Friday, August 15, 2003

Southern Crescent Toastmasters working toward charter

The Southern Crescent Toastmasters club, sponsored by the Society for Human Resource Management at Clayton College & State University, had its first formal meeting July 29 at the Harry S. Downs Center for Continuing Education to discuss the chartering process and nominate interim officers.

During the meeting, interim officers were nominated or volunteered. They include, John Kosky, president; Hassan Amin, vice-president of membership; and Leigh Duncan, secretary/treasurer. Dr. Jo Kinnard also volunteered to be vice president of education. These officers will serve until the club has chartered, at which time, there will be a formal process of calling for nominations and electing officers.

Several members of the Clayton County Toastmasters club were also on hand to serve as mentors for the new members, while teaching them how to lead their own meetings.

"Every club is different," says Bob Ness, vice president of Education for the Clayton County chapter. "You can conduct your meetings however you want." Ness, however, did give some fundamental guidelines; every meeting is divided into two components 1) education and table topics, and 2) the business meeting.

During the educational/table topics portion of the meeting, several members are called on to give impromptu speeches for up to two minutes. These "table topic" speeches are based on a topic that is chosen in advance by the vice president of Education but is unknown to the other members. In addition, one member is chosen in advance to give a four-to-six minute speech, usually on one of the topics from the CLP (Communication and Leadership Program) manual. The general evaluator, the grammarian and "Ah" counter and the timekeeper evaluate the speeches. No "grades" are given; there are no tests or instructors. During the business portion of the meeting, club administration topics are covered, such as meeting minutes, schedules and dues, etc.

The purpose of Toastmasters is to encourage and develop confident speaking and leadership skills, with the added benefit of being in a friendly, club environment, where warm, sincere relationships can develop. Every member participates as evaluators and as speakers.

The Southern Crescent chapter currently has 16 founding members and is looking for four more members in order to charter. If you are interested in being a member of the Southern Crescent Toastmasters or would like more information, please contact Hassan Amin, at toastmasters@mail.clayton.edu.