July 19, 2007
Toast of the campus: UW club members learn speaking skills and more
Fred Pitz really knows how to tell a story, even if he claims not to be prepared. He picks interesting topics, keeps it short and lively, interacts with the group and doesn’t say “uh” very often.
That’s thanks to Toastmasters, he says, where they time speeches and even count the times speakers mumble out “uh” or “um.”
Pitz, an electrical engineer with Facilities Services, is a member of Husky Toastmasters, one of four Toastmasters groups at the UW. Every Thursday at noon, the group meets in room 170 of Schmitz Hall to brush up on public speaking skills, and more.
Much more, really. Toastmasters is well known for helping people overcome one of the biggest social fears of all — the fear of speaking in public. But as this meeting and comments from others in Toastmasters at the UW show, the group can help its members improve their skills in organization, leadership, record-keeping and critical thinking, too.
Now more than 80 years old, Toastmasters was the idea of Dr. Ralph C. Smedley, who in 1924 formed a club “to afford practice and training in the art of public speaking and in presiding over meetings, and to promote sociability and good fellowship among its members,” according to the Toastmasters International Web site. Now, in 2007, there are about 11,000 clubs and 215,000 members worldwide.
Pitz said he came to Toastmasters about three years ago, wondering privately if it would hold his interest. His school career didn’t provide him with much public speaking experience, he said, and when in high school he won a college scholarship and had to accept it publicly. “I must say, I was bloody terrified to get up in front of so many people.”
He’s seen improvement in himself and others. “I’ve seen some magnificent stuff happen to people who formerly would stand up and say ah, ah — and have long pauses and trouble getting through (a speech). But they kept getting up there and now they are much better speakers — the only way you learn this stuff is by doing.” He added, “I’ll keep going, I’m sure of that. It’s something I look forward to when coming to work.”
Ethan Allen, education manager for the UW Center for Nanotechnology, said he came to Toastmasters when he realized that his job would require him to do more public speaking. Though he said he’s “not much of a joiner,” Allen is now president of UW Toastmasters, which meets Tuesdays at noon at various locations in the Health Sciences Center. Allen calls his time with Toastmasters “a tremendously successful experience,” and adds that he is now a much better public speaker.
But while Toastmasters may have had its roots in helping people with basic social skills, it has now become a tool for English language learners to use to increase their understanding of the language in which the UW does business.
Jean Zhou (pronounced “jo”), a senior computer specialist at Harborview Medical Center, is president of the Toastmasters club that meets there each week. “Even though I didn’t feel afraid to speak in front of people,” she said, “I always feel ashamed and worry that my English is not perfect.” Chinese is Zhou’s native language. She said clear communication is important to her job, because she trains other employees. “My English is much better now. And also my confidence has grown.” Some UW supervisors have even suggested Toastmasters to employees still learning the many nuances of spoken English.
Denis Martynowych, a member of the Husky Toastmasters with Pitz and others, said he appreciates the variety of personal stories that are told in Toastmasters, creating the connections and fellowship intended by the group’s creator. “It is fascinating hearing about what it was like to leave communist-controlled Vietnam as a 10-year-old girl on an overcrowded boat, or grow up in Detroit in a neighborhood that was home to Motown Records just when the popularity of its music was peaking,” Martynowych wrote in an e-mail. “Over and over I am struck the amazing stories people have inside.”
Unfortunately, for all its good effect, the population of Toastmasters clubs at the UW hasn’t grown, and some clubs are down to just a few members. Some of the clubs are, in a sense, victims of their own success — improving communication, organization and leaderships skills can lead people to better professional positions. “Many people get promoted and then they quit because they become so busy,” Zhou said. “We’re happy for them, but on the other hand, we’ve lost them.”
Members can earn the designation of Competent Communicator by delivering 10 speeches of increasing difficulty, each of which is critiqued by the others, and Competent Leader, (new since 2006) by completing 10 projects involving such skills as giving feedback, critical thinking and team building. More advanced skill-building projects also are available, such as for sales presentations, speeches by management, interpretive reading and entertaining dinner speaking.
A recent meeting of the Husky Toastmasters in Schmitz Hall was a reminder that not only are speaking skills honed in the group meetings, a good time is had, too. And it wasn’t just that it was Funny Hat Day, though that certainly helped. That, combined with the meeting theme of graduation, prompted outgoing club President Mae Lin Chua to attend in a cap and gown borrowed from her daughter, who had just graduated from the UW Business School. Michael DeShazo, UW budget and fiscal analyst lead and Husky Toastmasters club president as of July 1, admitted it was hard to get taken seriously while wearing a huge, green Dr. Suesslike hat — but he provided praise and helpful criticism that was well received nonetheless.
Later in the meeting came Pitz’s turn. And though he claimed to be ill-prepared, the engineer delivered an entertaining speech about Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais and his theories of movement and self-awareness. Other meeting features were a session of Table Talk — where members are asked to improvise comments on a given topic in a sort of lightning round — as well as a timer’s report and some words from the “jokemaster,” Belinda Liley, an office support supervisor in Financial Services.
She offered a comment found on a comic Web site — “Opportunities are never lost — someone will take the one you missed.”
All four Toastmasters clubs on the UW campus welcome new members, ready to brush up on their speaking skills. One never knows when they might come in handy. As Ethan Allen of the UW Toastmasters club said, “Unless you’re really going to be a monk in a monastery, or a hermit, you’re going to have to give some public presentations.”
If you’re ready to sign up …
- Husky Toastmasters, meets noon to 1 p.m. Thursdays in 170 Schmitz. Contact: http://huskytoastmasters.freetoasthost.us/ or Tamara Young at 206-543-4028, youngtam@u.washington.edu.
- UW Toastmasters, meets from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday in the Health Sciences Center. The exact location varies, but this summer it’s Room E212. Learn more at http://depts.washington.edu/uwtm, or e-mail uwtm@u.washington.edu. 206-616-6937.
- Purple Toast Toastmasters, meets 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Wedensdays in Room E214 of the Health Sciences Center. For more information, Marilynn McGlashan at mmcglash@u.washington.edu.
- Harborview Medical Center Toastmasters Club, meets noon to 1 p.m. Thursdays in engineering building 16. For more information, call 206-731-2926.
