Skip to content

Toastmasters invite residents to say a toast at their open house

For any interested in public speaking, discourse and building self-confidence, Toastmasters just might be the club for you.
14018008_web1_copy_IMG_3585

For any interested in public speaking, discourse and building self-confidence, Toastmasters just might be the club for you.

On Wednesday, Oct. 24 in room 109 at the Ramada the Williams Lake Toastmasters Chapter invite the community for a free open house.

Toastmasters are an international non-profit educational organization based out of the U.S.

With the first chapter founded in 1924, the organization has been dedicated to the teaching and promotion of public speaking,

Through weekly meetings in friendly, supportive environments people in 141 countries across the world meet to give speeches, debate topics and generally improve their linguistic and verbal skills. Worldwide there are nearly 16,000 chapters, with one of them located in Williams Lake.

Bob Sunner, local Toastmasters vice president of communications, first got involved with the organization two years ago after it was brought to his attention many times over the years. Eventually, after receiving an email from an executive, he chose to go to a meeting and tried it out.

“It’s something different, something that is not an ordinary part of my day so it stretches the mind a little bit and makes for a fun evening once a week,” Sunner said, adding that it has helped him in his job at Laketown Furnishings by building up his speaking confidence.

Read More: Williams Lake Toastmasters host open house

While the exact details of the open house are still being planned, Sunner said they would be offering a short form version of their meetings before breaking for some socializing with prospective members over food and drink.

“I think people will get a feeling about what we do and find out if they’re comfortable with the process that we have and probably be a little bit surprised at how easy it is to get into public speaking,” Sunner said

New Toastmasters member Rebekah Schulte has jumped headfirst into the group as a way to get over an earlier shyness. Since joining she’s loved the networking and educational experiences the group has provided.

Spearheading the promotion of the open house, Schulte says she hopes to see as many people as possible attend their open house.

At the open house, Schulte said they would be demonstrating a regular meeting including activities like table topics, where people will split off into small groups and debate a specific topic. Recently she got the chance to lead one and found it quite fun, using a pop-up mirror in a box with ‘what do you see’ written on the top to randomly select the topic of conversation.

“I really enjoy it, Toastmasters is something I believe in because for me personally its really helped me to increase my confidence level and actually be able to speak in front of people and not worry about what they think of me,” Schulte said.

Read More: Toastmasters gain new members

A fee of $12.50 a month, or $75 for six months, is attached for members to help pay for the costs of renting the room and materials used at meetings. For the 20 some members the club currently boasts, Sunner and Schulte said the cost is well worth it.

“We would like to invite the people of Williams Lake to come out to the Toastmasters open house in order to see what we do, experience Toastmasters and see if its right for them to improve public speaking skills, leadership skills, self-confidence skills and general self-improvement,” Sunner said. “This particular club has a really fun approach to everything, very friendly, and also very encouraging, we’re always encouraging members to excel and to improve themselves, as we work together to achieving everybody’s goals.”

The Toastmasters open house starts at 7 p.m. in room 109 at the Ramada on Oct. 24.



patrick.davies@wltribune.com

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter



Patrick Davies

About the Author: Patrick Davies

An avid lover of theatre, media, and the arts in all its forms, I've enjoyed building my professional reputation in 100 Mile House.
Read more