Toastmasters club talking proud at Davis Campus

STORY AND PHOTOS BY DYLAN PAISLEY

“It’s standing room only at Davis tonight. Woo,” exclaimed Judith MacKinnon, as people tried to find a seat last week at Davis Campus’ first Toastmasters meeting.

The meeting last Thursday was packed not only with students and Hazel McCallion Campus Toastmasters, but also some faculty members. The club ran out of its 35 handouts after approximately 50 people attended the meeting.

“We were absolutely surprised at the fantastic turn out,” said MacKinnon.

Toastmasters International is a club for people who want to become better at public speaking. HMC started its chapter a year ago, and now Davis Campus has one as well.

“The wonderful thing about Toastmasters [is] it’s a very supportive environment,” said MacKinnon.

After the introductions, MacKinnon asked why people were at the meeting. Students explained they wanted to upgrade their presentation skills, build self-confidence and build their communication skills.

“It is very instrumental in developing leadership skills, it is excellent for people develop communication skills and it is all good building your self-confidence in front of a group” explained MacKinnon.

Judy Suke going over the agenda.

“I think young people need Toastmasters because they want to be confident, poised and professional for their job interviews, class presentations [and it] even helps you with your relationships with each other” explained Judy Suke, a business professor at Sheridan and a member of Toastmasters since 1995.

Also discussed was how to get to the first level of  “complete communicator.” To get to be a complete communicator you need to complete 10 speeches.

The 10 speeches a “complete communicator” must make include:

• The icebreaker speech
• Organization of your speech
• Getting to the point
• How to say your speech
• Incorporating body movement within a speech
• Incorporates vocal variety
• Research a topic
• Use visual aids
• Persuading
• Inspiring your audience

They are still deciding if it will be a free or paid club.

For more information on Sheridan’s Toastmasters, for more information on Sheridan’s clubs, more information on The Co-Curricular Record. there’s also a video of the meeting.