re: Anyone Ever Heard of the Group “Toastmasters”?

I used to travel all over the place for a previous job where I would speak in front of crowds of 30-1,000 on a regular basis. The biggest crowd was 16,000. I actually had no public speaking experience before then and was very timid going into the first few events but after the first five or so it became second nature for me. I just got to the point where I tucked my fears away for 30 minutes and turned it on.

For me, nothing was going to teach how to maintain breathing and composure during a public speaking event like getting out there and just doing it.

It’s pretty dorky tbh, but from my own experience it’s helped with my public speaking ability tremendously.

I have a lot of the stereotypical engineer qualities that people make fun of. Perfectly happy to put on some headphones and work on a design by myself all day. As I progressed in my career I started being called on to coordinate team efforts, lead meetings and discussions, things like that that I absolutely dreaded. Decided to give Toastmasters a shot and definitely recommend it. I don’t feel nervous about leading discussions and even enjoy it now.

Yes. It helps you reinvent yourself into someone you’re not all the while convincing you that you are not the totally bumbling, weak, feckless person you really are.

My cousin is head of her group or whatever in DC, she works in PR and said that it’s helped her a lot.

They’re legit. Dale Carnegie does it a little more formally but good group.

About 25 years ago, my former HS science teacher suggested I look into joining the Toastmasters.

It’s legit. I did it for a while in a group with judge Downing in BR many years ago. I was already a confident speaker but the exercises were still helpful..

Yes. I was part of the Baton Rouge chapter for a few years. It’s a structured syllabus starting out with an ice breaker speech. Meetings are fun with challenging one minute responses on any number of topics. Very helpful to me. I learned about it when I read Fords CEO Lee Iacocca’s biography. He credited it in helping him emerge from the pack.