Latrobe Valley Toastmasters
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What is Latrobe Valley Toastmasters?Latrobe Valley Toastmasters is a regional division of Toastmasters International, a non-profit organisation created to help people improve their public speaking skills. Every second and fourth Wednesday of the month, Latrobe Valley Toastmasters members get together and practice their communication and leadership skills in front of other members. The aim is to provide feedback on speeches, so that a person may improve their skills over time. Upon arriving, members hold a small meeting before a designated person makes a speech -- prepared or improvised -- for constructive critique by their peers in a relaxed environment.Toastmasters International was started in 1924 by Ralph Smedley, an educational director at the YMCA in Santa Ana, California. He saw the need for speech training, and so he and several other people formed a small group which soon flourished into Toastmasters International. Ralph Smedley died in 1964, but all over the world, hundreds of thousands of Toastmaster members meet on a regular basis to carry on the work he started -- teaching people how to be better speakers by evaluation, encouragement and constructive criticism. To become a Toastmasters member, you pay a once-off joining fee and a bi-annual membership fee. After that, you'll recieve an information pack, and be welcomed into the Latrobe Valley Toastmasters for life. Key benefits of becoming a member include:
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