Last week, the everyone belongs™ Toastmasters club members were visited by the area and district directors from Toastmasters International. The visit was made to provide congratulations to the club for their ongoing successes and the welcoming atmosphere that they foster.
Toastmasters, for those who are unfamiliar, is an international organization that allows people the opportunity to master the art of public speaking. For DDRC clients, this is a chance to speak out and be heard in a supportive environment.
The club is overseen by Crysta Trask, the DDRC’s Creative Coordinator. She believes that the success of the club represents the growing skills and confidence of its members.
“They go outside of their comfort zone each week to grow and develop skills that they can use in their day-to-day lives,” Trask said. “They represent everything that DDRC is supposed to be about: inclusion, perseverance, dedication, advocacy, and everyone belonging.”
Since the beginning of the year, 12 club members have earned their “Competent Communicator” designation. In order to earn this designation, members must prepare and deliver 10 speeches.
Part of the Toastmasters program is the International Competent Communicator Manual. To ensure the success of club members, Trask created a modified version of the document using plain language. The visiting directors were impressed with this idea, and hope to adopt it for other groups where members are individuals with disabilities or are learning English as a second language.
During the weekly meeting, Table Topics were introduced through the creative method of “Table Topic Jenga,” where members carefully picked a block from the tower with a question printed on it to start a conversation.
“I was just trying to think outside of the box and create a fun new way to present and practice our Table Topic skills,” Trask said. “It can be a challenge to come up with new Table Topic questions on a weekly basis.”
The directors were again impressed with the idea, and plan to share it with other Toastmasters clubs.
For Trask, the highlight of the weekly meetings is watching the progress of the clients involved.
“Seeing the pride and excitement when someone successfully completes a speech is always fantastic.”
For more information about the everyone belongs™ Toastmasters club, please see our article from April.