DO you have a fear of public speaking or just want to improve your skills?<\/p>\n
The Bendigo Toastmasters club meets twice a month with all members having an opportunity to enhance their speech giving skills.<\/p>\n
Each meeting features a warm-up, a structured talk for someone to give their prepared speech, and impromptu talks for members to speak on a random topic for two minutes.<\/p>\n
Vice-president of Bendigo Toastmasters John Warner said the group focuses on constructive feedback and developing communication skills.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolutely everything we do is evaluated on the night, that give\u2019s people feedback on what their strengths are, areas that they could perhaps improve\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
When COVID-19 forced their meetings online, Mr Warner said it created more opportunities.<\/p>\n
It is a worldwide organisation. During COVID, we had people from other countries drop into our meetings which was quite a different experience,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Warner has seen people join the club for many different reasons but all with the overall aim of improving their public speaking.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes you can have people who come along for a while because they\u2019ve got to do a speech for their daughter or son\u2019s wedding,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome people want to improve in their career, and they realise unless they get better at standing up in front of a group of people, they\u2019re never going to progress in an organisation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe other side is just for the comradery you\u2019ve got\u2026 I\u2019m always learning and I\u2019m always very fascinated by other members stories about events in their life or work that inspire you to tackle things with more energy and more optimism.\u201d<\/p>\n
Toastmasters International\u2019s pathways program is another way for members to learn and enhance their leadership skills.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s thousands of hours of training and various paths online that direct you to gain more knowledge in the area you want to apply it,\u201d Mr Warner said.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve got a passion for public speaking, or want to enhance your communication skills, check out Bendigo Toastmasters on Facebook.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DO you have a fear of public speaking or just want to improve your skills? The Bendigo Toastmasters club meets twice a month with all members having an opportunity to enhance their speech giving skills. Each meeting features a warm-up, a structured talk for someone to give their prepared speech, and impromptu talks for members […]<\/p>\n