Think of any of your favorite epic movies and you’ll find there’s probably a dramatic speech in it. The hero stands up and speaks to the public about some great war, some great injustice, or some great cause and you feel yourself moved in your seat. Toastmasters in Hermosa Beach would say that this ability to stir and inspire is not relegated to the movies, or even to rare, gifted individuals. Toastmasters is an organization dedicated to teaching everyday people to speak in public, and to do it well.
Hermosa Beach is fortunate to host a club of the world’s leading public speaking organization. The Hermosa Beach club is one of thirteen thousand, hundreds of which are located in nations around the world. Toastmasters has been dedicated to teaching people leadership skills and how to speak in public since 1924, when the organization was founded in Santa Ana, CA. Since then Toastmasters has grown to over 270,000 members and has been globally recognized for its effective methods.
While Hermosa Beach’s Toastmasters practice the oldest form of communication in existence, the organization itself is thoroughly modern and boasts of enthusiastic, active volunteers of all ages. The one thing all Toastmasters have in common is a drive to restore society’s fading social skills and capability to speak effectively in public. Speaking in public is a skill that Toastmasters understands can make a difference in both your professional and private life.
For a time the claim was made that social skills were no longer important in business due to the impersonal nature of email, texting and other electronic applications. This assumption is quickly being proven false as the rise of Skype and other video-conferencing proves that advancing technology complements social aptitude, it doesn’t replace it. A carefully constructed memo is all well and good, but it doesn’t make sales, it doesn’t recruit talented employees and it doesn’t impress your superiors the way that confident speaking can. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a speech is worth a thousand texts.
While Toastmasters in Hermosa Beach can offer professionals significant advantages in business, the real benefit is personal. In a world in which speaking in public ranks as a greater fear than death amongst most Americans, mastering that skill and that fear at the same time can create an immense boost of confidence. The volunteers at Toastmasters are well acquainted with stage fright and know countless tools to overcome fear and make yourself heard.
That very aspect lies at the heart of Toastmasters; in order to be heard you must learn to express yourself so others will hear and remember you. We all want to be memorable, to offer the right words at the right time, to take the microphone at our daughters’ wedding and make her proud or say the words at a retirement party that really shows our coworker how we appreciate them. To be remembered we must be comfortable speaking in the first place, and Toastmasters in Hermosa Beach specializes in helping you learn to use the spotlight, not dread it.
Not everyone may give presentations in a corporate boardroom or want to give speeches at weddings, but that doesn’t mean that Toastmasters is not for you. This organization is about becoming confident and learning how to be comfortable taking charge, attributes that everyone could use whether you’re announcing at the AVP Hermosa Beach Open or simply thanking the guests at your birthday party. Public speaking is a skill that makes for a more well-rounded human being.
The next time you’re watching a movie and come across a dramatic, inspiring speech, ask yourself whether you’d like to be able to do that very thing yourself. It’s not impossible and those actors are not necessarily gifted speakers; they just have a musical score to back them up. With training and some dedication, however, you can have all the resources of Toastmasters in Hermosa Beach to back you up for all the moments when you want to be remembered, epic or not.
