Sweaty palms, knocking knees and nervous chatter. While this may sound like a bad first date, it's actually Toastmasters.
Founded in 1924, Toastmasters aims to help members improve their public speaking, leadership and communication skills. Thousands of Toastmasters chapters are scattered across the world. They boast one of the highest success rates for public speaking improvement.
ASU is currently home to one chapter of Toastmasters, and on Thursday, it will welcome another. The new chapter, Toast Devils, will be much like University Toastmasters, only it will place an emphasis on speaking in a business environment.
"Toast Devils is a mix of people who are terrified of speaking in public, people who are great speakers and people in the middle who are new to public speaking," said Toast Devils president and co-founder Robert Woods.
Woods explained that the club is comprised of about 25 MBA graduates looking to improve the way they speak in front of crowds, and learn skills that might help them in the future.
While Toast Devils has only graduate students, Woods said he looks forward to possibly opening the club to undergraduates next year.
University Toastmasters, where Woods was a member before founding Toast Devils, received its official status in 1991.
Nick Papas, the president of University Toastmasters, explained that just about anyone is welcome to join in.
"We have a very diverse group of people, and I think this really brings a lot more value to the group as a whole," Papas added.
Each of the Toastmasters affiliates follows a similar format during their meetings. Each member receives a Toastmaster book when they begin their membership. The member must then complete ten different speeches, each placing an emphasis on a specifically useful public speaking skill and performed for their peers in a "non-threatening" learning environment.
Once a member completes the ten speeches, he or she moves on to the next level and begins a new course of speeches and techniques. Papas and Woods both point out the atmosphere as a major advantage to the learning curve.
"Our goal is to provide an atmosphere to practice skills," Papas said. "We want everyone to be able to learn without being afraid to make mistakes."
Woods said, "This is the absolute best way to improve your public speaking. Not only is the person giving the speech learning, but each of his peers learns by analyzing as well."
Both groups are always looking for new members and encourage anyone who might be interested to contact them.
University Toastmasters holds meetings each Monday night at 6:15 on the third floor of the Memorial Union and can be contacted through Papas at his email address, which is nicholas.papas@asu.edu. Toast Devils can be contacted through Woods at robert.woods@asu.edu.
Toast Devils' Web site is http://www.toastmasters.org/ and University Toastmasters' Web site is http://www.asu.edu/clubs/toastmasters/.
Ryan Burch is a features reporter for the Web Devil. Reach him at ryan.burch@asu.edu.
