Business
BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT:
Group set to toast 75th anniversary
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| Dennis Guyer is president of the Glendale Toastmasters, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary. (Roger Wilson/Glendale News-Press) |
Toastmasters have been helping people to improve their public speaking skills since 1933.
By Ryan Vaillancourt
Seventy-five years ago on Tuesday, a group of Glendale businessmen looking to sharpen their public speaking skills chartered the eighth club of Toastmasters International.
It was 1933, nine years after the umbrella nonprofit educational organization was founded in Orange County as a men’s club for professionals with the hopes that heightened communication prowess would translate to entrepreneurial and community-related success.
More than seven decades later, the Glendale club’s mission remains the same, though women now comprise about 50% of the club’s membership, President Dennis Guyer said.
“We try to help people begin to speak better in public, and we also have a leadership track for younger people starting out in business that want to learn leadership,” said Guyer, a semi-retired life insurance agent and professional lecturer who joined the club four years ago to improve his oratory skills. “Those are the two goals of Toastmasters.”
Once a week, the club meets for two hours over dinner and engages in a series of communications exercises, Guyer said.
Traditional “table talks,” when members are required to speak for two minutes in response to questions they have not prepared for, are a key aspect of the club, he said. The questions relate to a theme picked for each meeting.
“The table talks are scary to most people,” he said. “The idea is you have to stand up in front of a crowd and give an answer, and that trains you for your business to think on your feet.”
The exercises help hone fundamental life skills that have led people like Lance Miller, a world champion public speaker and longtime member of the Hollywood Toastmasters club the Renaissance Speakers, to personal and professional success, Miller said.
“A lot of the things I do today are because of the things I learned in Toastmasters,” said Miller, who will deliver the keynote address at a 75th anniversary celebration for the Glendale club on Tuesday. “If you look at the essence of leadership, it involves being able to communicate clearly and concisely to your group . . . those are the bases you work on every week in Toastmasters.”
And as members practice speeches, conquer table talks and build self-confidence, they do so in a low-stress, no-risk situation, Miller said.
“One of the big benefits I see in the organization is it’s a really fun and friendly environment to come in and develop these skills, and once we’re out of school we very seldom get the opportunity to get into a learning environment where we can practice the fundamentals like this and make mistakes in a fun and friendly environment, and there’s no consequence for failure,” Miller said. “So when you actually go out in a business or community setting, you can communicate confidently and successfully.”
The Glendale Toastmasters are inviting the public to attend their 75th anniversary celebration from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in room 105 of the city of Glendale’s Municipal Services Building, 633 E. Broadway.
RSVP to Dennis Guyer at adg22@sbcglobal.net or (818) 242-8315.
It was 1933, nine years after the umbrella nonprofit educational organization was founded in Orange County as a men’s club for professionals with the hopes that heightened communication prowess would translate to entrepreneurial and community-related success.
More than seven decades later, the Glendale club’s mission remains the same, though women now comprise about 50% of the club’s membership, President Dennis Guyer said.
“We try to help people begin to speak better in public, and we also have a leadership track for younger people starting out in business that want to learn leadership,” said Guyer, a semi-retired life insurance agent and professional lecturer who joined the club four years ago to improve his oratory skills. “Those are the two goals of Toastmasters.”
Once a week, the club meets for two hours over dinner and engages in a series of communications exercises, Guyer said.
Traditional “table talks,” when members are required to speak for two minutes in response to questions they have not prepared for, are a key aspect of the club, he said. The questions relate to a theme picked for each meeting.
“The table talks are scary to most people,” he said. “The idea is you have to stand up in front of a crowd and give an answer, and that trains you for your business to think on your feet.”
The exercises help hone fundamental life skills that have led people like Lance Miller, a world champion public speaker and longtime member of the Hollywood Toastmasters club the Renaissance Speakers, to personal and professional success, Miller said.
“A lot of the things I do today are because of the things I learned in Toastmasters,” said Miller, who will deliver the keynote address at a 75th anniversary celebration for the Glendale club on Tuesday. “If you look at the essence of leadership, it involves being able to communicate clearly and concisely to your group . . . those are the bases you work on every week in Toastmasters.”
And as members practice speeches, conquer table talks and build self-confidence, they do so in a low-stress, no-risk situation, Miller said.
“One of the big benefits I see in the organization is it’s a really fun and friendly environment to come in and develop these skills, and once we’re out of school we very seldom get the opportunity to get into a learning environment where we can practice the fundamentals like this and make mistakes in a fun and friendly environment, and there’s no consequence for failure,” Miller said. “So when you actually go out in a business or community setting, you can communicate confidently and successfully.”
The Glendale Toastmasters are inviting the public to attend their 75th anniversary celebration from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in room 105 of the city of Glendale’s Municipal Services Building, 633 E. Broadway.
RSVP to Dennis Guyer at adg22@sbcglobal.net or (818) 242-8315.
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