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From: Russ Hicks
Date: 12 Oct 2006
Time: 22:54:50 -0500
Remote Name: 71.252.204.114
Hi Courtney, ..... Stand back! I'm gonna pull my finger out of this dike! <grin> ..... Toastmasters International is an amazing organization. The Vision of Toastmasters International states: "Toastmasters International empowers people to achieve their full potential and realize their dreams. Through our member clubs, people throughout the world can improve their communication and leadership skills, and find the courage to change." The Mission of Toastmasters International states: "Toastmasters International is the leading movement devoted to making effective oral communication a worldwide reality. Through its member clubs, Toastmasters International helps men and women learn the arts of speaking, listening and thinking – vital skills that promote self-actualization, enhance leadership, foster human understanding and contribute to the betterment of mankind." ..... Their main website is www.toastmasters.org. It is a communication and leadership organization which is HUGELY successful in helping people overcome their fears of public speaking among many other things. Officially, "The mission of a Toastmaster Club is to provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment in which every member has the opportunity to develop communication and leadership skills, which in turn foster self-confidence and personal growth." All those things sound like a lot of high sounding words, but they are absolutely true. We walk the walk as well as talk the talk. (No pun intended! <smile>) ..... Our Callier Communicators Toastmasters club in Dallas, founded in 1995, is the first Toastmasters club in the world dedicated exclusively to people who stutter. We have a special mission statement for our club which states, "The Callier Communicators especially understand the difficulty some individuals have in communicating. It is our mission to provide an environment that offers special support and understanding to people with communication difficulties or extreme fear of speaking." The URL for our club is http://www.geocities.com/callier3216/ ..... Toastmasters has about 200,000 members in over 8,000 (I think) clubs throughout the world. If you are scared of public speaking, Toastmasters is the best organization in the entire world to help you conquer those fears. It is a VERY friendly organization full of friendly and supportive people. It has nothing whatsoever to do with stuttering but people who stutter (and blind people, blondes, brunettes, bald people, tall people, short people, skinny people, fat people - you get the picture) are welcomed into the organization with open arms. And above everything else, it's FUN!!! You learn when you have fun. That's the fundamental basis for Toastmasters. ..... There is even a Toastmasters club in Sylva, NC. You know where that is, don't you? <smile> If you want to know more about Toastmasters, they would LOVE to have you and any of your friends and classmates as guests one evening. See http://www.toastmasters.org and find a club near you. Click on Find a Club, then specify United States, North Carolina, Sylva and you can see all the particulars. ..... Okay, I'll put my finger back in the dike now. As you can well see, I LOVE Toastmasters! It's the most wonderful organization in the world outside of the National Stuttering Association. ..... Thanks for asking that question, Courtney. I feel better now that I've had the opportunity to blow my Toastmasters trumpet for a while! <grin> ..... My very best to you! ..... Russ