Group Vice President Devon MacPherson says Toastmasters is an international organization of ordinary people with a grand vision of helping you improve you.  "The organization has a grand vision of improving public speaking and leadership among its members.  Most people focus on the skills of public speaking.  You get in front of a group of like-minded people, in a self-paced environment, that is meant to be a very easy place to fail and come back to redo certain aspects.  The process is based on the principle that public speaking, while there is a natural gift to it, is something  learned, taught, and used as a building block."

He added that not everybody is there to improve the same skill, or reach the same goals.  "When you re talking to a peer group, the first thing you want to learn is how to get rid of the excited energy that you have so you can present well.  The next think you might work on could be organizing your speech.  Then you may want to work on vocal variety and gestures."

He added, public speaking skills are directly transferrable to your everyday life, and stronger skills could be of use to everyone.  "Toastmasters meetings are broken up into four different areas.  One is introductions; every time you re in a social setting you re expected to introduce yourself and business settings are no different.  With the group the very first thing you do is introduce yourself at each and every meeting.  The second part is impromptu speaking.  You re given a subject, and you talk up to two minutes.  It's supposed to be condensed form, like [normal] speech.  It's transferrable if you re walking along with your boss and they want an update on the project you've been working on.  After that [we move on to] prepared speeches ... where you have prepared remarks to be delivered at a certain set time.  And finally, there is evaluation.  You get feedback on everything from the impromptu speaking, how the meeting was run, the efficiency of it."

But, as MacPherson pointed out quickly, there is a side benefit of the activities.  "There are a lot of transferrable skills from Toastmasters that apply to the everyday world.  Also, there is a lot of networking going on.  There is a varied group involved within Toastmasters, and those are usually people that have varied connections to society at large."

MacPherson says he has also directly benefitted from involvement in the club.  "There are lots of things that we do subconsciously, certain things we do that come out with speech patterns that people are not aware of.  Evaluation allows people to say, I've noticed something.  For example, I sway at time when I'm in front of the group.  When someone says that to me, it enables me to correct certain parts of my public speaking.  Also, being able to speak off-the-cuff was not always my strength.  The Toastmasters gave me a sphere to practice those skills in.  In my current work, I have an everyday meeting in which I am required to present certain information to my peers.  Being able to speak off-the-cuff and deal with people interjecting with ideas has been a direct result of toastmasters."

The Coulee Commentators would like to welcome anyone of college and university age and older to pop in and check out a meeting.  "The club is just one of about seven similar clubs in the region.  "There are some in Coaldale, Pincher Creek, Clarseholm, and surrounding areas.  There is what is referred to as Speech Craft for younger children, and it's a farm club for Toastmasters.  Usually its university age students we see, there is really no age limit though."

You can get more information on the club, its meetings, and its process from Devan himself. 

Email: devan.macpherson@yahoo.com