Originally published January 20, 2015 in the Winnipeg Free Press

Was it to lose weight, eat better, save money, be more assertive? All very good goals but hard to achieve without a support system. If one of your goals is (was) to be a better speaker, leader, communicator or simply to gain more confidence – your next step should
be to visit a Toastmasters Club. There you will find a friendly supportive atmosphere where people practice and develop their communication and leadership skills with the help of a great support system. You will find people having fun, talking about interesting things, giving positive feedback while demonstrating different levels of communication skills.

For speaking skills development, there are a set of manuals to work through at your own pace starting with the Competent Communicator Manual – a set of 10 speech guidelines that get you started speaking in front of the club. They include the Icebreaker (speaking about yourself), and end with Inspire your Audience. Some of the others are Your Body Speaks, Organize your Speech, and Get Comfortable with Visual Aids. Michael Bayer CSP, says “everything you ever wanted to know about public speaking is in these manuals.”
If better leadership skills are your goal, there is The Competent Communicator manual which identifies how being part of a Toastmaster meeting can improve skills such as Critical Thinking, Giving Feedback, Time Management and Team Building among others.

For more information on any of these topics or manuals, go to www.toastmasters.org. For general information on better communication techniques, I invite you to visit http://www.toastmasters.org/Resources/Video-Library.

Let this be the year you take the step forward to better listening, thinking and speaking and make your New Year’s resolution a reality. To hear more comments about Toastmasters, please go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WStG9TnG0Gw

There are Toastmasters meetings every day of the week (day and evening) in Manitoba and North-West Ontario that would welcome you. Go to www.toastmasters.org/findaclub or call 204-338-7401 to find out more. No experience necessary.