Hong Kong Toastmasters Club

This week, one of our ambassadors, Joy, paid a visit to the Hong Kong Toastmasters Club, and shared her thoughts on the experience.

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It was interesting walking into a Toastmasters Club on Halloween. Vampires on one side, Iron Mans on the other. I could feel an exciting night coming in.

The night started out with a warm welcome form the Club Officers and hosts, with an introduction to Toastmasters' aims as a global organisation dedicated to producing talented speakers.

Special roles were laid out for the team's members; with a time-keeper to facilitate time management, evaluators for individual speakers, and even an "ah counter" to count the number of "ahs, and ums" and other sounds that would come up between speeches. Such roles are assigned at Toastmasters for members to better facilitate improvement, something I thought would definitely help speakers move up the ladder as they mastered the art of public speaking.

The night kicked off with the Prepared Speeches session, as speakers that has taken up different speech projects spoke in front of the audience. Some did speeches with an aim of informing, others given an assignment of sticking to a specific structure and some even sharing a story. Evaluators carefully assessed, while the audience members were also given sheets to leave comments for the speakers.

The prepared speeches are followed by a Table Topics Session, where members and guests are invited to deliver impromptu speeches on a topic given on spot. This week's session featured few Halloween-related topics, while others were more general. I actually went out to share an interesting Halloween experience when I got Chinese medicine from a neighbour that didn't understand the meaning of candy. Hosts of the Table Topics session made the experience entertaining, with funny transitions and thought-provoking questions.

A networking break followed, approaching the most important part of the evening; the evaluation session.

Toastmasters evaluating the speeches gave reports about what speakers did well and potential for improvement. Not only were these evaluations important to the individual speaker himself, but to the general audience where people actually learn how to effectively provide constructive feedback through compelling speeches.

One of the evaluations done by a distinguished Toastmaster, Mark, involved use of an acronym to break down a speech. In his speech, going into the part about how the speaker could improve, the word "TECH" were used to deliver four keywords; tone, expression, closing statement and holistic. The technique certainly registered in audience members' minds as a way of bringing back the speech from 20 minutes and following Mark throughout the assessment.

On a more personal note, the night was certainly a valuable experience to me. Not just because I am quite passionate about public speaking and I am eager to learn more, but because I really admired the programme and its commitment to improving speakers over a span of the time.

Lots of people that are new to public speaking often tell me only the experts can do it. But it's about taking the first step where you are, and continuing to work towards progress.

After the meeting, I spoke to Julie Lee, President of the team, who shared her thoughts on how the programme has changed many people over the years. "I remember a young girl who wanted to become a news anchor and she approached Toastmasters because she was very shy." Julie said.

Julie began seeing her at the club, until the soft-spoken girl disappeared after her 10th speech. "One day I turned on the TV in Sydney, and there she was! Toastmasters really helped kickstart her career."

The secret to Toastmasters' success, according to academics, is the fact that peer evaluation plays an important role in improvement. Not to mention, the core focus centres improvement, as comments are given under the scope of "What did this person do well?" and "How can he/she improve?". In other words, seeing the glass half hull.

To many young people in Hong Kong who focus on public speaking, Julie emphasizes the importance of public speaking beyond high school board exams, encouraging youngsters to take on pursuing it. "Public speaking is going to help you in your career, your personal life and even your social life. There's every reason for you to take it up!"

Toastmasters is a non-profit educational organization that operates clubs worldwide to help its members improve their communication, public speaking and leadership skills.