New Toastmasters Club Helps
Members Project Confidence
By Mary Anderson

At a recent Toastmasters meeting, Lynn Caulkins of Chelsea shows an animated style as she welcomes members to the meeting. The area Toastmasters club meets twice a month, once in Randolph and once in South Royalton. (Herald / Tim Calabro)

Public speaking is alive and well in the White River Valley area thanks to an organization known as Toastmasters.

The organization believes that the skills that can be gained through public speaking "foster self-confidence and personal growth."

There are at least nine clubs in Vermont, and the most local one, River View Community Speakers, meets twice a month from 7:15 to 9:15 p.m.

The first Thursday of every month the meeting is at Gifford Medical Center’s conference room; on the third Thursdays the meeting site is in Oakes Hall Room 211 at Vermont Law School. Meetings are open to all, and are free.

River View Community Speakers was started by Randolph resident Forrest MacGregor five years ago. His wife was in law school and MacGregor, who had been exposed to toastmasters in Ashville, N.C., felt law students would benefit.

Starting a club in a rural area proved to be a challenge, as toastmasters required 20 members before a club could officially be formed. In order to meet the challenge, MacGregor went to all of his friends and told them "If you’ll join the club, I’ll pay the initial per person membership fees." On average about seven people currently attend meetings.

At a recent meeting the varied group included Alan Jefferys of Brookfield, a state motorcycle trainer; Judi Bouchard of South Royalton, who works at Gifford; Lynn Caulkins of Chelsea, elder caretaker and an outdoors woman; and Jodi Ricker of Tunbridge, who works at Applied Research. Despite their varied backgrounds, all agreed that toastmasters helped them learn to communicate with other people and increased their self confidence.

Heather Jarvis of Randolph, one of the first members and the official toastmaster for the evening, said that she loved the opportunity to "step away from daily life and learn different things from the varied speeches people give." She said she had learned about things from "sugaring to robots."

Jacob Snyder joined "to help run a business" and he used the group to get feedback for a speech he hoped would win him a spot at the National Democratic Convention.

‘Worse Than Death’

Monique Van de Vin, noted that a toastmasters survey revealed "People fear public speaking more than death." MacGregor concurred, adding "People are afraid of the opinion of peers.

Toastmasters combats that fear by giving feedback instantly in an environment filled with people who know they will be doing same thing.

"What doesn’t kill them makes them stronger," MacGregor quipped.

He added, "Toastmasters makes people more effective talking with kids. It really helps people who are shy. Learning public speaking also gives a good edge in an interview as you learn to think on your feet."

Toastmasters meetings include prepared speeches of five to seven minutes as well as two-minute speeches called "table topics" which must be improvised on the spot from an assigned topic.

Members get a basic manual on "the nuts and bolts of ten speeches," and for the more advanced, there are 15 specialty manuals.

For example, the Special Occasions Manual asks you to prepare speeches on mastering the toast, speaking in praise, accepting an award, presenting an award, and the roast. Other specialty manuals focus on storytelling, being a discussion leader, technical presentations and public relations.

Members work at their own pace and at a meeting one member may be giving their first speech, while another may be working in a specialty manual.

Meetings also include a jokemaster, a wordmaster who gives a new word for the group to use in speeches, and a thoughtmaster who reads words of inspiration.

As a general rule the clubs stay away from controversial issues such as religion or politics.

Everyone is given feedback in a supportive manner. Evaluations may include appearance, facial expressions, eye contact, enthusiasm, rate, pitch, introduction, body language, and conclusion of the speech, use of grammar and the number of "ahs" or "ums."

Competitions, Too

There is also a competitive aspect of Toastmasters for members who enjoy it.

At the April 3 meeting, Ed Rooney of Randolph took on the role of contest chair for the club's table topics competition. He asked the same question to each contestant: "This presidential election has motivated, energized, and mobilized like none in recent history. What do you hope comes from the next presidency?"

Each contestant had two minutes to speak on the topic. Caulkins and Ricker emerged as the top two club contestants, chosen to go on to the regional competition April 15 at VLS. At this event Caulkins once again placed first in table topics responding to the question "If you could be any age for one week what age would it be and why?"

At the division competition held on April 26 in Weare, N.H. Caulkins placed third, responding to the query "If you could be an expert and write a book on any topic what would it be?" Caulkins spoke about sugaring.

The next stage will be the district competition at the Capital Plaza in Montpelier, May 16-18—the first time in over 22 years that Vermont will host this district event.

Participants from Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick will be present. There will be two speech competitions and workshops, as well as speeches from various individuals including Gov. Jim Douglas and VPR commentator Willem Lange. The public is invited for a fee.

For more information about River View Speakers go to uppervalleytoastmasters.org or e-mail Lynn Caulkins at lynncaul@sover.net. For information regarding the May conference contact Dona Bate at dbate@dbatespeaking.com.