Are you scared to death of speaking in public?

‘Developing personal confidence is crucial in life,’ says President Candi Luth. For many people, speaking in public is an indispensable skill, but not always considered a favored part of an academic career. Founded in the US in 1910, Toastmasters International aims to perfect people’s speech skills. To find out what it is all about, UT Nieuws attends a meeting of the Twente Toastmasters.

‘Toastmasters really helped me with my studies by helping me to structure my presentations better,’ whispers German Saxion student, Nina Müller on the Toastmaster’s evening, as she explains between presentations how the organization has helped her. Not a big surprise, one of the first things one notices about the meeting is its tight organization, alongside a friendly atmosphere. The printed agenda in front of me follows a minute-based planning and both the meeting and the speeches to follow are highly structured.

When Candi Luth, ‘president-for-the-evening’, has finished opening the meeting – in a speech that is at once eloquent, concise and humorous – members move on to hear the first of three speeches. Once enrolled, Toastmasters members can prepare for and practice various types of speech techniques, using the Toastmasters Competent Communication Manual as a guide.

On this evening, Russian Dariya Gavrish, who joined a few months ago, holds her ‘maiden speech,’ introducing herself formally to the audience. She appears confident and articulate, one of the main comments by appointed reviewer, Daniël van Doorn, is that she could gesture a bit more and establish better eye contact with the audience.

‘A good critic should offer a few positive aspects,’ summarizes Josien van Lanen, who follows the guidelines for good critiquing and suggests further points for improvement: ‘Always end on a positive note; everyone should leave feeling good about themselves.’

Next in line, Chinese-born Haiwan Wang immediately silences the room by putting a washing-up bowl and a tea towel in front of her. Her speech involves the art of ‘persuasive speaking’ by ‘addressing the opposition.’ She warns against the hazards of failing to rinse dishes with water after using liquid dish detergent – something Dutch people do all the time in the Netherlands. ‘Chemicals remain on the plates and can make you sick,’ she explains.

Finally, the last speaker is Danny Bos, who also gives a persuasive speech, promising the smokers in the room that she’s not going to ‘bang on’ and lecture about the warnings printed on the sides of cigarette packages.

As a starting point Danny, instead, talks about the importance of quitting smoking, using the arguments of Allen Carr’s famous credo: ‘Smoking is not a habit, it is a drug addiction.’ Evaluator Viola Krutwage is impressed by her research and additionally offers a suggestion that she should not just summarize information, but also use more direct quotes from Carr’s book entitled Easy Way to StopSmokingin order to engage and persuade the audience even more.

After a short break, the ‘Table Topics’ contest starts. On this night, the theme is centered on various famous quotes on the basis of which everyone will devise an impromptu two-minute speech. On an upbeat note the meeting ends, when after sharpening listening skills through a short quiz in which members match earlier-made statements to the correct audience member, everyone gets a tasty lollipop as a reward.

‘Initially I loathed the Table Topics exercise,’ Dominik Huckebrink says with a grin when he’s relaxing in Irish pub Molly Malone a little later that night. ‘But now I love it. It makes me sound more eloquent in formal discussions.’

All members agreed that Toastmasters is more than just developing public speaking skills. ‘It is also about developing leadership skills and extending your network,’ says Josine. For Australian born Candi, developing personal confidence is the most essential part. ‘Nerves will always be part of the speaking process and a part of life, but Toastmasters seems to help you channel nervous energy and make it work to your best advantage. Many people tell me it is like getting a free English lesson!’

Should you be interested in joining Toastmasters, anyone can join. A six-month membership is €45 or €25 for students. Likewise, you can first just have a look around by visiting a meeting or the organization’s upcoming comedy night on the first of March. For further details see www.toastmasters.nl/ttc. Happy speeching.

UT Health Sciences Master student Haiwan Wang during her ‘no joke’ speech. (Photo: Gijs van Ouwerkerk)