Toastmasters International is a non-profit educational organization with clubs in over 106 countries and is headquartered in Englewood, Colorado. The mission of Toastmasters mission is to improve the communication and leadership skills of its members through the practice of public speaking skills in a safe and supportive environment.

At Seymour Speakers members give:

Prepared Speeches – As a member, you’ll prepare, rehearse, and then deliver presentations in front of your fellow members.

Speech evaluations – In every club presentation, you will receive helpful and supportive evaluations from your peers.

Impromptu speaking – This is where you practice speaking “off the cuff” for one or two minutes by answering general topics of interest (table topics).

Our Toastmasters Club is open to anyone who wants to improve their speaking and presentation skills. You are welcome at any of our meetings as a guest! Please contact us in advance so we can anticipate your arrival. After 3 “guest appearances”, we will ask you to join and pay club membership dues. That way you will be able to fully participate in every meeting.

The format varies slightly from club to club, but at Seymour Speakers our agenda typically follows this:

• Sergeant at Arms starts the meeting and introduces the Meeting Chair who also serves as Toastmaster

• The Meeting Chair/ Toastmasters presides over the program that morning and explains the meeting as it goes along.

• The Timer and Grammarian are introduced and explain their roles.

• The Chair/ Toastmaster conducts the first part of the meeting, also called the “formal part” of the meeting. He/ She delivers a toast and introduces the speakers who have prepared speeches, and their evaluators.

• Oral and written evaluations are given to every speaker

• A 5-minute break allows for networking and socializing.

• In the second half of the meeting we have impromptu speaking, also called Table Topics.

• The Table Topics Master asks the group a question, and then calls on volunteers to speak on the topic for 1-2 minutes.

• Table Topics are evaluated by the Table Topics Evaluator.

• Toward the end of the meeting, there are reports from the Timer, Grammarian, “Ah” Counter, Wordmaster, and General Evaluator.

• Our meeting typically lasts 80 minutes.