Toastmasters International is the leading movement devoted to making effective oral communication a world-wide reality. Through its member clubs, it helps men and women learn the arts of speaking, listening, and thinking—vital skills that promote self-actualization, enhance leadership potential, foster human understanding, and contribute to the betterment of mankind.
TI was founded by Ralph C Smedley on October 22, 1924, at the YMCA in Santana, United States. It was then incorporated under California law on December 19, 1932.Currently; it is home to 2, 70,000 members spread across 13,000 clubs in 116 countries.
THE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM:
A Toastmasters club adopts a "learn-by-doing" philosophy, wherein each member learns at a pace suitable to his or her developmental needs. The Toastmasters program is divided into two separate tracks - Communication and Leadership, with members progressing along each track by presenting speeches and taking on roles within their club, district, and Toastmasters International itself.
The heart of the Toastmasters curriculum is its educational awards. The most basic of these in the series is the Competent Communication manual. The competent communication manual comprises of ten speech based projects, wherein the level of complexity of each speech is higher than the preceeding one. After completing the ten Competent Communication projects, a member is entitled to the Competent Communicator award, and may add the post-nominal CC to their name for Toastmasters purposes.
Toastmasters' international also helps in strengthening one's leadership qualities. This is motivated in part by the fact that Toastmasters International is staffed completely by volunteers. Even the board of directors is composed of volunteers, who still hold memberships in local clubs, and are not paid. Besides, there is a Competent Leadership manual with projects to develop leadership qualities in an individual.
One progresses through the Toastmasters journey as shown in the flowchart above before finally attaining the highest honour,Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM), to members who have achieved both the Advanced Communication Gold and Advanced Leader Silver awards. To achieve the DTM typically takes five to eight years of dedicated service and leadership in at the local club, area, and division levels. The Distinguished Toastmaster title is not necessarily the end of the journey for most Toastmasters. Many Toastmasters will re-enter the program and repeat it at least once more. Every iteration through the program affords the individual additional experience in either the chosen direction or a totally new direction at their discretion.
No comments:
Post a Comment