http://www.marcusasmith.com/2008/08/18/the-cons-of-toastmasters/ Business Communication for Professionals Sun, 27 Jun 2010 16:10:54 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://www.marcusasmith.com/2008/08/18/the-cons-of-toastmasters/comment-page-1/#comment-58 Gene Davis Sun, 26 Oct 2008 15:47:15 +0000 http://www.marcusasmith.com/2008/08/18/the-cons-of-toastmasters/#comment-58 Hopefully the announcement of the cat moving to dry food was an exaggeration to make a point. I've never observed that level of useless announcements in a Toastmasters meeting. You've made some good points. I think the overall structure of Toastmasters is good. Look at all the fine speakers it has produced! If you set the standards too high, and discourage encouragement of every effort, you also discourage the person who has the desire to be a good speaker, but is scared to death of getting in front of people. That being said, the members of the club should definitely hold people accountable for living up to the pledge they took when joining Toastmasters. As a member advances in the program, the feedback should become more constructive. One of the keys to success in the program is the quality and commitment of its officers. Officers should be held to a high standard and should set the pace for the club. One of the failings I've seen in a couple of clubs in which I've been involved, is the lack of commitment of the officers. More involvement is also needed by the Area Governors. A club must have strong officers, and seasoned speakers to survive, and not become the lackluster nice guy society. The governors should be mentoring key people in the club if it appears that the quality is slipping, and should encourage visits for more advanced members from sister clubs nearby. In my opinion, it is the people that are key to making Toastmasters more than a nice guy society. The quality of leadership is key -- all the way from the President on down to the individual club officers. If restructuring the organization accomplishes this increase in quality, then I'm all for it!! Hopefully the announcement of the cat moving to dry food was an exaggeration to make a point. I’ve never observed that level of useless announcements in a Toastmasters meeting. You’ve made some good points. I think the overall structure of Toastmasters is good. Look at all the fine speakers it has produced! If you set the standards too high, and discourage encouragement of every effort, you also discourage the person who has the desire to be a good speaker, but is scared to death of getting in front of people.
That being said, the members of the club should definitely hold people accountable for living up to the pledge they took when joining Toastmasters. As a member advances in the program, the feedback should become more constructive. One of the keys to success in the program is the quality and commitment of its officers. Officers should be held to a high standard and should set the pace for the club. One of the failings I’ve seen in a couple of clubs in which I’ve been involved, is the lack of commitment of the officers.
More involvement is also needed by the Area Governors. A club must have strong officers, and seasoned speakers to survive, and not become the lackluster nice guy society. The governors should be mentoring key people in the club if it appears that the quality is slipping, and should encourage visits for more advanced members from sister clubs nearby.
In my opinion, it is the people that are key to making Toastmasters more than a nice guy society. The quality of leadership is key — all the way from the President on down to the individual club officers. If restructuring the organization accomplishes this increase in quality, then I’m all for it!!

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