Can I Attend as a Guest?

Guest are very welcome and can attend meetings free-of-charge, we encourage you to attend a few meetings as a guest to check out what we are all about and become comfortable with the club before potentially joining!

Why Does Toastmasters Work?

At Toastmasters, members learn by speaking to groups and working with others in a supportive
environment. Our Toastmasters club is made up of ~ 15 people who meet once a week for
2 hours. Each meeting gives everyone an opportunity to practice their skills in the following areas:

• Giving Impromptu Speeches
  Members present one-to two-minute impromptu speeches on assigned topics
• Presenting Prepared Speeches
  Members present speeches based on projects from the Toastmaster International Communication and Leadership Program Manuals. Projects cover such topics as speech organization, voice modulation, language, gestures, and persuasion
• Offering Constructive Evaluation
  Prepared speakers are assigned an evaluator who points out speech strengths and offers suggestions for improvement
• Conducting Meetings
  Once a month we have a short business session which helps members learn basic meeting procedures

If I Do Join – How Much Does it Cost?

Once deciding to join you will be asked to pay a one-time fee of $40.00 and will be provided with a Competent Communicators Manual, which outlines their first 10 speech assignments, and a Leadership Manual, as well as other Toastmaster information.  (After the first few years, as you progress as a Toastmaster, you may wish to purchase additional manuals to lead you through more challenging speech assignments.)

Members are then asked to pay  $60.00 every 6 months, or $120.00 per year, to maintain their membership. This $10/month cost covers room rental and other costs associated with operating the club.  Paid members can then attend and participate in the meetings and enter Speech competitions.

What Do the Meeting Look Like?

Our White Rock Toastmasters meetings have two distinct sections.  The first part, which typically runs from 7:30pm to our 10 minute break near 8:30pm, includes introductions, some club business, and our impromptu Table Topics speeches and evaluations.  The second part of the meeting, which concludes at 9:30pm, focuses on one to four speeches prepared and evaluated by club members.  Club members will also assume various roles throughout the meeting, with some reporting back to the club near the end of the meeting.  These roles include:

• Chairman – Prepares and leads the overall program
• Toastmaster – Leads the prepared speeches portion of the program
• Table Topics Master – Leads the impromptu speaking segment by asking questions to those who do not have assigned speaking roles
• General Evaluator – Evaluates the meeting overall
• Speech Evaluator – Evaluates a particular speaker
• Table Topics Evaluator – Evaluates Table Topics speakers
• Timer – Keeps track of time for each portion of the meeting
• Grammarian – Defines a word of the day and makes note of interesting words or phrases
• Ah Counter – Keeps track of, ah, um, er and other crutch words and, you know, poor speaking  habits used by, like, each member