"Toastmasters" Visits!

Has anyone ever heard of the public-speaking club called "Toastmasters"? Well if you haven't, find the nearest club in your area, and go visit it! It will be one of the most fascinating experiences you've ever had! At least I hope it will be as fascinating as my two visits were. I knew about Toastmasters long ago, because my dad went to one of their meetings once, but that was many years ago! I had to discover for myself just what "Toastmasters" was.

This last Monday at 7:30 p.m., I got my whole family to drive to this church near us where the club met (we don't go because we're Jewish), and we were welcomed as guests and sat in on the meeting. There seemed to be about 20 or so other people, all of whom wanted to further their public-speaking/effective communication skills. Each time someone spoke, everyone else would applaud. The atmosphere was very friendly and supportive, and of course supportive applause is contagious. I saw wonderful speakers that night, and it was amazing for me to realize that these people lived in the same city as me!

The next day, Tuesday at 12:30, there was another meeting at a completely different Toastmasters club, and I wanted to make an intelligent decision to see if the two Toastmasters clubs were different in any way and which would I rather choose to join. My dad dropped my sister Bettina and I off at our local A.I.U. (American Inter-Continental University) and we went alone this time to the meeting. It was a bit of a smaller group than the other club, but it was no less friendly, supportive, and exciting.

After weighing the benefits of joining either club, Bettina and I both decided to join the one at A.I.U. because of it's convenient time, even though it's also slightly further away than the church club. I'm very excited about this opportunity, because it's very inexpensive to get started, it's educational, and it's a great way to meet new people. If you'd like to learn more about Toastmasters, here's their website, www.toastmasters.org.

Happy Thursday!