giving of speeches — rehearsed and impromptu — and the taking on of club roles inside and outside of meetings. Impromptu speeches are referred to as Table Topics and can range from one to two minutes, and can be the choice of the presenter or a suggestion from that meeting’s Table Topics Master.

Presentations — whether rehearsed or impromptu — are evaluated by with suggestions for improvement and delivered in a positive, friendly, and genuine manner. This approach is designed to develop the presenter through encouragement rather than through comments that could be taken as attacks. Members are encouraged to follow a self-paced education curriculum as a way of maximizing the Toastmasters experience.

Victoria Martin works for TRU World and wanted to add a little more juice to her speaking skills and thought Toastmasters would do it. She was right and then some. Her leadership and networking abilities also received a boost.

“I joined Toastmasters expecting to gain the ability to do a better job at formal presentations, but in fact I’ve gained the ability to chair meetings more effectively, and to speak spontaneously without preparation,” Martin said. “When you’re more confident and comfortable as a speaker, people automatically put more credibility into what you have to say just because you seem to be more professional by the very nature of being more confident and a comfortable speaker.”

More information
Françoise Baroux
TRU Toastmasters Club, treasurer
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 778-220-8010