Document

1. A brief History of Toastmasters International

Since Toastmasters began, more than three million men and women have benefited

from the organization’s communication and leadership programmes.

In October 1924, a group of men assembled by Dr. Ralph C. Smedley met in the

basement of the YMCA in Santa Ana, California, U.S.A., forming a club “to afford

practice and training in the art of public speaking and in presiding over meetings, and

to promote sociability and good fellowship among its members.” The group took the

name “Toastmasters.” Soon men in other communities and states asked for permission

and help to start their own Toastmasters clubs. By 1930, a federation was necessary to

coordinate activities of the many clubs and to provide a standard program. When a

speaking club in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada, expressed interest in

forming a Toastmasters club, the group became known as Toastmasters International.

In the 1940s it became possible for women to form Toastmasters Clubs of their own

and membership of all clubs in the Unite States became open to men and women in

the early 1960s. The Cork Toastmasters Club opened its doors to women members in

1984.

For many years the “Home Office” of Toastmasters International was based in a series

of rented office spaces. In 1962, the Toastmasters International staff moved to its first

World Headquarters building in Santa Ana, California, not far from where the first

club began. I had the privilege to visit WHQs back in 1981 on the occasion of my trip

to the United States in July 1981 to represent Ireland and Britain at the Toastmasters

International World Speech Contest that was held in Phoenix Arizona. At that time

1

there were 100,000 members of clubs located in 42 different countries. Since then

however, this building could no longer adequately house the increased staff needed to

provide services to the growing number of Toastmasters.

In 1990 World Headquarters relocated to a new building in Rancho Santa Margarita,

approximately 20 miles south of Santa Ana, designed to accommodate Toastmasters

International’s expected growth well into the 21st century. Currently there are over

200,000 members in clubs located in over 80 countries.

Toastmasters International’s success and growth is due in large part to the continued

development of its educational programs. The organization has come a long way since

the first speech manual, Basic Training, was developed more than 50 years ago. Their

educational programmes are constantly reviewed and updated in the light of

developments in cultural, social and economic circumstances. The current manual,

now called the Communication and Leadership (C&L) Program, has been revised five

times during my membership of 26 years and was most recently updated in 2003.

After members of Toastmasters complete all 10 speech projects in that manual, they

may apply for their Competent Toastmaster (CTM) Award and then choose two from

any combination of 15 advanced manuals each containing 5 speech projects in a

specialised area e.g. public relations, technical presentations etc. Working through

these additional speech projects and carrying out other additional assignments can

earn them further recognition e.g. Advanced Toastmaster-Bronze (ATM-B) Award.

When I joined Toastmasters in 1980 there were just two manuals in existence, each

contained15 speech projects, the Basic C&L Manual and the Advanced C&L Manual.

2

Toastmasters arrived to Britain in 1939, shortly before World War II. After the war it

flourished there mainly due to the existence of American Air Bases. The first Irish TM

Club was the Dublin Club founded in 1960. The majority of British Clubs disaffiliated

from Toastmasters International in the late 1960s to form English Speakers Clubs, and

the remaining British Clubs, along with the small number of Irish Clubs in existence

at that time, were grouped together by TMI to become the new District 71.

In TMI, clubs are grouped together into areas. Each Area comprises no less than three

clubs and no more than eights Clubs. Areas are grouped together into Divisions,

Divisions into Districts, and in the US and Canada, Districts are grouped into Regions.

When I became active in District Administration in 1983, there were only two areas,

the Munster Area and Leinster Area each containing 7 Clubs and two areas in England

with a similar number of Clubs. Today district 71 has over 180 clubs with just under

100 of these located in Ireland. For administrative purposes the District is divided

into 6 Divisions and has a total of 24 Areas. This is phenomenal growth in just over 20

years. While internationally, nearly 50% of TM Clubs are corporate clubs i.e. founded

within companies to provide quality communication and leadership training for

company employees, in Ireland there are only 5 clubs that fall into this category, the

remainder being clubs open to all members of the community i.e. community clubs.

3

2. Toastmasters International Vision and Mission.

The Values of Toastmasters International

“Toastmasters International’s core values are integrity, dedication to excellence,

service to the member, and respect for the individual. These are values worthy of a

great organization, and we believe we should incorporate them as anchor points in

every decision we make. Our core values provide us with a means of not only guiding

but also evaluating our operations, our planning, and our vision for the future.”

The Vision of Toastmasters International

“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

“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-

actualisation, enhance leadership, foster human understanding, and contribute to the

betterment of mankind.

It is basic to this mission that Toastmasters International continually expand its

worldwide network of Clubs, thereby offering ever-greater numbers of people the

opportunity to benefit from its programs.”

4

The Mission of the Club

“The mission of a Toastmasters 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.”

The Mission of the District

“The mission of the District is to enhance the performance and extend the network of

Clubs, thereby offering greater numbers of people the opportunity to benefit from the

Toastmasters educational program by:

Focusing on the critical success factors as specified by the District educational and

membership goals.

Insuring that each Club effectively fulfils its responsibilities to its members.

Providing effective training and leadership opportunities for Club and District

Officers.”

5

3. Toastmasters International C&L Programme

The Toastmasters program is an ongoing series of experiences that directly involves

its members in a variety of communication situations. The principles the member will

learn are basic to any form of interpersonal communication, whether the audience

consists of one person, ten people, one hundred or even one thousand.

Each member of a Toastmaster Club learns how to organize and present his or her

ideas logically and convincingly. They improve their ability to listen to other people’s

ideas and evaluate them. And they develop self-confidence that will “rub-off” in

every situation involving other people.

The key to getting the most out of Toastmaster’s Communication and Leadership

Program is active participation. People learn best by doing. No method of skill

development can match the power of actually experiencing what you’re learning.

That’s how the Toastmasters program works, and that’s what makes it so effective in

helping members become more successful.

The Toastmasters Club is not a classroom. It’s a workshop in which members

develop their communication and leadership skills among a group of friends – people

who are members there for the same reason. This shared commitment to a worthwhile

goal gives a Toastmasters club a special energy. Members draw strength from one

another and take pride in helping each other grow and develop. This spirit of

6

camaraderie and mutual support is one of the most satisfying benefits of Toastmasters

membership. It also makes learning fun.

From everything I have said so far, you would be correct in thinking that the

Toastmasters education system is Andragogical in its approach. Learning is self-paced

and goal-directed. It is highly experiential and takes place in a shared learning

environment. Shortly, I will explain how it provides immediate feedback and

reinforcement of the learning that has taken place.

Speech Assignments

When a person becomes a member of Toastmasters International s/he is presented

with several manuals including; the Basic Communication and Leadership manual,

How to Evaluate Effectively manual, Think Fast – a Table Topics manual, A

Toastmaster Wears Many Hats- a manual explaining the Roles and Objectives of

every task and activity that happens at a Toastmasters Meeting.

The speeches members present are part of a system designed to develop their skills

one step at a time. Each speech assignment will build upon what they have learned in

their preceding speeches. There are 10 speech assignments in this Basic

Communication and Leadership Manual. Each assignment has very specific objectives

for the member to achieve. They can choose any topic they wish to speak on. What is

important is that the specific objectives of the assignment, as outlined in the manual

are achieved. Each speech assignment, its objectives, how to choose a topic, how to

collect and organise and arrange the content, advice on delivery, and much more is

contained in the detailed information provided for each assignment in the manual.

7

Members begin with an “Icebreaker” speech. This is an opportunity for them to gain a

feeling for speaking before a group of people while talking on a subject about which

they are the world’s greatest expert – themselves. Next, they will learn the importance

and principles of speaking with sincerity and conviction. In their third speech, they u

will concentrate on organizing their ideas into a clear, logical outline. The next three

speeches focus on body language, vocal variety and proper word usage – vital aspects

of effective speaking. The manual assignments build step by step on each of the

preceding ones in a logical fashion. For the tenth speech, s/he will bring together all

of her/his communication skills, as developed through the previous assignments, into

a powerful presentation that inspires their audience.

Most of the projects in this basic C&L programme call for talks of five to seven

minutes in length. By learning to effectively present a seven-minute talk, the member

will soon learn how to deliver a much longer talk or presentation with confidence, and

they will be able to do so with confidence, clarity, persuasiveness and enthusiasm.

After a member has completed all 10 projects, which typically takes 2 to 3 years, s/he

will receive recognition as a CTM – a Competent Toastmaster Award. In our Club,

DLS Communicators, we give members a standing ovation when they complete the

basic C&L manual.

As part of the CTM Award the member receives three of Toastmasters Advanced

Communication and Leadership Program manuals. The Advanced Communication

8

and Leadership Program is a multi-manual system that lets the member choose the

kind of speeches s/he wants to present, based on their own needs.

By completing some of the Advanced manuals, the member will be well on their way

to way to earning an Advanced Toastmaster, ATB-Bronze, ATM-Silver and

ultimately, ATM-Gold Award.

Some of the advanced manuals that I have completed over they years include,

Speaking to Inform, Public Relations, The Discussion Leader, Speaking to Entertain,

Interpersonal Communication. Each manual has five speaking assignments base

loosely around the same area of interest or profession with the same detailed help and

advice on how to construct a presentation to meet the specific objectives of the

individual assignments. Many of these new assignments have delivery times varying

from 15 minutes to over an hour. There are other manuals and materials available for a

whole variety of situations. Even the experienced presenter or trainer will find a

manual that will help them to move out of their comfort zone.

Evaluation

An important part of any self-improvement program is feedback. We need feedback

whenever we set out to develop new skills. It lets us know how we’re doing –

whether or not our efforts are bringing positive results. It lets us know where we

stand in relation to our goals. And it gives us direction and guidance for continued

improvement.

Following every speech presented by a Toastmaster, the member will receive

immediate feedback in the form of evaluation by at least one fellow club member.

9

Part will be delivered orally before the club, and part will be written, using the

evaluation guides in this manual.

Based on the requirements of a particular manual project, the evaluator will give the

speaker a personal reaction as to how their speech came across. This evaluation has

one simple purpose – to help the member become a more effective speaker. The

evaluation consists of constructive feedback which will lead to positive reinforcement

of what the member has learnt from completing the assignment.

The ultimate responsibility for evaluation rests within the speaker. An evaluator is not

a judge or a person with all the answers; s/he is merely a source of potentially helpful

feedback. It is the speaker who must decide if an evaluation is “on target”. However,

if used properly, the speaker will benefit greatly from the evaluation. Each evaluation

should be carefully considered – both the oral and written parts – and related to the

evaluations received after previous speeches. This will give the speaker a well-

rounded picture of how they are perceived by an audience; how much improvement

they have made; and how you can further improve. Over time, the speaker will

acquire the ability to take feedback from other club members and to adjust their

content and methods if they decide that is what is needed.

After attending several club meetings and presenting a few manual speeches, members

are assigned to evaluate another member’s speech. This is an important opportunity

for the evaluator to help someone involved, like them, in a self-development effort.

The evaluator has to listen carefully to the speaker, observe the speaker’s body

language and manner of delivery, organise their reaction and recommendations to the

10

speaker and present these orally to the speaker in a helpful and tactful manner. The

oral evaluation usually takes two to three minutes.

There is also a detailed evaluation form in the speakers manual that the evaluator fills-

in and presents to the speaker at the end of the meeting. This gives an opportunity for

the discussion between the evaluator and the speaker and to clarify any

misconceptions that might have arisen.

The evaluator’s role is not to pass judgement, but rather to describe their own personal

reactions. This should be reflected in the language used. The evaluators stresses the

strong points of the speech, and makes the overall tone of the evaluation positive and

rewarding – striving to make the speaker feel good about themselves. Every

evaluation contains specific suggestions for improvement. If there are problems, they

are pointed out, using a friendly, helpful manner. Every weakness that is revealed

must always be accompanied by a suggestion for overcoming that weakness.

In our Club, each speaker is also given feedback through a written feedback form that

allows the member to comment on technical aspects of the delivery such as, eye

contact, vocal variety, use of visual aids etc, as well as commenting on the

organisation of the material and whether the objectives of the assignment have been

achieved in their view.

Evaluation is a valuable source of helpful feedback to the speaker. The evaluator also

benefits by coping with the design and delivery of a short presentation without too

much time to prepare. The Evaluator also ensures that the feedback is given in a

constructive manner with the prime goal of helping the speaker to learn from their

11

experience and to build on their achievement, where possible, for the next assignment.

The Evaluator will in turn be evaluated by the General Evaluator, as will all other

participants at the meeting.

Table Topics

The ability to “think and speak” on your feet is an important skill that will come in

handy during an individual’s lifetime. This can range from dealing with being

interviewed for a new position, to doing a sales pitch for your organisation or a

product, to dealing with hostile questions at the end of a presentation, down to helping

with conversing with new contacts at a social function.

Table Topics provides members of the TM Club with the opportunity to practice

thinking and speaking on their feet. Through Table-Topics they learn how to present

their thoughts in a clear, organized manner with a minimum of preparation. They also

learn to listen constructively, to think flexibly, draw on their own experiences, and to

relate their remarks to what previous contributors made. All of this is accomplished by

having no time to prepare.

In short, the Topics Session, sharpens members’ listening skills, helps them to think

analytically under pressure and to respond with confidence and conviction. The

benefits to the member mean that instead of “going blank” or panicking in one or

other of the situations mentioned previously, s/he will remain cool, calm, and

composed, and succeed in giving an organised and considered response. The Table

Topics provide an opportunity for all members, especially those that do not have any

other role at a particular meeting, to participate fully at the meeting.

12

The Topicsmaster conducts the Table Topics portion of the club’s programme. It

usually lasts between 20 minutes and a half-hour. The Topicsmaster announces a topic

and calls on members, one at a time, who give impromptu, one-to-two minute talks,

on the topic. Alternatively, the Topicsmaster may assign subjects individually, with

each member speaking on a different topic. The benefits to the Topicsmaster are

considerable also. S/he are effectively chairing a general discussion and has to learn

the skill of keeping everyone involved through linking the contributions of various

members together into one coherent unit, often helping to summarize contributions

from several members before moving on to discuss another topic-no mean feat!

Top-Table Duties

While the completion of speech assignments, giving evaluations, and participating in

Table-Topics are three pillars of Toastmasters membership; there are other important

functions, duties and responsibilities that fall on the shoulders of TM members. The

Toastmaster of the Day organises the meeting and has the responsibility to see that

everything is in place to allow the agenda of the meeting to be fulfilled. This person

needs to introduce all participants to the meeting and outline their duties or list the

objectives of their assignments. This provides experience in organising, chairing and

conductive productive meetings.

The Topicsmaster chairs a considerable portion of the meeting by conducting a

discussion among members on one or more topics. The General Evaluator chairs the

Evaluation portion of the meeting, evaluating all aspects of the meeting including

preparation for the meeting, preparation of the venue, and giving feedback to all top-

table duty holders, especially the nights speech evaluators. Other top-table duties

13

include, Guest-Greeter, Timekeeper, Grammarian, and Ah-Counter etc. All of these

top-table duties are rotated on a meeting-by-meeting basis through the entire

membership of the Club. The more demanding duties are only assigned when the

member indicates that they are ready to take on the responsibility, which, with the

exception of the General Evaluator position, can usually be taken-on after attending

five or six meetings.

Speech Contests

Speech contests play an important part in the life of a Club member. There are of

importance to participants, contest officials, judges, and observers alike. For the

participants there is an opportunity to further develop their skills, especially beyond

club level, where they get to practice their new skills in front of a wider and

oftentimes new audience. Sometimes members may have reached a plateau in their

development as a speaker, when along comes the challenge to participate in a contest.

Our Club holds five contests during the year. In the Autumn a Humorous Speech

Contest and an Evaluation Contest are held on the same night. In the Spring an

International Speech Contest is held along with a Table Topics contest. These four

contests go on to Area, Division, and District Level. The International Speech contest

goes all the way to produce a winner of the TM World Championship of Public

Speaking. In early Summer our club and area hold a Tall-Tales speech contest.

If successful at Club level, there is usually a short intense period of practice and

refinement as the member proceeds to new levels within the competition. I have often

seen this give rise, in a short time-span, to major leaps in a member’s ability to deliver

a presentation without notes, to have improved vocal variety, eye-contact, stance on

14

the podium etc. Contest participation is not for everyone, and no member is under any

pressure to become involved.

TMI encourages a limited number of speech contests as much for the observers as for

the participants. A good contest will have the best speakers from several clubs, areas,

or divisions and these will act as a show-case for the ordinary member, who will be

able to see fine presentations and to analyse what makes them successful and to gain

insight to how they may improve also. In the evaluation contest, for example,

members will see how good evaluations are conducted. Contests also need Contest

Chairpersons to organise the event, Chief judge to oversee that the rules are adhered

to, several members to serve as judges, timekeeper, ballot counters etc. Other

members may be involved in making arrangements for a sit-down meal in conjunction

with the contest and will so learn the various skills involved in planning such an event.

These present many new learning opportunities for members to grow and develop.

Award System

An integral part of the Toastmasters Communication and Leadership is its Award

system. For the ordinary club member there is an opportunity to follow a

Communication Track that leads to the Award of the Competent Toastmaster

(CTM) Award, initially. As outlined earlier, the member can, by completing further

Speech manuals as well as presenting a number of educational workshops from the

Successful Club Series or the Better Speaker Series, receive the Advanced

Toastmaster (ATM) – Bronze, Silver, and Gold Awards.

15

There is also a Leadership Track available where members can acquire and practice

the skills necessary to be an effective leader. In the club the member can become a

member of the Club Executive committee and develop skills in planning, training,

motivating, and managing. When certain conditions of service and participation in

Club leadership have been filled, and a CTM has been already awarded, the member is

recognised by the Competent Leader Award (C-L). Further service to the TM

organisation at Club, Area, Division, and District level including facilitating a number

of 2 hour Success Leadership seminars, coaching new members, helping to form a

new club, and gaining one of the ATM Awards, lead to recognition with the

Advanced Leader Award (A-L).

Toastmasters provide excellent training materials for members who become involved

in the Leadership Track. Opportunities are presented to members to develop skills that

they can often be beneficial in their work and in career-advancement

The. highest award that Toastmasters International bestows on its members is reserved

for those who have reached the top of the Communication Track and the Leadership

Track. Such members are given the Distinguished Toastmaster Award (DTM).

Only a small proportion of members go on to earn this award. It involves as you might

expect, making a huge commitment not only to one’s own personal and professional

development as well as commitment and service to the organisation. It usually takes a

minimum of 5 years continuous effort to achieve this award and in many cases closer

to ten years.

16

4. An Outline of a Typical Toastmaster Club Meeting

A typical TM Club in Ireland will have a membership of between 20 and 30 members

with around 20 members attending at a particular meeting. The meeting will usually

be a two-hour meeting held, once a fortnight between September and June, in an hotel

meeting-room. The President of the Club, who presides at each meeting, will open the

meeting. After some introductory remarks s/he will hand control of the meeting to the

Toastmaster of the Day. This person will call on the guest-greeter to extend a

welcome to any guests that may be present. S/he then chairs the rest of the meeting by

first going to through the agenda and then calling on all top-table duty holders to stand

up and state their duties. This will include, Grammarian, Timekeeper, Ah-Counter,

and General Evaluator.

The Toastmaster will then introduce the Topicsmaster who then conducts the Table

Topics session. An effective Topics session can “loosen up” both speakers and

listeners. This will be followed by 3 or 4 members delivering Speech Assignments

from the Basic and Advance C&L manuals. Members are given time and encouraged

to fill-in a written evaluation slip in between speeches. After this the evaluation

section of the meeting takes place. A fellow member of the Club gives each speaker

an oral evaluation. Then each top-table duty holder gives his/her report and the

17

General Evaluation of the meeting follows this. The Vice-President Education gives

the agenda for the next meeting, The Toastmaster of the Day hands control back to the

President who adjourns the meeting after making a few short announcements. There is

usually a 15-20 minute tea/coffee break halfway through the meeting. This helps

members to mingle and to socialise.

5. A review of Andragogy and Adult Learning Theory

As the Toastmasters Communication and Leadership Programme involves people

learning to make different types of speeches and presentations, how to give and

receive feedback, how to become better speakers, thinkers and listeners, it is important

that we now take a look at how learning takes place and in particular how a

knowledge of adult learning styles should influence the way any training programme

is presented to trainees. How we view the learning process has over time undergone

many changes, no more so than in the last 20 to 30 years.

Andragogy is the approach we take to adult learning and must be distinguished from

Pedagogy, the traditional way in which most of us were taught while attending school

for our formal education. Basically, using the Pedagogical approach the teacher/trainer

makes most if not all of the decisions about what is taught and how it is taught. The

learner sits thee to be instructed by the teacher who is presumed to have all the

necessary knowledge about the content. The learner is assumed to bring very little

experience to the situation, rather is expected to sit there and “absorb” the knowledge

from the teacher. Pedagogy tends to be very formal in approach and allows little room

for non-conformity.

Andragogy, is a more democratic approach to learning, that takes the needs of learners

into account, that recognises that people bring a lot of relevant life experience to every

18

new situation that they encounter, and that recognises that motivation must come from

within the individual if learning is to take place. The landscape is less controlled by

the trainer, there is more room to manoeuvre in terms of content and methodology,

and there is mutual respect between the trainer and trainee.

Knowles (1974) is one of the main early proponents of the Andragogical philosophy

and anyone designing a training course based on this philosophy will need to take

account of the fact that adults need to be motivated from within and can take

responsibility for a lot of their own learning, tapping in to that vast wealth of life

experiences they have already accumulated. For this to happen they need to know

what they need to learn i.e. what is in it for them personally and the trainer needs to be

able to demonstrate to them that they have many of the skills and aptitudes needed to

deal with the situation, it is merely a matter of guiding them, through appropriate

means, to discover that they are capable of dealing with the new demands made of

them. It also important that the trainer knows the learning needs of the trainees.

While in times past it was believed that learners could only learn through being taught

or instructed, nowadays we acknowledge that learning can take place through

experience, through experimentation and through observation and perception.

“Psychologists have identified certain influences, commonly referred to as the “Laws

of Learning, which can either help or hinder the learning process”

(Garavan et al, 2003)

These are listed as the Law of Intensity, the Law of Contiguity, the Law of Exercise,

the Law of Effect, and the Law of Facilitation and Interference. These laws tell us that

19

learning is more rapid and effective when what has to be learned is structured, must be

related to experiences of the learner which can be practiced in real life, must be

perceived as satisfying a learner’s need, and where one act of learning reinforces

another act.

Silverman’s (1970) Nine Principles of Learning Theory tells us that individuals learn

best when motivated and when the learning is through understanding, This is best

achieved through activities that are practiced and repeated by the learner at their own

pace.

Kingsland’s (1986) believed

“that learning is a combination of cognitive (thinking), affective (feeling) and

behavioural (doing) components.”

(Garavan et al, 2003)

Individual learners will have varying amounts of all three components in their

makeup. He further develops his theory about these combinations to yield seven

distinct adult learning styles. They each have different characteristics and will each

approach a learning event in a unique way and so will benefit most from different

methodologies.

Kolb (1984) has done extensive work on learning styles. He is basically concerned

with what he calls “experiential learning” – learning from experience is the process

whereby human development occurs. He speaks of adult learners who demand that the

relevance and application of ideas be tested and demonstrated against their own

accumulated experience and wisdom. This has lead to the development of Kolb’s

Learning Cycle. Adults first have an experience, then they review the experience by

20

formally reflecting on it, they then conclude from that experience and develop a

theory about it, and then they test out the theory by planning the next step. Kolb

claims that any learning experience will have degrees of orientation towards each of

the four learning modes (diverger, converger, assimilator, accommodator) in the

experiential learning model.

In more recent times Peter Honey and Alan Mumford (1989 -1995 ) have popularised

Kolb’s sometimes complex thinking in their “Manual of Learning Styles” They see

learning as a continuous, life-long process and have simplified Kolb’s learning cycles

into four distinct learning types; Activists, Reflectors, Theorists, and Pragmatists.

They have designed a questionnaire; easy to administer and score in order to help a

trainee to find out their own preferred learning style. Whatever the trainer’s personal

views on these theories, it is evident that not everyone attending their courses learn in

the same way e.g. activists and reflectors learn best in one-to-one instructional

situations whereas pragmatists learn best from coaching programmes.

The Brain dominance Theory postulates that those who are predominately right-brain

think and acquire information in a different way to those who are not i.e.

predominantly left-brain. Communication and learning are closely related to people’s

senses and most people learn mainly through one sense, but all will be a blend of all

three. The learning styles from this theory are visual, auditory, and kinaesthetic

Similarly, Gardiner’s (1984) theory of Multiple Intelligence convey to us the wide

variety of intelligences (eight) that trainees have which in turn must have a significant

effect on the training methods that we use on a course. Trainees who have

predominantly Intrapersonal Intelligence might be allowed work at their own pace on

21

an individual project whereas a student who has predominantly Interpersonal

intelligence might best be assigned a group project where they can share their

experiences with others.

Any discussion of Adult Learning must, in addition to the individual’s preference of

Learning Style(s), take into account such factors as the Physical, Intellectual and

Motivational Readiness of the individual for learning as well as their Emotional State

and their Maturity. These factors alone will have a major influence on what is learned

and how it is learned. For example, lack of confidence will have a negative effect on

an individual’s motivation and willingness to learn. Therefore, it is very important that

the learning is broken down into manageable units and that lots of supports are

provided through guidance and frequent feedback on their progress.

The learner’s maturity is dependent on their previous education and experiences and

in the case of immature learners they should be set attainable goals and encouraged

and supported to accept responsibility for their own learning. It is also important that

we understand the Conditions of Learning. These include the sequencing of the

training material; proceeding from the simple to the complex, from what the learner

knows and relating to what s/he already knows and from the concrete to the more

abstract concepts. They also include the setting of objectives in order to stimulate the

learner’s motivation These objectives should be challenging but achievable, and the

learner needs to be given feedback, without being overloaded with it, on how s/he is

doing and helped to develop the ability to self-evaluate. The learner must be an active

participant and opportunities to practice and rehearse the new knowledge and new

skills. Learning is facilitated in an atmosphere that encourages learners to be active,

22

where difference is good and desirable, where mistakes can be made without fear, and

where there is mutual respect within the group.

6. The C&L programme vs. Adult Learning Theory

For me the Best Practice Indicators (Garavan et al, 2004, 135) .best sum up Adult

Learning theory and I intend to look at the Toastmasters Communication and

Leadership Programme through these glasses.

1. Learning is an active process and adults prefer to participate actively.

In the Toastmasters Club all members participate actively, if that is what they want, at

each meeting. Whether it is by delivering a speech assignment, giving an evaluation,

filling-in evaluation slips, participating in table-topics, or carrying out a top-table duty

such as Toastmaster, General Evaluator, Timekeeper, Grammarian etc. they will be

involved in sharing information and experiences with other members of the club. They

learn by doing in an atmosphere that is fun and enjoyable.

2. Learning is Goal Directed and adults are trying to achieve a goal or satisfy a

need.

Members join TMI for a variety of reasons. They join to satisfy a need. Therefore they

are motivated to participate in the programme offered. Each activity they participate in

has clearly stated objectives and outcomes if successfully completed.

3. Group learning, insofar as it creates a learning atmosphere of mutual

support, may be more effective than individual learning.

23

Every member of a Toastmaster’s Club is involved in learning. Each may be at

different stages of meeting their own particular goals, but all are involved in

developing their skills further. Those that are further along the path of learning know

what those who have joined after them are experiencing, having experienced it

themselves. While each member is working individually towards their own goal, they

are part of a wider group who are all working to develop their communication and

leadership skills and to increase their confidence and sense of achievement.

4. Learning that is applied immediately is retained longer and is more

subject to immediate use than that which is not.

Members are encouraged to prepare for each assignment by reading the appropriate

manual, whether the task at hand is a speech, an evaluation, a topics session or

toastmaster, timekeeper, grammarian etc.. Then they get an opportunity to stand up

and do the task or duty. They are doing something practical, not just reading how to

do the task, rather actually doing it in front of a supportive group.

5. Learning must be reinforced.

Every activity undertaken in the Club is subject to feedback. Speeches are given an

oral evaluation almost immediately after being completed. The general evaluator

evaluates the other participants at the meeting. Members will have an opportunity to

participate actively in the next meeting and so will be able to put into practice what

they have learned previously. There are various awards made at each meeting, so that

if someone makes a good contribution at topics, the Topicsmaster may give them an

award. A good evaluation may be recognised by the General Evaluators Award etc..

Those making the awards are always conscious of recognising someone who is

24

inexperienced but who does a good job or shows improvement, rather than always

making the award to the best evaluation etc.. the TM programmes are designed to

build on the level of experience of the member and there is constant interaction

between members so that they can see the cumulative effect of their progress.

Member interest surveys are carried out periodically and members are asked to set

goals for the coming months. Mentors are assigned to new members to inform,

encourage and support them.

6. Learning new material is facilitated when it is related to what is already

known.

In the communication and leadership manuals each assignment builds on the one that

has been completed previously. In this way the task of developing their

communications skills is broken down into manageable steps that ensures continuity

in development. Each assignment has specific stated objectives that have to be

achieved and these objectives build on the objectives that were met in previous

assignments. For example, the objectives for assignment 6 in the basic manual entitled

Use your skills, specifically sets out to integrate all the skills learned in the previous

assignments i.e. constructing a speech using an outline previously used in assignment

3 and incorporating the skills of Gestures (4), Vocal Variety (5) as well as speaking

with conviction and sincerity (2) without nervousness (1). A member is not asked to

evaluate another speaker until they have observed several meetings and have

themselves completed the assignment they are being asked to evaluate. Similarly, for

all other duties, such as Toastmaster, Topicsmaster etc…

25

1. The experience of periodic plateaus in the rate of learning requires frequent

changes in the nature of the learning task to insure continuous progress.

The variety of tasks that need to be carried out means that there is a different function

to be carried out at each meeting. Each task will require a different type of input at

each meeting. A member might do a speech the first week, timekeeper the next,

Topicsmaster the next, and so on. Some meetings will have educational talks by

experienced members, others will be 2 hour seminars on Listening Skills or

Leadership, or Evaluation etc.. As previously mention, someone participating in a

Speech Contest and being successful at Club and further levels, can experience rapid

growth and high levels of achievement in a relatively short period of time. Similarly,

someone who takes on the task of preparing (with the help of detailed manuals) and

delivering a two-hour workshop on Evaluation or Leadership etc.. will benefit

enormously, provided they are confident enough to take on the task and the associated

challenges.

8. Learning is facilitated when the learner is aware of progress.

Feedback is an integral part of the TM C&L programme. However, the member is not

overburdened with too much feedback at the one time. Evaluators are recommended

to point out just one or two areas for improvement to the speaker, especially for initial

assignments. Some members will have more communication skills than others when

they join the club. Each is allowed proceed at their own level and receive feedback

accordingly. Each member will not necessarily have reached the same stage of

development by the time they have completed the basic manual. What is important

that each member has demonstrated improvement on each assignment and the

cumulative effect of having reached the various objectives will be evident.

26

`

7. Designing a questionnaire to survey toastmaster members of TMI

I wanted to design a survey that would firstly help me to determine if the Toastmasters

Communication and Leadership Programme is truly based on an Andragogical

approach and takes into account the current thinking on adult learning styles.

Secondly, if that is the situation, how successfully did it accomplish what it claims to

offer in its Vision and Mission Statements. In other words, does Andragogy work?

To do this I needed to find out:

1. What motivated people to join a TM Club?

2. What was the level of participation by the members in their clubs?

3. The perceptions of the members about what the programme has to offer.

4. A self-evaluation by the members of how they were progressing.

In designing the questionnaire, I was conscious at all times that I was not conducting

an evaluation of the Toastmaster C&L programme as such. I had a look at the various

evaluation models that exist. This would be a far more difficult task to accomplish.

Having looked at the various Evaluation Models, including the CIRO (1970),

Leathernan (1996), Hamblin (1974), Kirkpatrick (1976) and Philips (1977) Models

(Garavan et al, 2003,494), here are the reasons why I believe that it is impossible for

me to carry out an accurate and effective evaluation of the C&L programme.

27

At best I could only measure the Reaction evaluation as part of the CIRO model. To

begin with the content of C&L programme is already laid out in the manuals and so it

has to be a “one size fits all” programme. It is not possible at this end stage to find out

a needs analysis of members when they joined, or an analysis of what skills people

had at the end, because practically all of the respondents were going to be current

members and so were still in the middle of training. The C&L training programme is

also unique in that there isn’t a Trainer per se in charge of conducting and adapting the

programme according to members needs. Nor is there a set standard that is or can be

used as a measure of accomplishment or attainment at the end. This means it is not

possible to conduct the Terminal Evaluation and Post-learning evaluation of the

Leathernan Model. Similarly, for the Hamblin Model, it would not be possible to

measure Levels 3, 4, and 5 without having access to observe the functioning of the

participants in at least the TM environment, and preferably their work environment.

Similar difficulties present themselves in applying the Kirkpatrick and Philips Models.

However, if the survey were to show that indeed the C&L programme was

Andragogical in nature and was based on Adult Learning Theory, it would be

important to find out if the C&L programme was successful in meeting the needs that

members had when they joined the organisation. Even this is fraught with difficulty

because participants had, in some cases, to cast their minds back 10 or even 20 years

to remember what their needs were then. It would be quite difficult for people to do

this. Some of the needs that they would give could very well be new needs that

developed over the years as the C&L programme threw up new possibilities for them.

28

I decided to design the questionnaire with the purpose of getting the members to self

evaluate if their needs were met and also to use questions that would attempt to

determine if the C&L programme delivers on the promise made in the Vision and

Mission Statements of Toastmasters International, especially the Club Mission

Statement (see Page 5). In doing this the Evaluation Model of best fit is probably the

Hodges (1999) Model especially the Summative Evaluation level. Measuring the

Reactive Evaluation is straightforward and can be measured by direct questions. This

level measure whether the members perceive that the learning was beneficial to them.

Measuring Learning Evaluation will be more difficult and essentially only a self-

evaluation by participants. However, due to the practice of evaluation and giving

feedback at every stage of the C&L programme throughout the organisation, members

should have little difficulty in stating what they have learnt so far. We must remember

that the learning is also on-going for practically all of the respondents. A guide

towards the Performance Evaluation will lie in how far members have gone on both

the Communication Track and the Leadership Track of the C&L programme.

Someone who has achieved the DTM Award will certainly be someone of outstanding

calibre and who will have learned many new skills as they progressed through the

programme. While it is not possible to accurately conduct a Needs Assessment now or

a Formative Evaluation, both stages of the Hodges Model, I think we can presume that

with the programme having been revised many times over its 80 year lifespan, and

with the participation of several million members worldwide during that period, that

the programme fits the needs of most of its members and they do learn and benefit

from undertaking the programme.

29

I took great care in designing the questionnaire, paying particular attention to the

wording, content and using a variety of appropriate question types to elicit

information from the respondents. I included appropriate questions to elicit

information on attributes and behaviour as well as beliefs and attitudes. I also put a lot

of thought into the layout of the questionnaire. I gave clear instructions, firstly

informing participants of why the survey was being conducted, and asked for their

help in making it a success. I divided the questionnaire into three sections giving the

purpose of each section and instructions on how to answer the questions. I also used a

variety of questions, starting with factual questions and ones that are easily answered.

I went from concrete to more abstract questions. I used some open questions but

limited the scope for answering them by using Likert-Type Rating Scale, with

descriptors allowing for amid-point on the scale. This would allow greater freedom in

answering rather than forcing a yes/no answer. (Garavan et al, 2003,515)

A copy of the questionnaire used is presented in Appendix I at the end of this report.

When the questionnaire was designed, I needed to test it on some members of

Toastmasters to find out if the survey would give me the information I needed. I also

needed to eliminate any ambiguity in the questions, so that as far as possible, all

respondents to the survey would interpret the questions in the same way. A major

problem I encountered was that all of the clubs had closed for their summer holidays.

I emailed my initial draft to 5 fellow members of my own club. They filled it in and

suggested minor changes. They felt the results would be of interest to many members

in the District and should be administered as widely as possible. The final question

30

was included as it would be of interest to the wider membership. It turned out to be

relevant to the survey itself in view of the way I decided to conduct the survey itself.

I had a list of 40 people who were either current members or past members of my own

club, DLS Communicators. I contemplated surveying them by posting out the

questionnaire and including a SAE for its return to me. On reflection, I considered that

this would be time-consuming, fairly expensive, and unpredictable in respect of how

many replies I would receive in return. I wanted to have a sample of at least 40

completed questionnaires so that it would be representative of the general membership

especially with respect to membership. I wanted to have some new members in my

sample (1 to 2 years), a majority from those with a membership from 3 to 10 years

(who would have been in the programme long enough to have experienced the full

benefits), and some longer-term members (11-25 years) who would be likely to have

benefited most from membership. To achieve this range of replies I would need access

to a numerically larger base of members. Luckily, I also had a list of home addresses

and email addresses for the Club Presidents and Vice Presidents throughout District 7

as well as for all Area Governor, Division Governors and District Ofrficers1.This gave

me a way to contact members while their clubs were temporarily on holiday for the

summer months.

I emailed my questionnaire to just over 300 TM members throughout Ireland and the

United Kingdom. I also posted out the questionnaire (without SAE for return) to a

further 40 TMS from Ireland, who appeared in the District Directory and had no email

address. Similarly, I contacted 40 past and present members of my own club. I was

pleasantly surprised when some of the officers that I emailed replied and said that they

31

had forwarded my questionnaire to other members whose email addresses they

possessed. This was a stroke of luck and I felt would ensure that I would get a good

cross-section from the whole range of membership lengths. This would give a

membership spread similar to that that would be present in a typical club. I ended up

with a total of 83 completed questionnaires being returned to me, 56 by email, and 27

by regular post.

8. Survey Results; Analysis and Conclusions.

Section 1. The purpose of this section is to find out information about the length of

membership, the extent of progress through the C&L programme and extent of

participation in various activities.

Question 1.

How many years have you been a member of Toastmasters?

1 year 3 6 years 3 11 years 1 16 years 1 21 years 0

2 years 13 7 years 6 12 years 1 17 years 1 22 years 0




Table 8.1: The responses to Question 1, Section 1.

32

Question 2.

What Awards have you received? What Award are you working towards?

Achieved Towards

Competent Toastmaster (CTM) 72 11

Advanced Toastmaster – Bronze (ATM-B) 27 39

Advanced Toastmaster - Silver (ATM-S) 14 9

Advanced Toastmaster – Gold (ATM-G) 8 6

Competent Leader (C-L) 43 10

Advanced Leader (A-L) 6 3

Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) 9 2


We see from Table 8.2 that there is a high level of progress through the C&L

Programme. On the Communication Track, a total of 72 out of 83 respondents

33

We can see from Fig. 8.1 that approximately two thirds of respondents are members between 3 and 10 years with the remaining third divided nearly equally between 1 to 2 years and 11 to 25 years. This is a nice balance between the age ranges and should yield an accurate view of the C&L programme.

Fig. 8.1

having completed the Basic C&L Manual and achieved the CTM Award, 27 have

gone on to achieve the ATM-B, a further 14 to achieve the ATM-S and an additional 8

to achieve ATM-G. The figures in the second column show that there are large

numbers continuing through the C&L programme to work on further awards

On the Leadership Track, 43 members, over half the respondents have attained the

C-L Award, a further 6 members have attained the A-L Award, and 9 of the

respondents have attained Toastmasters highest Award of DTM. The number of

members working to achieve further awards on the Leadership Track appears to be

on the low side. This due in the main to members only indicating one Award that they

were working towards and this was mostly on the Communication Track. However,

from the response to the next question we see that there many members serving in

leadership positions within the organisation.

Question 3.

What Officership role do you or have you served in and did you receive training

for that role?

Leadership Position Served Trained

Club Officer 80 77

Area Governor 21 24

Division Gov. 8 9

District Officer 9 8

Table 8.3: The responses to Question3, Section 1.

34

We see from this result that 80 out of 87 respondents have served as Club Officers and

that 77 of that 80 attended Official Club Officer Training for that position. This shows

a high level of involvement by all members in the leadership of their Clubs. The

relatively high numbers who have gone on to serve beyond the Club level is

commensurate with the high number of years membership of some of the respondents.

It also demonstrates that plenty opportunities for members to progress further along

the Leadership Track do exist.

Question 4.

What other Leadership Roles have you taken?

Youth Leadership Co-ordinator 10

Speechcraft Co-ordinator 14

Success Leadership Co-ordinator 12

New Club Sponsor/Mentor/Specialist 23


Table 8.4 shows that many of the respondents are taking a leadership role, in their

club and their community.

Question 5.

How often have you carried out the following assignments in your Club?

Meeting Roles 1 time 2 to 5 times 6 to 10 times 10+ times

Toastmaster 4 27 20 32

35

Topicsmaster 3 32 16 32

General Evaluator 4 29 12 31

Manual Speech 5 11 66

Speech Evaluator 12 21 48

Topics Participant 5 9 68

Timekeeper 3 23 21 35

Ah-Counter 1 20 11 22

Grammarian 1 22 14 20

Word of the Day 2 21 10 15

Guest Greeter 1 17 8 30Table 8.5: Responses to Question 5, Section 5.

The responses to this question as shown in Table 8.5, indicate that members are very

active in their clubs, not alone carrying out speech assignments but also evaluations

and top-table duties such as Toastmaster, Topicsmaster, General Evaluator and several

others. This is very important that it indicates that by the time someone has completed

the ten speech assignments in the Basic C&L Manual, they will also have completed

several assignments as evaluator, grammarian, timekeeper etc as well as having acted

as Toastmaster, Topicsmaster, and General Evaluator on 2/3 occasions for each of

these important leadership roles.

In my view, this is very significant result as I believe achieving the CTM needs to

signify more than just the fact that someone has completed 10 speech assignments.

With the combination of all of the above roles in proportionate amounts I feel that the

CTM Award signifies considerable experience in a wide range of communication

areas.

36

A significant number of respondents indicated that they had served many times in

various capacities at Club, Area, Division, and District Speech Contests. These

positions would have included: Contest Chairperson, Chief Judge, Tie-breaking Judge,

Contest Judge, Ballot Counter, and Timekeeper. As explained in Page 14,

involvement in Speech Contests, even as an official or an observer, can have many

benefits for the club member.

Question 6.

. What speech contests have you participated in and to what level?

Contest Club Level

Area Level

Division Level

District Level

International Speech Contest 51 27 9 1

Evaluation Contest 52 28 11 3

Humorous Speech Contest 49 31 11 4

Table Topics Contest 58 34 8 3

Tall Tales Contest 21 10 0 0

Table 8.6: Responses to Question 6, Section 1.

37

Figs 8.6 shows the high positive response to this question and indicates that members

are willing to accept challenging roles and are anxious to gain opportunities to speak

outside their own club environment. I have explained earlier the objectives of Speech

Contests and the tremendous strides forwards in terms of learning that can take place

through contest participation.

Conclusions from Section 1: Taking into account the responses to all of the

questions in Section 1 of the questionnaire, it is very clear that there is active

involvement by club members in a diverse range of activities which give members an

opportunity to develop a wide rang of communication and leadership skills. Many

members have already earned an Award on both the Communication Track and the

Leadership Track and all members are working towards a further award on the

Communication Track or the Leadership track and in some cases on both tracks of the

programme.

Section 2.

Adult Learning Theory suggests that adults have a definite purpose in mind when

undertaking any activities that lead to new learning or personal development.

Question 1.

Members were asked to rank the factors that lead to their decision to join

Toastmasters in the first instance. They were asked to only rank those that were

relevant to them and to leave the others blank.

Reasons for Joining Toastmasters 1 2 3 4 5

It was recommended by a friend 9 8 7 2 4

I wasn’t as confident as I wanted to be 17 15 6 4 0

38

I had a fear of public speaking 15 6 5 4 2

I needed to make presentations at work 6 12 7 4 1

I wanted to meet/socialise with new people 3 15 10 6 3

I wanted a new pastime 0 7 6 6 2

I wanted to improve communication at home 0 0 1 0 2

I wanted to improve my promotion prospects 2 1 1 2 5

I wanted to develop my leadership skills 0 2 10 5 7

I wanted to communicate better at work 4 7 8 5 7

It was a means towards an end in my life situation 4 1 2 3 0

I wanted to further develop skills I already had 11 8 10 6 1

I wanted to improve my listening skills 0 1 0 6 8

A change in my life dictated the need for new skills 1 1 1 3 4


Table 8.7 shows the results for the top five ranked words as given by respondents Six

respondents gave reasons (all different) other than those listed as their first choice, and

went on, as most other respondents did, to list a number of additional reasons from the

list supplied. In addition, a significant number of respondents went on to rank more

than five reasons for which they joined their Toastmasters Club. Taking all of the

rankings for the different factors into account (not just the first-ranked), Fig 8.2

displays the results for the five main reasons why people joined a club.

39

First: I wasn’t as confident as I wished to be

Second: I wanted to further develop the skills I already had

Third: I had a fear of Public Speaking

Fourth: I wanted to meet/socialise with new people

Fifth: I needed to make Presentations at work

Bearing in mind that many of the respondents would have listed several of these

factors as having influenced them to join a Toastmasters Club, it does appear that all

who join are highly motivated at the start of the programme.

Several of the other factors got smaller but yet significant numbers of members giving

them as a factor in their decision to join a club. These are:

I wanted to communicate better at work

I wanted to improve my leadership skills

I wanted to improve my listening skills

It was a means towards an end in my life situation

40

Fig. 8.2

A change in my life dictated the need for new skills.

These are powerful motivating factors for undertaking new learning and are typical of

the reasons why many adults embark on programmes of personal and professional

development.

Question 2.

Select six words below which best sum up your overall opinion of the Toastmaster

learning experience.

interesting 31 stimulating 49 practical 26challenging 65 rushed 1 useful 22exciting 10 focussed 14 vague 0fun 41 clear 2 innovative 1revealing 11 entertaining 39 complicated 0fascinating 4 nothing new 0 irrelevant 0confusing 0 valuable 28 thought-provoking 28difficult 3 life-changing 24 boring 0enjoyable 47 easy 1 realistic 9waste of time 0 comprehensive 5 exhausting 0


Table 8.8 shows that even though the 87 respondents had 30 different words to chose

their six words from, an impressive 65 chose Challenging, 49 chose Stimulating,

41 chose Fun to describe their thoughts of the Toastmasters Learning Experience.

41

Fig 8.3 is a graphical representation of the eight most popular words chosen to

describe the 87 respondents views of the TM Learning Experience.

It is interesting to note that the words: confusing, waste-of-time, vague, complicated,

nothing-new, irrelevant, boring, were not chosen by even one respondent. This shows

that members have a very positive attitude to the training that they receive in the club.

Question 3.

Members were asked to indicate their belief about various aspects of the TM Club.

42

Fig 8.3

43

Fig 8.6

Fig. 8.5

Fig. 8.4

Conclusion: Figs. 8.4, 8.5, and 8,6 show practically unanimous agreement with the statements listed in the question. These statements represent situations which are conducive to Adult Learning.

Conclusion: Figs. 87, 8.8, and 8,9 show practically unanimous agreement with the statements listed in the question. These statements represent situations that are conducive to Adult Learning. Adult learning takes place in the TM club.

44

Fig. 8.7

Fig. 8.8

Fig. 8.9

Conclusion: Fig. 8.10 indicates that most members are aware of the specific objectives for each activity. Those who are unsure need to be directed towards the appropriate TM manual were they can read the objectives.

Conclusion: Fig.8.11 shows that 7% do not agree that they can set their own goals. Since members are given the opportunity to do this once a year, I conclude that these people think that they do not have the ability to make and keep their own goals.

Conclusion: Figs. 8.12 shows that up to 10% of members believe that they did not have many of the skills the C&L programme teaches , before they joined the Club.

45

Fig. 8.12

Fig. 8.11

Fig. 8.10

Conclusion: Figs. 8.12, 8.13, 8.14 show that nearly 10% of members do not realise the truth of the above statements. My own experience as a past member of 5 different clubs is that these 3statements are true, but may not appear to be true in clubs where the Vice-President for Education doesn’t emphasise these points on a regular basis.

46

Fig. 8.13

Fig. 8.15

Fig. 8.14

Conclusion: Figs. 8.15, 8.16, 8.17 show that a substantial majority believe the sentiments expressed to be true of their experience, it is a concern that 20% are either unsure or believe they are not true. The V.P. Education needs to plan and schedule participation in the meetings more carefully, involving all members and also needs to schedule talks explaining the nature C&L programme itself and directing members to their manuals, where necessary. More extensive use of Mentoring would also help.

47

Fig. 8.15

Fig. 8.16

Fig. 8.17

o

Conclusion: Figs. 8.18 and 8.19 clearly demonstrate that the TM Club provides the sort of environment where Adult Learning will flourish.

Conclusion: Fig. 8.20 shows that there is up to 15% of members who don’t appreciate the great variety of roles that exists. Various TMI publications show how to put variety into every meeting, from planning “Theme Meetings” to “Panel Evaluations”, to literally hundreds of distinct formats for exciting Table-Topics sessions.

48

Fig. 8.18

Fig. 8.19

Fig. 8.20

Conclusion: Figs. 8.21 and 8.22 show that the programme provides a challenge for,

and meets the needs of, the vast majority of its members. Obviously, it no longer

meets the needs of former members, a number of who participated in the survey.

However, it no longer meets the needs of some of the members who have been in TMs

for between 10 and 20 years. Such members should use their skills of communication

and leadership in the community by taking a leadership role in voluntary organisations

or by accepting more challenging roles within Toastmasters at club level or beyond. In

my own case , despite 25 years of membership, I keep returning to the club

environment to hone my skills and as Stephen Covey says “to sharpen the saw”.

49

Fig. 8.21

Fig. 8.22

Represents good value for money compared to other courses

True97%

Not Sure2%

Untrue1%

TrueNot SureUntrue

Conclusion: Fig 8.23 shows that members realise the great value for money that

membership of a Toastmasters club provides. For an Annual Membership fee of

around one hundred Euro, a member has a opportunity to participate in a wide range

of activities at 20 club meetings throughout the year as well as to attend several more

Area, Division and District events. It far outstrips the value of attending a 2-3

workshop in a commercial Communications Centre, where the value of the intense

training is lost soon after, because the participant does not have the opportunity to

practice and hone their skills in an atmosphere where they can make mistakes without

ever failing. It is no wonder that many of the schools who provide this expensive

training that can run into thousands of Euro, often recommend that their clients should

go and join a Toastmasters Club.

Conclusions from Section 2: Overall the results confirm that those who follow the

Communication and Leadership programme find the conditions that nurture adult

learning in a Toastmasters Club. Most of the descriptors used in this section were

taken from the course text (Garavan et al, 2003) and represent the type of conditions

that appeal to adults seeking out new opportunities for personal & professional

development.

50

Fig. 8.23

Section 3.

This section is designed to find out how well members were progressing with their

Toastmasters training.

Question 1.

This question required members to self-evaluate how they are faring in various facets

of the C&L programme vis a vis how they were when they started and where they

would like to be at the end of their training.

To correlate and analyse the results of this question in detail would require a huge a

time-investment and are beyond the scope of this project. Additionally, the actual

scores recorded do not have any objective value as they merely represent a subjective

self-evaluation by the respondent and consequently would not stand up to any

investigation concerning their validity as a measuring tool.

The relevant information they provide is whether the member perceives that they have

improved in a given area of communication skills since they embarked on their

Communication and Leadership training and if they have reached their ultimate goal.

The statements given in the question referred to various skills that members would be

expected to have acquired that were relevant to presenting speeches, giving and

receiving feedback through giving and receiving evaluations, speaking off –the-cuff,

and conducting productive meetings. I would expect that there would be substantial

improvement in all areas, especially for those who have been members for at least

51

three years. The scores given indicate that by far the vast majority of respondents

perceive they have improved overall in practically all of the categories. Some started

from a high level of satisfaction in some areas and so there wasn’t room for

improvement. Others started from a lower base and improved more. Some experience

high levels of satisfaction in some areas, but know that they need to improve more in

other areas.

Taken as a whole, for members when they started out, the average score of 4.5 was

between 4 (=satisfactory) and 5 (=not satisfactory) on the scale provided, which

means that in general members were performing less than satisfactorily. For where

they are now, the average score of 2.4 was between 2 (=very good) and 3 (=good)

on the rating scale provided, which means members had on average moved up 2

categories and now considered themselves to be somewhere between good and very

good. As to where they would like to be in the future the average score of 1.3 was

between 1 (=excellent) and 2 (=very good),which shows people aspired to end up

somewhere between very good and excellent in all spheres of communications skills.

The great value of this question, indeed the reason I included it, is that it got members

to reflect on what they have gained from their membership and so are in a better frame

of mind to answer the next question more accurately. This is born out by the way the

next question was answered. Most respondents did not just tick off the list by agreeing

or disagreeing with all the items; instead they used the full range of descriptors given

and appear to have answered it conscientiously.

A cursory analysis of the self-evaluated scores for giving feedback tactfully, and for

learning from received feedback is given in Fig. 8.24 and Fig. 8.25 respectively.

52

A comparison of Fig. 8.23 and Fig. 8.24 shows that at the outset people considered themselves better at receiving feedback and learning from it than giving feedback tactfully. Respondents have improved dramatically in both skills, but much more at giving feedback tactfully, and now they are more or less equally good at both skills.

53

At Present

At the Outset

Fig. 8.24

Fig. 8.25

At Present

At the Outset

Question 2.

Members were reminded on the Mission of TMI and the Club Mission Statement, and

then asked their opinion on personal beliefs as to what they had learned in various

areas of communication and leadership. The results were as follows:

Strongly Agree Agree Unsure Disagree

Strongly disagree

I have improved as a speaker 70 13 0 0 0I am a better listener 42 33 7 1 0I am a clearer thinker 32 31 20 0 0I have improved my interpersonal skills 36 37 9 1 0I have developed my potential 38 33 12 0 0I am more confident 44 36 3 0 0I am a better leader 39 29 14 1 0I have used my leadership skills outside TMs 41 24 12 6 0I am more tolerant of diversity in others 33 32 14 4 0I have a greater understanding of others 34 31 16 2 0I know that I make a difference in society 24 31 22 6 0I have applied my skills outside of the club 37 31 7 8 0


Conclusion: Table 8.9 shows that an overwhelming majority of respondents either

agree or strongly agree with the statements they were provided with about their

acquisition of skills within the Toastmasters C&L programme. It is notable that the

only significant disagreement, amounting to less the 10%, is in relation to the use of

skills outside the club and outside Toastmasters. Perhaps the respondents concerned

were thinking of a formal conscious use of their skills in taking a leading role in

outside organisations rather than the effect of their improved listening and

interpersonal skills with their families and their work colleagues. The 25% who are

not sure that they are more understanding and more tolerant of diversity in other is at

variance with the 98% agreement to “I like the diversity of members and their

backgrounds” recorder in Question 3, Section 2. (ref. Fig. 8.8)

Figs. 8.26 to 8.37 illustrate the responses given to the individual parts of the question.

54

55

Fig. 8.26

Fig. 8.27

56

Fig. 8.28

57

Fig. 8.29

Fig. 8.30

Fig. 8.31

58

Fig. 8.32

Fig. 8.33

Fig. 8.34

Question 3.

59

Fig 8.35

Fig. 8.36

Fig.8.37

This question was added after being suggested by some of the people I consulted in Toastmasters in relation to the content of the questionnaire

Strongly Agree

Agree

Not Sure

Disagree Strongly Disagree

Toastmasters are good at communicating its Mission to the general public.

1 21 31 25 3

Toastmasters are the best-kept secret in terms of the great value of the training and development programmes it offers.

26 40 8 3 1

Toastmasters uses modern technology including email to communicate effectively with its members at all levels

13 43 16 11 0

The use of email throughout the organisation is taking the personal touch away from club members.

2 7 17 45 11

Table 8.10: Responses to Question 3, Section 3

Conclusion: Table 8.10 tells us that opinion is divided on the question of whether

TMI are good at communicating their message to the public, with slightly more

disagreeing than agreeing with the statement “Toastmasters is good at communicating

its Mission to the public”. This has serious implications for those charged with

marketing the organisation.

An overwhelming majority agree that the great value represented by the C&L

programme is one of Toastmasters best-kept secrets. This is another matter for those

who market the organisation. Without these two matters being addressed in Ireland

and Great Britain then it is hard to see how the organisation will flourish in terms of

forming new clubs and maintaining membership in existing.

60

A majority of respondents agree that the organisation uses modern technology to

communicate effectively with its members at all levels and the use of email does not

take away the personal touch from club members. This result may in part be

influenced by the fact that the majority of the respondents answered the questionnaire

by email and so can be presumed to be comfortable with this form of communication.

Figs. 8.36 to 8.3.9 illustrate the information in Table 8.10 graphically. Please note that

I have grouped the “strongly agree” and “agree” responses together and similarly for

the “ strongly disagree” and “disagree” responses. This helps to illustrate the division

of opinion more starkly.

61

Fig. 8.38

62

Fig. 8.39

Fig. 8.40

Conclusions for Section 3. This section of the questionnaire was designed to find out

how well members were progressing with their C&L training. The questions were

framed by taking each relevant area of development mentioned in the Mission

Statements of Toastmasters International.

The responses to Section 3 clearly indicate that members are benefiting from their

membership of Toastmasters International. Thy may not always appreciate that they

are using all the skills they have developed in their day to day dealings with family

members and with work colleagues, particularly if the skills are improving over a long

period of years. They may not always be even conscious of the growth that has taken

place in these skills unless they take stock at regular intervals. It would be a good idea

if there way an educational talk on this aspect of personal growth development given

at the club on a yearly basis, in order to help members become more aware of their

progress, or lack of progress in this area of personal and professional development.

9. Summary

63

Fig. 8.41

I set out in this project to determine if the Toastmasters International Communication

and Leadership Programme as operated in it Clubs in Ireland and Great Britain makes

use of Adult Learning Theory in its approach to its members and so use an

Andragogical approach in all its training. I also set out to determine that if it is the

case that an Andragogical approach is used; then is it successful; does Toastmasters

deliver everything to its members that it promises in its Mission Statement?

I am happy to conclude, after my review of Adult Learning Theory literature (Garavan

et al, 2003) and my review of publications by Toastmasters International, that this is in

fact the case. I then designed a questionnaire, based on what I now know about Adult

Learning and Andragogy as well as my personal experience through membership of

TMI for in excess of 25 years, to survey members of TM Clubs in Ireland and Britain.

Despite the fact that practically all clubs take a break for the summer months, I did

manage to contact members, some by email, others by regular mail and had completed

questionnaires returned to me by eighty three members. From an analysis of these

responses I have determined that my initial premise is correct and that the TMI C&L

programme is conducted by an Andragogical approach and that the TM Club offers an

environment in which adult learning can flourish.

64

References

Garavan Thomas N., Hogan Carol, Cahir-O’Donnell Amanda (2003): Making

Training and Development Work: Cork, Oak Tree Press.

Toastmasters International (2003): A Toastmaster Wears Many Hats: California, TMI.

Toastmasters International (2002): Basic Communication and Leadership Manual:

California, TMI.

Toastmasters International (2001): Effective Speech Evaluation: California, TMI.

Toastmasters International (2000): Think Fast: California, TMI.

Toastmasters International (2003): A Toastmaster Wears Many Hats: California, TMI.

Toastmasters International (2003): International Speech Contest Rules: California,

TMI.

Toastmasters International (1980): Patterns in Programming: California, TMI.

65

APPENDIX IMy name is Harry Knox. I am a member of Toastmasters International for over 25 years. I won the District 71 Speech Contest in 1981, was District Toastmaster of the Year in 1983 and was District 71 Governor for 1987-88. I am still an active member of DLS Communicators, based in Waterford

I am conducting this survey to fulfil a course requirement for a Certificate in Training and Development. I am pursuing this course with the Irish Institute of Training and Development. I have taken your details from last years District Directory. I am asking you to participate in this survey. The questionnaire is anonymous, and individual comments are confidential. I am willing to share the results of the survey with you if you want me to. The results could make the bones of an interesting presentation by you to your fellow club members in the autumn. If you would like to obtain a copy of the results and conclusions of the survey, please email your details to [email protected] and I will send you the results towards the end of August. If you have any queries about the survey please contact me at the same email address.

To participate in the survey, save the attached document on to your hard drive. Then open it and complete the survey by typing an “x” or a number, as required, in the appropriate textbox or table. It should take not more than 10 minutes to complete and many of you will complete it in a shorter time than that. When you have completed the survey, click on “save”, close the document. Type my email address [email protected] into to “To:” box, attach the survey document, and then click on “send”.Alternatively, you can print off a hard copy, complete it and send to Harry Knox, Cluain Caoin, Kilmacow, Via Waterford, Ireland.

The purpose of this questionnaire is to find out the following:1. Why do people join Toastmasters?2. Is it highly participative?3. Does it meet the needs of its members?4. Is it based on adult learning styles theory?5. Does it achieve its aims?

Do not be concerned if you think some of the later questions have been asked in a different form earlier in the survey Just do your best to answer them as accurately as you can. Feel free to add your own comments and observations at the end of the survey and I will incorporate your views as best I can in the final report.

Section 1. The purpose of this section is to find out if the Toastmaster system is participative and on-going in nature.

To the nearest year, how long have you been (or were you) a member of Toastmasters?.Please type an “X” in all of the boxes that apply to you.

I have achieved the following awards:

CTM ATM ATM-Bronze ATM-Silver ATM-Gold

Competent Leader Advanced Leader Distinguished Toastmaster

66

Questionnaire

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

I have served in the following roles:

Club Officer Area Governor Division Governor District Officer

Youth Leadership Co-ordinator Speechcraft Co-ordinator

Success/Leadership Co-ordinator New Club Sponsor/Mentor/Specialist

I have attended the following training:

Club Officer Area Governor Division Governor District Officer

I have taken-on the following roles at my TM Club meetings:

Please mark with “x” the roles you have performed and leave blank those you have not performed. A “guesstimate” will be sufficient in each case.

1 time2 to 5 times

6 to 10 times

10+ times

ToastmasterGeneral EvaluatorTopicsmaterManual SpeechSpeech EvaluatorTopics ParticipantTimekeeperAh-CounterGrammarianWord of the DayGuest GreeterOtherOther

I have participated in the following contests:

67

What Award are you currently working towards?

Place “x” in the appropriate boxes.

ContestClub Level

Area Level

Division Level

District Level

International Speech ContestEvaluation ContestHumorous Speech ContestTable Topics ContestTall Tales Contest

Section 2: Adult Learning theory suggests that adults have a definite purpose in mind when undertaking any activities that lead to new learning or personal development. It also suggests the conditions under which adult learning will flourish.

Please rank the reasons below that were a factor in your decision to join a Toastmasters Club. Rank the main reason you joined as “1” and the next reason as “2” etc. Leave those that didn’t apply in your case BLANK. If there were other reasons why you joined please add them to the list in the spaces provided and include them in your rankings.

Reasons for Joining Toastmasters RankIt was recommended by a friendI wasn’t as confident as I wanted to beI had a fear of public speakingI needed to make presentations at workI wanted to meet/socialise with new peopleI wanted a new pastimeI wanted to improve communication at homeI wanted to improve my promotion prospectsI wanted to develop my leadership skillsI wanted to communicate better at workIt was a means towards an end in my life situationI wanted to further develop skills I already hadI wanted to improve my listening skillsA change in my life dictated the need for new skillsOther..Other..

68

Select up to six words below which best sum up your overall opinion of the Toastmaster learning experience: Highlight the word you wish to select and click on the bold “B” icon on your menu bar. e.g. I have selected “exhausting” below.

interesting challenging exciting fun revealing

fascinating confusing difficult enjoyable clear

waste of time practical useful vague innovative

complicated stimulating exhausting rushed focussedentertaining nothing new valuable life-changing easy

comprehensive irrelevant thought-provoking boring realistic

Add your own words: _______________________________________________________

Please indicate your belief about the following aspects of the TM Club.

True UnsureNot True

I feel challenged by the various meeting rolesIt is a group in charge of its own learningThere are specific objectives for each activityImmediate feedback lets me know how I am doingThe Club provides a warm supportive atmosphere Everyone in the Club is learning togetherWhat I have learnt builds on the skills I already hadThe purpose of each learning activity is clearly explained I can set my own goals and review them periodicallyI am helped by my fellow members when I request itLearning is ongoing and builds on previous activitiesI am seen as an individual and can go at my own paceThere is great variety in the meeting roles and activitiesLearning is fun at the meetingsThe meetings are structured so that I am always involvedIt is a place where I can experiment and make mistakesI like the diversity of members and their backgrounds The club continues to meet the needs I had for joiningI find the support materials in the manuals helpfulLearning is not a once-off but continues meeting by meetingRepresents good value for money compared to other coursesOther..Section 3: This section is designed to find out how well you are progressing with your Toastmasters training.

69

1 = excellent: a personal strength of mine.2 = very good: little room for improvement by me.3 = good: but room for further improvement by me.4 = satisfactory: but I know I can improve much more5 = not satisfactory: I need to make a special effort to improve.6 = inadequate: a serious weakness I must urgently address.

StatementWhen

I joinedWhere

I am nowWhere I

want to be

e.g.When making a speech I always maintain good eye contact with the audience.

Type a number here:5



1.I feel confident and comfortable giving speeches to an audience.

Type a number here: Type a number here: Type a number here:

2.I have no difficulty in finding interesting topics on which to speak.


3.I plan my speeches with a clear purpose and meet the Manual objectives.


4.I always take my audience’s needs and interests into account.


5.I am able to organise my ideas into a clear logical outline as part of a talk.


6.I am able to speak effectively without relying on notes.


7.I am able to receive constructive feedback and learn from it.


8.I am able to give constructive feedback to others, tactfully.


9.I am able to conduct productive meetings when I am asked to do so.


10.I am able to organise and express my thoughts when speaking off-the-cuff.


The Mission of Toastmasters International is::

70

Please circle the number that most accurately represents you in each column.

“Through its member Clubs, Toastmasters International helps men and women learn the arts of speaking, listening and thinking – vital skills that promote self-actualisation, enhance leadership, foster human understanding, and contribute to the betterment of mankind.”

The Club Mission is: The mission of a Toastmasters 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.

In view of this Mission to what extent to you agree or disagree with the following statements in regard to how you have benefited from the Toastmasters training you have received to date.

Strongly Agree Agree

Not Sure Disagree

Strongly Disagree

I have improved as a speakerI am a better listenerI am a clearer thinkerI have improved my interpersonal skillsI have developed my potentialI am more confidentI am a better leaderI have used my leadership skills outside TMsI am more tolerant of diversity in othersI have a greater understanding of othersI know that I make a difference in societyI have applied my new skills outside of the club

While the following questions are not directly relevant to my purpose, I have included them, as they will be helpful to those at officer level in the organisation

Strongly Agree Agree

NotSure Disagree

Strongly Disagree

Toastmasters are good at communicating its mission to the general public. Toastmasters are the best kept secret in terms of the great value of the training and development programmes it offers.Toastmasters uses modern technology including email to communicate effectively with its members at all levelsThe use of email throughout the organisation is taking the personal touch away from club members.

Please add any comments or observations you wish to make about the Toastmasters International, Communication and Leadership Training Programme.

APPENDIX II

71

SURVEY RESULTSSection 1.

Question 1.

1 year 3 6 years

3 11 years 1 16 years 1 21 years 0

2 years 13 7 years


3 years 11 8 years


4 years 17 9 years


5 years 7 10 years


Question 2.

Achieved Towards

Competent Toastmaster (CTM) 72 11

Advanced Toastmaster – Bronze (ATM-B) 27 39

Advanced Toastmaster - Silver (ATM-S) 14 9

Advanced Toastmaster – Gold (ATM-G) 8 6

Competent Leader 43 10

Advanced Leader 6 3

Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM) 9 2

Question 3.

Position of Leadership Served Trained

Club Officer 80 77

Area Governor 21 24

Division Gov. 8 9

District Officer 9 8

72

Question 4.

Youth Leadership Co-ordinator 10

Speechcraft Co-ordinator 14

Success Leadership Co-ordinator 12

New Club Sponsor/Mentor/Specialist 23

Question 5.

Meeting Roles 1 time 2 to 5 times 6 to 10 times 10+ timesToastmaster

4 27 20 32

Topicsmaster 3 32 16 32

General Evaluator 4 29 12 31

Manual Speech 5 11 66

Speech Evaluator 12 21 48

Topics Participant 5 9 68

Timekeeper 3 23 21 35

Ah-Counter 1 20 11 22

Grammarian 1 22 14 20

Word of the Day 2 21 10 15

Guest Greeter 1 17 8 30

Question 6.

Contest Club Level

Area Level Division Level District Level

International Speech Contest 51 27 9 1

Evaluation Contest 52 28 11 3

Humorous Speech Contest 49 31 11 4

Table Topics Contest 58 34 8 3

Tall Tales Contest 21 10 0 0

73

Section 2.

Question 1.

Reasons for Joining Toastmasters 1 2 3 4 5

It was recommended by a friend 9 8 7 2 4

I wasn’t as confident as I wanted to be 17 15 6 4 0

I had a fear of public speaking 15 6 5 4 2

I needed to make presentations at work 6 12 7 4 1

I wanted to meet/socialise with new people 3 15 10 6 3

I wanted a new pastime 0 7 6 6 2

I wanted to improve communication at home 0 0 1 0 2

I wanted to improve my promotion prospects 2 1 1 2 5

I wanted to develop my leadership skills 0 2 10 5 7

I wanted to communicate better at work 4 7 8 5 7

It was a means towards an end in my life situation 4 1 2 3 0

I wanted to further develop skills I already had 11 8 10 6 1

I wanted to improve my listening skills 0 1 0 6 8

A change in my life dictated the need for new skills 1 1 1 3 4

Question 2.

interesting 31 stimulating 49 practical 26challenging 65 rushed 1 useful 22exciting 10 focussed 14 vague 0fun 41 clear 2 innovative 1revealing 11 entertaining 39 complicated 0fascinating 4 nothing new 0 irrelevant 0confusing 0 valuable 28 thought-provoking 28difficult 3 life-changing 24 boring 0enjoyable 47 easy 1 realistic 9waste of time 0 comprehensive 5 exhausting 0

74

True Unsure Not TrueIt is a group in charge of its own learning 71 6 4I feel challenged by the various meeting roles 70 4 8There are specific objectives for each activity 76 7 0Immediate feedback lets me know how I am doing 78 4 0The Club provides a warm supportive atmosphere 82 1 0 Everyone in the Club is learning together 69 12 2What I have learnt builds on the skills I already had 75 5 3The purpose of each learning activity is clearly explained 63 13 7I can set my own goals and review them periodically 77 5 1I am helped by my fellow members when I request it 75 6 1Learning is ongoing and builds on previous activities 81 2 0I am seen as an individual and can go at my own pace 79 3 1There is great variety in the meeting roles and activities 70 8 4Learning is fun at the meetings 76 7 0The meetings are structured so that I am always involved 58 13 12It is a place where I can experiment and make mistakes 80 1 2I like the diversity of members and their backgrounds 81 1 1The club continues to meet the needs I had for joining 72 7 3I find the support materials in the manuals helpful 69 9 5Learning is not a once-off but continues meeting by meeting 80 2 1Represents good value for money compared to other courses 81 2 0Other..

Section 3.

Question 1.

StatementWhen

I joinedWhere

I am nowWhere I

want to be

Various Statements Average Score Average Score Average Score

Taking the self-evaluated scores for all ten statements given the averages scores worked out as follows:

4.5 2.4 1.3

75

Question 3.

Question 2.

Question 3.

Strongly Agree

Agree Not Sure Disagree Strongly

DisagreeToastmasters are good at communicating its mission to the general public. 1 21 31 25 3

Toastmasters are the best kept secret in terms of the great value of the training and development programmes it offers.

26 40 8 3 1

Toastmasters uses modern technology including email to communicate effectively with its members at all levels

13 43 16 11 0

The use of email throughout the organisation is taking the personal touch away from club members.

2 7 17 45 11

76

Strongly Agree

Agree Not Sure DisagreeStrongly Disagree

I have improved as a speaker 70 13 0 0 0

I am a better listener 42 33 7 1 0

I am a clearer thinker 31 31 20 0 0

I have improved my interpersonal skills 36 37 9 1 0

I have developed my potential 38 33 12 0 0

I am more confident 44 36 3 0 0

I am a better leader 39 29 14 1 0

I have used my leadership skills outside TMs 41 24 12 6 0

I am more tolerant of diversity in others 31 32 14 4 0

I have a greater understanding of others 34 31 16 2 0

I know that I make a difference in society 24 31 22 6 0

I have applied my new skills outside of the club 37 31 7 8 0

Document

Documents

toastmasters clubs

members of toastmasters

toastmasters program

cork toastmasters club

growing number of toastmasters

members of clubs

women members

speech manual