What we do
During a meeting
- We have prepared speeches by club members
- We do impromptu speaking
- We expand our vocabulary with a “Word of the Day”.
- We seek to eliminate “umms’s” and “ahhs” from our speaking
- We provide feedback by evaluating people who speak.
Speech Contests
We have contests during the year to find the best speakers. We have
- A Humorous contest to find the funniest speaker.
- A Table Topics contest to find the best impromptu speaker.
- An International contest to find the best at a prepared speech; this is a global contest.
- An Evaluation contest to find the best feedback of a speech.
DTM
DTM stands for Distinguished Toastmaster. This is the highest achievement in Toastmasters. To achieve this award the following have to be done.
- Start another Toastmaster club.
- Be an Area Director for a year. Four or so clubs report to you.
- Complete many speeches
- Run speech contests
- Complete a special project such as bringing in 5 new members
Good Times
Fun and fellowship with a meal
If i’m King, where’s my power? Can I form a government? Can I levy a tax, declare a war? No and yet I am the seat of all authority. Why? Because the nation believes that when I speak, I speak for them. But I can’t speak.
King George VI – The Kings Speech
My Story
Jeremy Naylor
I have a stutter which is caused by my ataxia. This has given me a lot of challenges when I was growing up. I would be talking to somebody and get stuck on a word. I found it impossible to speak without delay. My stutter caused me problems. I shied away from people as it was so hard to speak.
My late friend Jim, who suffered from a brain injury, suggested I join Toastmasters. It was hard at first. I not only had to conquer my nerves when going to the front of a room to speak. I also had to contend with my stutter too. I have made so much progress. I have managed to control my nerves which helps my stutter.
I have met many fine people at Toastmasters. They have become lifelong friends. I became the 2021-2022 President of the Tawa Toastmasters club, which is something I would never have believed I could do.
I can speak. I have a voice. I would recommend Toastmasters to anybody who wants to improve their speaking skills and to speak to an audience of any size.
Mercy Brown
Talofa.
Like many Toastmasters, we all have similar stories about why we joined. I joined for self development. I wanted to gain skills in delivering presentations and to be able to speak at work conferences with confidence.
Toastmasters has given me a life time education that I still enjoy and value not only in my work but anywhere else like chairing a pre-school meeting, organising family reunions, organising conferences and being able to run workshops in the community.
I have met many experienced members and I have learned through their speeches, their stories and their evaluations.
Having a good mentor is what I also valued during my journey to get my Distinguished Toastmaster Award. My mentor was helpful with my projects and to get me to think outside the square. She guided me through the pathways and took the time voluntary to help and support me.
My favourite quote from the founder of Toastmasters International Dr Ralph Smedley: “The unprepared speaker has a right to be afraid”.
Tony Cross
When I first came to Wellington I worked in the NZ Audit Office. In those days it was staffed with mostly ambitious younger people in their 20’s and 30’s all wanting to get ahead. I well remember having a discussion with the Regional Manager, Ross Dunn, who recommended Toastmasters to me. Little did I know that Ross was actually a member of Tawa Toastmasters.
I was living in Tawa and saw an advertisement for a Speechcraft course being run by Tawa Toastmasters. The organiser was George Nicholson. I remember attending the first session and being terrified doing my first table topic. I found the members from Tawa Club running the course to be exceedingly helpful and supportive and joined the club not long after.
I must have been in the club only 2-3 years when they struggled to find a President that year so volunteered for that role. I was always in awe of the senior members of the club who were so polished in their speeches, the likes of David Knight and Peter Murphy. It took me years before I was able to win a contest in the club.
My wife joined the club not long after we married and we both achieved DTM status with in a year of each other. I was involved in starting up both Spinnaker Speakeasy and Capital Chatters Toastmasters clubs.
Professionally I have been hugely helped by Toastmasters and would not have achieved the things in life I have without Toastmasters.