Toastmasters & Etc.

Listening * Thinking * Public Speaking * Self Improvement

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May

The Professional Speaker

Posted by John Spaith  Published in Prospective Toastmasters, Toastmasters Gone Wild

In the last few weeks I’ve read some people doing some nasty griping about Toastmasters because they go to a meeting and realize it won’t make them a professional speaker. The gist of it is that most speakers at TM clubs aren’t all that good and that the evaluations aren’t very good, either.

 

First - let’s define a professional as someone who can support themselves off their speaking.

 

I agree strongly with the statement then that Toastmasters by itself is not going to make you a pro. Even my Toastmasters club, which is very strong, only has a bunch of really, really good amateurs. None of us can I see waking up one morning, making a call, and voila, making a living off of this. It’s not clear to me how someone can be a professional just by hanging out with a bunch of really, really good amateurs. And this is just on the speaking side. Consider the business element of speaking (remember how being a pro means it pays the rent), which Toastmasters doesn’t really have any formal training on.

 

That said - when did Toastmasters ever promise to make you a professional? I took piano lessons in high school, had a lot of fun, and am OK at it still. But I’m not Oscar Peterson. If that was my bar for whether the lessons were worthwhile, then I’d be disappointed. I went into Toastmasters with the same expectations. I’m way, way better at speaking and leadership then when I first joined five years ago and that’s what I was after. If I did ever want to turn pro, the learning curve would be much shorter because of what I’ve learned in TM.

 

With regards to complaints about the other speakers not being very good - that’s the point, isn’t it? The fact that Toastmasters lets any schmuck join - even me - means that its point is to help everyone become better, not to be a place where awesome people come in to show off.

 

As far as lousy evaluations, there’s no excuse for a club with any level of experience to be pulling that. I have a lot more to say later, but of the it can’t make you a pro/not great speakers/not great evaluators, this is the only legitimate complaint.

 

One thing to any Toastmaster trying to hype up Toastmasters as the place where you can become a pro - please don’t. Or qualify it at least, so that when the guest sees a & miss speech #2 they don’t think that we’re pushing that speaker as the next Zig Ziglar.

5 Responses

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Barbara Kryvko says,
in 6-2-2008 @ 05:09:21    

Very well said!

Oleg K. says,
in 6-3-2008 @ 08:48:06    

I agree with you that Toastmaster’s is not designed to make members professional speakers. It’s almost preposterous to think that speaking skills alone are enough.

As for lousy evaluations, you’re right again; why would any beginner want to come to club and Not be told how to improve(or be instructed poorly). I believe that evaluations are one of the, if not the best things about Toastmasters. If a club has a weak spot there, perhaps re-thinking their priorities is in order.

Thanks for the post.

Public Speaking Blog Articles: Week in Review [2008-06-07] says,
in 6-6-2008 @ 23:14:29    

[…] Spaith delivers some unfortunate news: attending Toastmasters meetings won’t make you a professional speaker. I took piano lessons in high school, had a lot of fun, and am OK at it still. But I’m not Oscar […]

Jeff Bailey says,
in 6-9-2008 @ 15:48:05    

Hey John,

There are many, many, professional speakers who are not very good at all. The dirty little secret is that you need something compelling to say. That is why book authors tend to get lots of speaking gigs.

Toastmasters is almost like a photographer who spends tons of time learning how to use a camera; they can produce photographs that are exposed perfectly and have no blur. But these “technically” perfect photos aren’t worth looking at because there is no substance there.

Content is king. Awesome content presented in a mediocre fashion trumps terrible content presented by “the perfect presenter” every time.

Plus, Toastmasters won’t make someone great. That is really up to that someone.

Later,
Jeff

Tom Coldaba says,
in 6-9-2008 @ 18:53:46    

I did not join Toastmasters to be a professional speaker. I joined to become a comfortable speaker. For professional speaking I need to hire a speech coach and use my club as my audience. Professional speakers must practice, practice and practice.

Regarding evaluations, my club does not have enough evaluators. Naturally, the evaluation is poor. To get a solid evaluation, I need to join a strong club with many experienced amateur speakers. Still, my club affords me the opportunity to become a comfortable speaker.