8 Toastmasters Benefits

Toastmasters has built the reputation as the number 1 public speaking club in the world.

And in my opinion, rightfully so.

Before setting foot in Toastmasters, I was a shy kid with massive speech anxiety.

The whole concept of public speaking didn’t sit well with me.

But after being an active member for many years, I was able to sharpen my communication skills.

The Toastmasters journey allowed me to improve my public speaking, evaluation & thinking on feet skills.

Will the club benefit everyone?

That depends.

‘Depends on what?’

It depends on the level of commitment that you put in.

I had a strong DESIRE to overcome speech anxiety & become a stronger communicator.

If you have that DESIRE as well, then I know you will put in your reps.

In this post, I want to give you a few benefits of Toastmasters that I wasn’t expecting.

Initially going in, I was only looking to level up my public speaking.

However, I ended up getting many more Toastmasters benefits as well.

Here are 8 of them:

1. Enhanced Presentation Skills

So let me get the most obvious one out of the way.

One of the Toastmasters benefits is that you will develop your public speaking skills.

You are not taught speaking principles in a classroom lecture model.

Instead, you get to choose which Pathway is optimal for your journey.

The Pathways program is a list of public speaking paths that range from dynamic leadership, comedy, teamworking, etc.

Your chosen pathway can be accessed online & it will have your curriculum set out.

Within the curriculum, you’ll be offered great resources on how to plan a speech, meet speech time limits, manage speech anxiety, etc.

In addition to the resources, you’ll also be assigned a Toastmasters mentor that you can run questions by.

All these help you build a speech.

Once you have your speech created, you are given an audience to present in front of.

Toastmasters audiences can vary.

Clubs can have as little as 5 members & can go up to 50.

All good.

You are getting public speaking experience to PRACTICE.

2. Toastmasters is a GLOBAL Club

The beauty of Toastmasters is that it’s a global club.

There have been a few times where I was traveling on vacation & decided to check out a nearby club.

When I went to the club, I was shocked by how similar it was to my club back in Tampa.

It’s sort of like how you go to McDonald’s & get a similar McDouble no matter where you go.

This was cool because Toastmasters clubs have frameworks that they operate with.

Certain clubs may have a few additional positions or a different way of doing things.

But for the most part, you’ll know what you are getting if you are a veteran stepping inside a new club.

3. Improve Speech Anxiety AND social Anxiety

I used to tell my Toastmasters mentees that Toastmasters was a social club that just happens to improve public speaking.

I said this jokingly.

However, there is a lot of truth to it.

Being a part of a club allows you to integrate yourself within it.

This allows you to practice your social skills as well.

You don’t have to go there to STRICTLY give speeches & go home.

But instead, you can go there to give speeches & also work on your conversation skills.

There are members from different age groups, ethnicities, religions stepping forth within Toastmasters.

Having the ability to talk to a wide group of people does wonder for your social skills.

You sharpen that charisma muscle & start building an attractive personality.

4. Toastmasters Gives You Connections

This Toastmasters benefits sort of piggybacks off the last one.

There is a certain camaraderie among the members.

In the club, you’ll notice a varying level of positions.

There are lawyers, doctors, entrepreneurs, and many more who join.

Speech anxiety does not discriminate.

Public speaking is a universal skill set that is desired.

This allows you to expand your network.

If you do need a certain connection down the line for a personal/professional issue, don’t be surprised if you reach out to someone from your Toastmasters club.

Also, when doing business, if you know the person you are networking with is in a different Toastmasters, you automatically have conversation material:

-How long have you been in a club?

-Which path did you choose from Pathways?’

-How has public speaking benefited your life?

5. Improved Listening Skills

I mentioned earlier that some clubs may have different positions.

I was lucky enough to be a part of a club that had a Quizmaster.

A Quizmaster would listen to all the speeches & formulate questions.

Once the meeting was wrapping up, the Quizmaster would ask the question to the audience to see who was paying attention.

This was a cool position because it encouraged listening skills among the members.

One thing you’ll notice is that the greatest speakers are also the greatest listeners.

When you learn the art of listening, you are more succinct with your words.

The tendency to ramble starts melting away.

Even if your club doesn’t have a Quizmaster, you’ll still have the ability to PAY ATTENTION.

A mega skill in the busy information age.

6. Thicker Skin

I was a little surprised by this particular benefit.

However, it makes logical sense.

After my first few times giving a speech, I noticed a sense of calm.

Once the meetings were done, I still had that sense of calm.

If someone were to cut me off during traffic on my way back home, I wasn’t as reactive.

I didn’t know if that was just me feeling that sense of calm or if others were feeling it as well?

When I talked to other Toastmasters members, they reported the same insights.

This sense of calm was what it’s like to have thick skin.

The reason you build thick skin is because you are FORCED to speak in front of a bunch of eyeballs.

No running away. Pressure. Spotlight is on you.

When you are able to speak through that tension, you start developing a level of emotional intelligence as well.

Continuing to do a task despite feeling strong emotions allows you to toughen up your internal world.

Problems from the external world don’t bother you as much.

7. Confidence and a Feeling of Accomplishment.

The beauty of public speaking is that it doesn’t discriminate.

If you are someone who has the DESIRE to improve communication, everything else starts becoming fun.

Toastmasters rewards the best speaker, table topics & evaluation at the end of the meeting with ribbons.

This is a pretty dope feeling.

If you didn’t play any sports growing up, collecting those ribbons gives you a sense of accomplishment.

Also, you can go on to compete in Toastmasters competitions.

This allows you to showcase your talents past your club alone.

You can go up to districts, regional, state & so on.

Seeing yourself working up the public speaking ranks has you feeling confident.

You conquered the number 1 fear in the world & conquered it with grace.

8. Enhanced Teaching Skills

As you work up the Toastmstaters ranks, you’ll eventually have the opportunity to be a mentor.

Being a mentor is great because now you have the opportunity to pay it forward.

Paying it forward comes down to sharing your knowledge with the next generation.

As you share your knowledge, you’ll notice yourself unlocking ANOTHER mode of communication:

Teaching.

Learning to teach is a powerful skillset.

Especially in today’s world.

• Information is abundant, but wisdom is scarce.

At this point, you have developed your public speaking skills, so you have a sense of clarity in your speech.

Helping someone calm their nerves and deliver a great speech gives you a different level of joy.

You feel like a mix between a scientist and an artist.

This is a dope feeling. Teaching is meant to be a fun process. Not a stiff one.

Work with your mentee & develop a bond with them.

You’ll notice your public speaking knowledge continues to expand.

Toastmasters = The Gift that Keeps giving

Once you overcome your speech anxiety, don’t just stop there.

Keep taking the gift of public speaking to other parts of your life.

Great communicators are a massive resource nowadays.

It’s because they are able to distill complex ideas into simplicity.

A big part of being a great communicator is also being a lifelong learner.

The more that you learn, the more creativity you seem to process.

And the more creativity you possess, the more speeches you give with grace.

All this will begin once you tackle the elephant in the room:

Speech anxiety.

Overcome the number 1 fear in the world.

Find a local Toastmasters club near you & experience the benefits first hand.

Your future self will that your present-day self.

Good luck.

For more practical communication insights, subscribe to my free daily newsletter.

– ArmaniTalks 🎙️🔥