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August 13, 2004/Av 26 5763, Vol. 55, No. 47
Club has members watching their words
MICHAEL MIKLOFSKY
Staff Writer
"Don't talk like that!"
That's the unspoken theme behind every meeting of the JCC Toastmasters.
Shelly Dudley should know.
After nearly five years as a member of different Toastmasters groups, she is now the area C3 governor, a respected position in Toastmasters International, an organization that helps enhance communication and leadership skills. The organization has more than 10,000 clubs and 199,000 members in roughly 80 countries.
As the area C3 governor, Dudley oversees five clubs and is trying to build her sixth club at the JCC; to receive its charter, she needs six more members.
Dudley gave her first public speech in 1997 when, as an historian at the Salt River Project, she spoke to 30-40 people at a history conference.
"I was literally shaking, you could hear it in my voice," she says. "When I looked at my water glass, I had spilled water.
"I wanted to be able to speak in front of an audience, be comfortable with that, and a side benefit that I've received from Toastmasters is leadership."
Last week, Dudley was awarded a distinguished Toastmasters honor, the highest award that can be received by a Toastmasters member.
Toastmasters members develop their communication skills through a series of timed speeches. Each member receives a book of different projects and each project is a different type of speech, such as preparing a speech for receiving an award, or giving a dinner speech.
Once a member has worked through the first book, there are three more levels. He or she can choose two more man-uals out of 15 advanced manuals. After each book has been completed, members receive titles noting their progress.
For the most part, members complete their first book within a year and clubs with fewer members work at a fast-er pace with each member performing a speech per month.
Leadership skills are developed as group members agree to take on different roles within the group, including managing the resource room or presiding over meetings. Through their positions, members learn how to delegate authority and conduct a meeting.
"You communicate every day," Dudley said. "If your manager or boss requests that you come into the office, you've got to speak. Or when you speak on the telephone, that's impromptu speaking."
Every Toastmaster meeting includes both prepared and impromptu speeches by members, which are timed and evaluated.
Lee Shapiro is a business and life coach and works with people who want to make changes in their life because they are "having a lot of stress in their daily activities.
"Whatever it is they're not happy with, it's helping them get from where they are to where they want to be."
Eight years ago, she was unhappy with her daily activities, which included some public speaking, so she joined a Toastmasters group.
"My first job at the Jewish Community Center, I used to get up there in front of the board, give speeches at board meetings and at our annual meetings and I used to have to have my notes in front of me... and if I lost my place, it was really tough to find it again," she says. "My goal was to be able to give a speech or presentation and not need notes in front of me. I thought I never could get to that point and within about five Toastmasters meetings, I got there."
As a coach, Shapiro is now giving seminars and workshops in the community to different groups and organizations and says that she plans to become a member of the JCC group in the near future.
"When I do my workshops, it makes me more conscious of adding more excitement to it in organizing what I am doing and being able to present it in an interesting way."
Contact the writer here:
Details
- What: JCC Toastmasters meeting
- Where: Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center, 12701 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale
- When: Noon-1 p.m. Wednesdays
- Cost: $16 initial fee, $18 every six months
- Call: Shelly Dudley, 602-236-6627 or Tricia Serlin, 480-483-7121 x. 1206
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