The Spruce Capital Toastmasters Club is hosting a demonstration meeting on Sept. 20 in hopes of gaining new speakers into their group.
It's estimated 75 per cent of the public are afraid to speak in public and Toastmasters is one of the outlets used to overcome the fear that can affect many aspects of a persons life.
"When you have a fear of public speaking you avoid it, which these days is hard to do, no matter what your job is, no matter what your social life is like," said Tom Ireland, a member and past president of the Spruce Capital Toastmasters Club.
Ireland got his start in the program after being asked to give a retirement speech to a co-worker. It was important for him to give a good speech and he knew he needed some coaching beforehand.
"I knew that it would be a huge disaster ahead of time because I've never been good at public speaking," said Ireland.
He went to a demonstration meeting where the group did an exercise called Table Topics. It's a roundtable conversation allowing people to speak to the group without the pressure of standing up.
During this conversation, Ireland realized he wasn't alone in his fear.
"Everyone had the same story I did. Everyone was afraid of public speaking and Toastmasters is the way to overcome that. It doesn't happen overnight, it's like eating an
elephant, one bite at a time," he said.
Members of Toastmasters present ten speeches to achieve a Competent Communication Award. After completing that, they can continue into the advanced speeches.
Local toastmaster, Chrysti Gamble will receive her award at the meeting on Sept. 20.
"I'm very excited to receive the award," Gamble said, who has been involved in Toastmasters for a year.
She hasn't nailed down her five to seven minute speech completely but she's working on it.
Current president, Jack Kyreim decided to join three years ago, because he wanted to work on his communication skills, not because he was nervous about public speaking.
"I joined because I found myself elected for office in a union and it became a case of me wanting to get your point across,"said Kyreim.
"The other part was leadership, unions are voluntary and you have people that you have to constantly motivate."
Throughout the Toastmasters process, the speeches are evaluated by the rest of the group with the intention of giving creative criticism and suggestions for improvement.
The demonstration meeting will be held on Sept. 20 at 7 p.m. in the Keith Gordon Room at the downtown branch of the Prince George Library.
For more information visit www.pgtoastmasters.ca.
