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Learning to be heard

I was moved by Rotary official Michelle Lin's comment that the diversity of non-profit organizations reflect on a nation's humanity, ("Chen honors Rotary centennial," April 15, page 2) and cannot help writing to tell you that Taiwan has another booming non-profit organization -- Toastmasters -- that deserves your coverage.

Toastmasters was founded by Ralph Smedley in the basement of a YMCA in Santa Ana, California in 1924, with the goal of training members in the art of public speaking, presiding over meetings, and promoting sociability and good fellowship among its members.

More than 80 years later, Toastmasters International has spread to 90 countries and chartered more than 10,000 clubs with members totaling 200,000.

Taiwan's first Toastmasters club was chartered by Bennie Bough in Taipei in 1958 and has branched out since then at a slow but steady pace. Since July 2000, the necessity and the eagerness to learn English and efforts by Toastmasters' leaders and members to promote the organization produced explosive growth, doubling the number of clubs from 45 in 2000 to 91 today. In 2003, Taiwan became the first and only Toastmasters District in East Asia composed of members from one country.

In every Toastmasters club, there are at least three sections in each meeting: prepared speeches, evaluations and table topic (impromptu speech). Of 91 clubs, almost two-thirds are English-speaking; the others use Mandarin, Hoklo, Hakka or Japanese. We also have some bilingual clubs.

In regular meetings, members give speeches based on the requirements of the Toastmasters manual. Each speaker is assigned a senior member as an evaluator to give him or her suggestions and encouragement. Each year we have a Spring Convention (in which a speech contest and a table contest are held) and a Fall Convention (in which a humorous speech contest and an evaluation contest are held). The national champion of the speech contest then represents Taiwan in an international speech contest.

Members of Toastmasters come from different walks of life. We even have a club with members from different countries. There are clubs based in local communities, universities and government agencies.

Toastmasters is the best place for lifelong learning -- especially the skills of communication and leadership. In Toastmasters, friends help friends succeed. There are many touching and encouraging tales to tell, including of romance among members.

Toastmasters deserves your in-depth coverage. Being a non-profit organization, we don't have many resources to air commercials or hold public relations events to promote ourselves. That's why Toastmasters is still unknown to most of the public, even though it has been in Taiwan for more than 45 years.

Last but not least, we are holding our Spring Convention at Yuan Zi University this weekend. I would very much appreciate it if you could report on the event.

Bruce Yang
Changhua
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