St. Louis Toastmasters in Midtown Clayton

I’ve gained a lot of confidence in my speech. I still drop in a few ums and that. I’m getting better at organizing my thoughts and in my preparation. I’m spending more time in my preparation.

Well, most definitely, it has lifted a weight in terms of the fear of public speaking and getting up in front of a group of people.

Toastmasters has given me the opportunity to develop, not just as a speaker, but as a person. It’s helped me to get closer and another step on the journey to being the best version of myself. There are leadership opportunities. There’s character development. There’s the ability to meet new people, build new friendships, forge new interests, and to realize just how much beauty, how much greatness there is in one little club, in one little community, is a reflection of our world.

Toastmasters has helped me a lot. I used to be really afraid of speaking in public and I still kind of am, but it’s helping me along the way, so I’m not as shaky when I’m talking in public and I begin to get a hold of myself more quickly when I’m in Toastmasters. And this club has definitely helped me do that and helped me grow.

Toastmasters has made me more comfortable speaking in front of a group, and Toastmasters has and will continue to be a very positive, motivating and self-improving experience for me.

The benefit of the club for me was that I grew professionally. I became more confident. Now, I lead a lot of team meetings at work weekly, some of them monthly, quarterly for small or large groups of people and I feel more confident.

Joining Toastmasters put me outside of my comfort zone and it helped me understand that showing up is 90% of the journey. Just showing up, walking in the door. And so, I take that with me and I show up in more places than I ever did before.

I’ve gained a lot of confidence in my speech. I still drop in a few ums and that. I’m getting better at organizing my thoughts and in my preparation. I’m spending more time in my preparation.

The ability to communicate is of utmost, number one. Number two, a better listener. As you’re an evaluator and you listen to people, you really have to listen for the key points. And I think the other part is a mentor and that to see new people come into the club and as they progress from their first speech to their other speeches, and everybody gets something different out of it. The stories that you hear about where people came from and what their life experiences are.

I can definitely see a difference since I joined Toastmasters in being comfortable in uncomfortable situations. So, it’s not necessarily eliminating the jitters, but being able to succeed despite them.