“So, um, yeah, you know, well, uh ...”
These utterances don’t resound with the qualities of confidence and competence one needs when pitching a potential client or having a difficult conversation with a vendor. Enter Toastmasters International, a 100-year-old organization headquartered in California with 332,000 members in 135 countries.
More than 200 of those members attend weekly meetings at 13 clubs in Central Kentucky.
“Toastmasters offers guidance on improving communications and leadership, which are important skills in any area,” said Tom Habermann, director of the Bluegrass Division. “We’re all in the same business: communication.”
Habermann is operations manager for the Lexington Opera House. He joined the Midway College (now Midway University) Toastmasters club when it started in 2011 and also belongs to the Downtown Lunch Bunch in Lexington.
“If a person can’t get their ideas across effectively, it’s a missed opportunity,” he said. “You never know when the next chance to sell yourself or your product will come, and Toastmasters meetings allow us to work on expanding our comfort zones.”
Dwayne Buckles is business development manager for Ops Plus. He’s been a member of Sunrise Toastmasters since 2009, the group that meets Tuesdays at 6:30 a.m. at the E.S. Good Barn on UK’s campus.
“I originally went to Toastmasters to sharpen my sales skills and, at the time, my interview skills since I was between jobs,” he said. “What surprised me is how you develop your leadership and organizational skills at the same time you improve your communication skills. I have no doubt in my mind that joining Toastmasters is a big contributing factor for my growth in sales. I wish I had found Toastmasters 30 years ago. There’s no telling where I would be.”
Bari Ewing, mechanical engineer with Mason & Hanger, meets with clients regularly and gives industry-related presentations. To strengthen her capacity for public speaking, she joined the Tuesday evening Lexington Toastmasters club in January 2016.
“I wanted to get rid of some bad habits I feel I have when I speak,” she said, “such as awkward movements, saying ‘um’ or ‘ah’ or getting distracted and losing my train of thought.”
Ewing appreciates the structure of Toastmasters’ definable goals.
“I enjoy the opportunity to speak and participate in something that doesn’t have any consequences if you mess up. You just learn from it,” she said.
Linda Stewart, a Star Scentsy consultant, is president of Lexington Toastmasters.
“Toastmasters isn’t just intended for a person to learn public speaking,” she said. “It helps with individual communication, being more organized in our thoughts, and taking leadership roles.”
With an open and supportive environment, Toastmasters helps people in any profession talk and listen more effectively.
“Because of our weekly experience in learning to answer impromptu questions, we become a little wiser when it comes to listening to others if they try to hedge around a subject,” Stewart said. “We know when they aren’t answering a question but seeking to avoid it.”
For Theresa Richardson, commercial insurance account manager at Cambridge Insurance, Toastmasters has provided both communication and organizational skills.
“Before I start a conversation, especially at work, I find myself organizing my thoughts first and writing them down if needed,” she said. “As a result, the conversation is much smoother for both parties.”
Two years ago, office worker Julian Casey found herself seeking medical treatment for anxiety brought on by the difficulty in conversing with strangers. She then turned to Toastmasters and has moved from a person “who avoided eye contact with strangers to the person who enjoys making other people feel special,” she said.
Steve Lanham, a contract business analyst with Pomeroy IT Solutions, serves as president of Midway Toastmasters and is the administration manager for District 40, which includes parts of Kentucky, West Virginia and Ohio.
“Toastmasters helped me regain the confidence that I lost when I became a less-than-successful manager at UPS,” he said. “One of the most surprising things for me about Toastmasters is how I have developed into a leader. I’ll be honest with you: I possessed very few leadership skills when I was younger. Now, after being in Toastmasters for more than a dozen years, I was able to serve as the chair for the District 40 Toastmasters Conference that was held at the Griffin Gate Marriott last November.”
Lanham recommends Toastmasters as a “go-to professional development solution” for employees and business owners alike.
“This is a great opportunity for people improve their presentation skills, sharpen their off -the-cuff speaking acumen, and learn how to give effective feedback,” he said. “Toastmasters also helps its members learn how to plan meetings and then how to manage meetings.”
For more information about Toastmasters, visit www.Toastmasters.org.