 The organization is called Toastmasters and it was founded for the sole purpose of assisting individuals to improve themselves.
Me being me, I jumped at the opportunity to get involved! I’m now a member of Keira Toastmasters and each fortnight we meet to share our success and support each other on our professional journeys.
Essentially much of the growth and learning comes from the opportunity to practice your public speaking skills. We have manuals that we progress through and receive constant positive feedback from other members in the club.
Toastmasters has been around since 1924, and was conceived in a basement of a Californian YMCA (Youth Mens Christian Association) and was bought about to assist young men prepare speeches and give toasts. A skill that once acquired will hold one in good stead for life!
Some of the skills that toastmasters acquire though the club include:
* Confidence to speak in front of others
* Develop listening skills
* Give positive and supportive feedback
* Leadership
* Effective preparation for speaking engagements
* Assertiveness
* Impromptu speaking (and thinking)
If you have identified any area’s in your own professional development that need expanding perhaps you should try a toastmasters club near you. I can highly recommend our club at Keira and we are more than welcoming to guests and visitors. We meet on a Monday night of each fortnight at the Old Court House at Wollongong Harbor.
 So if you’re interested in improving your confidence, give us a call at Keira Toastmaster and come along and see what it’s all about. Contact Jodie on 0409 224 303.
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters,
compared to what lies within us!
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
If you’re really ready to start living your life to the fullest and need some support in building the character traits that you have chosen today, please email me at Jodie@advancedcoachingsolutions.com.au for a 1 hour free introductory life coaching session and we can work on it together. | 
