Quora Answer: How Does Toastmasters Help People become Better Speakers?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “How does Toastmasters help people become better speakers?  What sorts of activities or techniques do they use?” 

The Toastmasters programme focuses on three areas of communication: the ability to speak, the ability to listen, and the ability to think quickly.  They are the project speeches, project evaluations, and the table topics segment of every chapter meeting. 

For the project speeches, every speech has an objective, and downloadable material on how to achieve these objectives.  Clubs assign mentors, and they are meant to guide you on how to craft your speech.  There are checklists on what to consider when meeting the objectives of the speech, and another after the project to review what you have learned.  Timing of speeches are important because the attention span of the audience is of crucial importance. 

For project evaluations, you are taught to consider the structure of speech, whether it has met the project objectives, and how to praise as well as criticise, and how to break down the intended message versus what was actually conveyed.  Communication is more than one way.  To effectively communicate, to be an impactful speaker, it is important to have the ability to discern the speaker intent when listening. 

For table topics, the entire purpose is to train mental agility, and impromptu speaking.  We are given a topic, and we have a short period of time to put forward a coherent argument for or against that proposition.  This mirrors real world interactions, when we have windows of opportunities to connect with people for specific purposes.