Learn how to 'spake up' at Cavan's first Toastmasters

Unaccustomed as Cavan may be, it's about to join the vast majority of counties in Ireland to have a Toastmasters club. And with The King's Speech fresh from an Academy Awards sweepstake, it's full marks for club founding members, Bob Gilbert, Pauline McCabe and Jude Portbury, when it comes to timing and delivery. There are more than 250,000 people in more than 12,200 Toastmasters clubs in 106 countries (including about 100 in Ireland), and the public speaking organisation cites statistics that "the fear of public speaking is the number one of all human fears" and "60% of people get turned down for a job because they don't have good enough communication skills". Knocktemple resident, Bob, together with Pauline and Jude, from Westmeath and Longford, are each members of Toastmasters in other areas, and have set about starting a group in Cavan town, which if successful, will leave Monaghan as the only county without such a club. Bob believes that whether like Colin Firth's Prince Albert you reluctantly stammer through speeches visibly unsettling your audience or you're a competent speaker looking to hone and perfect, Toastmasters will be an enjoyable and beneficial way to spend a couple of hours on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month. "Public speaking is top of the list of people's worst fears higher than death or divorce according to studies in the US," says Bob. "Toastmasters is beneficial not only for anyone who has any ambitions to do any kind of public speaking but also for leadership as well - communication is one of the best tools any leader can have. The programme is about practice, learning by doing." He lists the skills you'll learn at Toastmasters as: preparing and delivering speeches, thinking on your feet, listening effectively and giving constructive evaluation and chairing and performing the different roles in running a meeting. "When you join you get a manual and by the end of that manual, you become a competent Toastmaster," he promises. Bob says people join Toastmasters for many reasons, most often necessity, as in the case of the vice-captain of a golf club or a soon-to-be best man. "It's for everyone, from people who feel they are competent speakers to those who are afraid to speak," he says. "I was involved in drama when I first joined," he says of the East Coast Toastmasters club, Dublin, where he's still a member. "I wanted to stand up and take the floor as myself as well as in another persona." "I also know someone who joined our club, a receptionist who wanted to move into sales but didn't have the confidence. Within a year-and-a-half of joining, she was an area sales manager, and she attributes her confidence and success to Toastmasters. "One of the big things is that it gives one a tremendous confidence," he says adding that you bring that, not just public speaking, but to all situations. • Meetings start at the Bridge Street Centre in the county town next Wednesday, March 9, at 8.15pm.