April 17, 2026 Club Meeting | St. Louis Toastmasters in Midtown Clayton

ATTENDANCE–Members = 10 (HK, Rosemary, Amy, Jane, Tom, Chris, Mark, Mitch, Cameron, Jaja)

ATTENDANCE–Guests = 2 (John, Peggy)

Current club membership = 21

SPEECHES:

> “Going from the world’s worst golfer to a decent golfer,” L1 Writing a Speech with Purpose (Dynamic Leadership), by Chris

> “AI: You can work for AI or AI can work for you,” 5-7 min speech, by Tom, BEST SPEAKER

> “Who are you? You are not who you think you are,” L1 Writing a Speech with Purpose (Motivational Strategies), by HK

EVALUATIONS:

> Moved the lectern away to set the stage. Good pauses. Become more comfortable with your hands during the speech. Close really good. Suggestion: Think about your opener to bring in the audience. Eye contact to pair with the strong opener to own the space. Try to relate to people not playing golf. – Tom, BEST EVALUATOR

> Prepared introduction for the toastmaster to bring in some personal background. Strong opener with two questions. Divided the examples into two groups – personal and professional – very good structure. Good transition to the closing – be controlled by AI or to control AI. Use “We all of us” instead of “young people” to address broader audience. – Mark

> Opening strong introducing four stages of oneself. Very confident. Good poses. Very interesting and engaging speech! – Made me think what stage am I in? Suggestions: maybe try to come in front of the lectern, avoid looking at notes as much. – Mitch

TABLE TOPICS QUESTIONS — Jane

> What is your favorite type of workout, and why? – Jaja

> What is one fitness goal you want to achieve this year? – Cameron

> What is your least favorite exercise? – John

> What is the best advice you have received about fitness? – Amy, BEST TABLE TOPICS

> What does “being fit” mean to you? – Mitch

> How can someone build confidence in the gym? – Chris

GENERAL EVALUATOR: Mark

Good meeting: on time, all engaged, lectern can be your friend or your foe, three styles of evaluations.

TIMER – Rosemary

AH COUNTER – Peggy

COMMENTS FROM AREA DIRECTOR: Aimee

Learn from the evaluators. Get involved. Make it make sense to you.

ANNOUNCEMENT

>District 8 T1 Spring Conference: Saturday May 16 2017, Register by May 16, 2017

>We will be electing officers in May for the club. We are collecting nominations for every officer positions. Anyone who wants to place their name on the ballot pls tell HK.

NEXT CLUB MEETING–

Zoom meeting, Friday, May 1, 2026, 7:15 am

www.midtownclayton.toastmastersclubs.org

Club Success Stories

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.

John

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.

Regina

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.

Kiren

Faye sharing her public speaking testimonial through the St. Louis Toastmasters club in Midtown Clayton

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.

Foye

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.

Jerry

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.

Aida

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.

Catherine

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.

Dennis

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.

Mark

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.