Speechcraft Course News
Toastmaster Clubs run very successful Speechcraft Courses during the year. Participants begin nervously, not knowing anyone, and end up friends with a great bunch of people.
Speechcraft Club meets everyone's needs
As Auckland's Speechcraft Club celebrated its 5th birthday in 2009 and completed its 38th Speechcraft course at the end of the year, the club's willingness to adapt and meet the demands of Auckland glossophobics has seen the club reach its strongest ever levels of success, in terms of membership numbers, goals achievement and bookings demand.
Originally the club was envisaged to run repeating Speechcraft courses to members of the general public and thereby introduce these people to the on-going benefits of Toastmasters membership. But the club has continually been challenged by the question faced by many Toastmasters Clubs running Speechcraft courses: how to convert more Speechcrafters into long-term Toastmasters? For Speechcraft Club this is particularly important to ensure that there are sufficient experienced members to run the courses.
One approach to maintaining sufficient numbers of experienced members continues to be to attract, as dual or returning members, other experienced Toastmasters, with a passion for Speechcraft and for training in general.
Another concept introduced in 2006 was that of advanced courses, dubbed 201 and 301, taking Speechcrafters on dedicated courses through the remaining speeches of the manual. The initial response to these advanced courses was extremely successful, but last year, as the recession hit, it became harder to fill the courses with sufficient numbers to make them viable.
This year saw the introduction of the club's most successful innovation to date, the concept of Speechcraft Post Graduates: course graduates returning to take part in the next and following Speechcraft courses.
Club president, Laura Smith, who was herself a Speechcrafter on one of the club's courses back in 2006, says the post graduate option is tailor-made for a Speechcraft course. "The post grads not only help the next course participants with evaluations and other minor roles, like Grammarian and Invocation, but they also keep going on the remaining speeches in their Competent Communicator manuals," says Laura. "And these speeches are perfect demonstration speeches on the first night, when we have 2-3 post grads speeches, as well as throughout the course, when we usually have at least one per night."
Giving the Speechcraft course even more value, it has been extended from 8 to 9 weeks, giving the Speechcrafters an extra week to prepare their graduation speeches and turning week 8 into a post graduate marathon night.
"This new concept, where the post graduates can continue at their own pace, has really taken off," says Laura. "Already this year we have had more people return as post grads, than we ever got on the 201/301 courses."
Testimony to the club's commitment to growing long-term Toastmasters, who go on to complete higher educational and leadership goals, at the November 2009 District Convention, the club received one of District 72's Club Excellence Awards, having been President's Distinguished for the past three years.
Past president, Adrian Joe, who devised the post graduate programme, says the club is starting to look more and more like a traditional club, any other Toastmaster would recognise. "Except that we only take new members four times a year, 10 at a time!" says Adrian.
"Our courses have always been fully booked, but this is the first time we can say we are booked up almost 6 months in advance."
Past president Adrian Joe (1st from the left), club president Laura Smith (7th from the left), with Anna Tse (5th from the left), who was one of Speechcraft Club’s first post graduates to complete her Competent Communicator Award, along with other Speechcrafters and post graduates at the completion of a Speechcraft course earlier this year.
Want to learn more?
For more information on Speechcraft or the post graduate programme, you can visit Speechcraft Club's website: www.speechcraft.org.nz.
