By Nikole Gibbens
Toastmasters International is a club dedicated to communication and leadership development. The organization has a range of 15,400 clubs spread throughout 135 countries.
On Friday, March 4, the No Ka Oi Toastmasters club met in the Ka Lama Building at UH Maui College to support a young high school girl and also to choose a new champion to be sent to the club’s Table Topics Championship.
Although only a handful of attendees were members, the program has a very powerful impact on its members, as well as non-members. The event is open to the public and supports other programs like Boys & Girls Club.
To start off the event, the club’s president, Daniel, introduced Donna Clayton, the club’s treasurer, to the group. Clayton took the floor and spoke about a few events taking place in the community. She also invited anyone to take part in a special event called “Speech Craft,” which will take place at the Four Seasons Resort in Wailea. When Clayton finished speaking on the floor, she invited 15-year-old Amanda to join her up front.
As this year’s president of the Boys & Girls Club and a freshman at King Kekaulike High School, Amanda is climbing up the chain in her brackets. Next month, Amanda has a very important speech that she has to give in under three minutes in order to move up in her bracket. The club invited her to practice her speech while being timed.
“Today I had the courage to stand up for myself and today I will stand for those who don’t have the courage to stand for themselves.” Amanda said, clutching her fist up in the air proudly.
After Amanda’s speech concluded, the members shared their comments, ideas and advice. Amanda seemed to “waft-in” all the help she could get.
Toastmasters clubs in Hawaii are well known for their contests. Every year, the No Ka Oi club sends a winner to represent them in Oahu at a “Table Topics” contest; at the March 4 meeting, the club decided who they would send this year.
Five members of the club were selected to be asked a single question and given a timeframe in which they have to answer accordingly. The remaining group of members became the judges and recorded scores on a classified piece of paper. The judges scored the contestants based on their responses, awarding points in a few different skill categories like tone of voice, facial and hand expressions, vocabulary and more. Since the same question is asked to all contestants, only one was allowed in the room at a time.
Speakers at Toastmasters.
All the constants were individually called back into the room and asked the question: “What’s the most amazing thing you have seen through the car window?”
Speaker No. 1 turned his back to the club for a few minutes and put some thought into what he was going to say before he began his response. Speaker No. 2, a young lady, spoke immediately after and didn’t need to think about it. Speaker No. 3’s response was very similar to No. 2’s, but more thought-out and well spoken.
Speaker No. 4 was quick and to the point, but was not as bad as speaker No. 5, whose response involved two dogs humping.
Once all the contestants finished answering their questions, the judges left the room to count up all the points. In the meantime, the club called all the contestants back up for a mini interview.
Clayton asked each member two simple questions, “How long have you been a member?” and “Why did you join?” Most of the responses were similar. “My boss made it mandatory for my job” or “It can only help me in my line of work.”
The judges came back to the room and after a drum roll, crowned speaker No. 3 as the champion, followed by speaker No. 2 in second place. Speaker No. 3 received a trophy and certificate for her well-spoken response. She will also be flying to Oahu to participate in a bigger Table Topics competition. If she wins in Oahu, the club receives another ribbon to add to their collection and a cash prize.
This organization seems dedicated to the growth in development for verbal communication skills across the world. For anyone who is challenged with verbal communication problems, has public speaking issues or has bad social skills, visit a Toastmasters Club. The clubs offer a positive and supportive environment for anyone to improve their leadership skills. For more information, visit www.toastmasters.org
