Find the Road to Success with Toastmasters

Dec. 16, 2010 - PRLog -- CONTACT:
Karen Downing: thetabuggg@yahoo.com
Geon Bodyline (TM)  C/O Karen Downing, 2451 Soledad Cyn Rd #27, Acton, CA 93510
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Find the Road to Success with Toastmasters

Antelope Valley, Ca. December 16, 2010 – What is the most important and powerful tool for success in business and in life?

A winning smile? A good wardrobe or hair? These might help, but what quality does every successful person from Steve Jobs to Ronald Reagan to Oprah Winfrey possess?

They all have effective communication skills.

In the areas of sales, administration, customer support, product delivery, quality control, finance, the boardroom, and in every division, department, cubicle, and nook and cranny of in an organization, effective communication is the one ability that is so important and so powerful that is sets apart and elevates anyone who possesses it.

A person who has the ability to communicate has the ticket to success.

There are many ways to communicate. One-on-one communication skills increase our ability to network, negotiate, and create relationships. Being able to think on our feet and have spontaneous conversation with current and prospective clients is a must for success in business.

At the other end of the communication spectrum is public speaking, where we can have a wider sphere of influence, communicating our ideas to groups of people. At a business dinner, in a board room, or standing on a stage in front of 100 people, being able to effectively and confidently communicate our ideas to a group gives us an edge and a higher likelihood of getting our ideas heard and respected.

Few people have the skill to confidently speak in front of a group. Those who do possess a very valuable, very scarce, and very sought-after ability. Wouldn't you like to be one of these people?

Many great speakers seem to have been born with this ability. But it's not true! Speaking in front of a group is a learned skill. Most of us never learned how to do it in a safe and supportive environment.

So, how can we develop and possess this ability for ourselves if we've never had the chance to learn?

This is where Toastmasters can help you with your personal and professional goals of being confident and clear when speaking to one person or to a group of people.

Toastmasters is an organization that helps people improve their ability to communicate and to use those communication skills to be better leaders. In each meeting, club members practice impromptu speaking, prepared speaking, and leadership presentations. Through a series of step-by-step projects, members practice everything from using voice, using hand gestures, using handouts and flip charts, and connecting with the audience. Using feedback from experienced speakers, each member has a chance to grow at their own pace, speaking about their own interests.

If you have a fear of speaking, Toastmasters is for you! Before long, once nervous speakers gain experience to be able to speak comfortably in front of groups. It's like magic.
If you are an experienced speaker looking to improve, Toastmasters is for you. This is a great opportunity to try new approaches and topics to gauge the reception of the group before presenting the same material to the CEO or at a workshop.

Guests are welcome to any community Toastmasters club. Being a guest is free. More details about finding a club near you can be found on the Toastmasters website:  http://www.toastmasters.org

On a personal note, my wife, Karen, and I belong to the Burbank Open House Toastmasters club, which meets at the Holiday Inn in Burbank on the first and third Tuesday of each month. At my first Toastmasters meeting, a year and a half ago, I didn’t have the confidence to walk to the lectern and speak for one minute. But, this month, I’ll be delivering my ninth speech!

If anyone is interested in more information about Toastmasters, please email me at admin@sweetpuppy.com or see our website at http://openhouse.freetoasthost.org .

To quote Zig Ziglar: “I’ll see you at the top!”

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Steve Downing has worked in the IT field since 1978 and before that, served in the Naval Submarine Service. Karen ( KarenDowning.com ) is a distributor for Bodyline by GEON - You Will Lose Weight - safely, without stimulants, drugs or caffeine!