Sears-Halifax Toastmasters

Club #1555-45 Established 1956

Sears-Halifax Toastmasters Club & Members in the Media Spotlight

The Halifax West Clayton Park Weekly News - Feb 2008

A toast to the oldest club in the province

'Self-confidence' boosting group seeks new members

by SUZY TEUBNER - THE WEEKLY NEWS

What do a personal trainer, a city worker, a style consultant, a business development manager and a neurolinguistic programming coach have in common? They are all members of Toastmasters, an international club designed to help people improve their communication and leadership skills and improve self-confidence.
Toastmasters first formed in 1924. Since then, more than two million men and women have benefited from the organization's communication and leadership programs. Sears Club 1555 meets at the Halifax Shopping Centre on Thursday nights. Established in 1956, the club is the oldest in the province.
"You learn how to think on your feet and how to respond to, and anticipate questions, so you're not standing there unprepared or not have an anwer," said Cameron Deacoff, vice-president of membership, who joined the club four years ago after a presentation to senior executives was less than successful. "I did myself a professional disservice. My report and presentation were not taken to kindly."
Since joining, he has learned various techniques, such as using gestures, vocal skills and organizing talks, to improve his presentations. Deacoff said people who have a fear of public speaking and want to improve their skills will benefit. At $90 a year, the club is more affordable than some classes offering similar training. "Most other things are intense and short term so you're not as likely to retain it," he said. "This is less intense and long term."
Club meetings are formal, but there is a feeling of fun and comraderie. Usual meetings begin with the word of the day and introductions before moving into table topics where volunteer members speak on a random topic to practice impromptu speaking. There are also prepared speeches given and each speech and presention is evaluated. Members choose from a communications or leadership track or participate in both at the same time.Through a series of 10 speech projects in the communications track, members learn and practice skills to help develop basic communication skills and confidence. Once completed, members move onto advanced communication manuals. On the leadership track, manuals focus on different leadership skills and requires members to serve in one or more specified meeting or club roles such as an evaluator, table topics speaker, Ah-Counter or Grammarian.
Last Thursday, Jana Hodgson officially became the club's 35th member. As is club custom, the image and style consultant visited as a guest three times before deciding to join. "I was surprised at how much they can jam into a two hour meeting," she said. "It's very important to move from one item to the next and stay focused and on topic, (but) they have fun and everyone is friendly." Hodgson is involved in public speaking and public relations and said the skills she will learn will improve her communication skills and help her professionally.
"It's going to make me think about things I haven't about before like using fillers such as umm and ahh," said said. "For anyone who wants to learn or better communication skills, it's a fantastic opportunity." Market development manager Karen Caldwell joined six years ago and is now an advanced communicator silver, advanced leader silver and the 2007 district 45 evaluation contest winner. It took her 12 years to join after being "blown away" after hearing her friend speak. Now, she can speak impromptu and constantly looks for ways to challenge herself.
"I look at it as an opportunity for me to learn and grow as an individual, become a better communicator, increase understanding and do my job more efficiently," she said. "The biggest thing is to listen. A lot of people hear, but they don't listen."

sue_teubner@yahoo.ca

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