Toastmasters Aims To Improve Your Public Speaking

After going into semi-retirement, Mack Payne decided to get involved with the local Toastmasters, but he discovered there was no local club.

The Lake Placid resident learned there used to be a Toastmasters Club in Highlands County and the closest location, for those wanting to improve their public speaking, was in Winter Haven.

With the help of about six former members who also sought a local club, Payne started a new Toastmasters Club in Sebring, which meets at 6 p.m. the first and third Wednesday of each month at the Sebring Chamber of Commerce Welcome Center.

Payne, who was a Toastmasters member in Naples, serves as president of the Sebring chapter.

After three meetings, with 22 members, the club surpassed the 20-member minimum requirement to apply for a charter from Toastmasters International.

"We are just waiting on our club number designation and we are off and running," Payne said.

When Payne talks about the benefits of Toastmasters to a gathering or an individual he asks a few questions: Do you like to speak in public? Are you afraid to speak in public? Are you good or poor at speaking in public? Would you like to improve yourself? Do you like to have a good time?

"If they can answer 'yes' to any or all of those questions then I say they are perfect prospects for Toastmasters because Toastmasters is a wonderful organization devoted strictly to improving a person's speaking ability and their leadership ability," he said.

It doesn't matter who you are or what work you do or where you work, if you can improve your communication skills, you can improve your probability of being successful in whatever you do, Payne believes.

The fear of speaking in public is one of the greatest fears people have and ironically it's one of the easiest fears to overcome, he said. Toastmasters is a very easy way to do it with a friendly self-help atmosphere that helps people get over that fear.

When Payne speaks before clubs and organizations some people tell him they don't need Toastmasters because they don't do any public speaking.

"I'll guarantee you, at some time or another in your life something will come up that will require you to speak before somebody - it might be in your job, it might be in your PTA or service club or going before the county commission," he said.

Either the opportunity will be lost if you don't speak or you will do a poor job of speaking and that's what people will remember instead of your message, Payne said.

For new Toastmasters members the cost is $60, which includes books and manuals, dues for six months and funds for local club expenses. Thereafter the dues are $40 every six months.

For more information contact Payne at 441-0479.