When I attend Toastmasters meetings and conventions, I am always surprised by the many different types of people that have found Toastmasters. As someone that is working on their public speaking career, I sometimes get so focused on becoming a speaker that I often fail to notice the many other ways that Toastmasters can help people around the world.
The Wannabe Professional Speaker
This is the person that enters into the program hoping to go on to speaking fame and fortune. Maybe their family or friends told them that they were good at presenting and should do it professionally. They can often be found reading Dale Carnegie books when not trying to make their way through the Professional Speakers Manual.
The Champion
This person is obsessed with the contests. They have spent years developing their International and Humorous Contest speeches and believe that every loss was due to the politics and biases of the judges. The Champion will often turn down officer and leadership roles because they do not want to, “get distracted from making it to the main stage.” They can often be found studying the speeches and materials of the past world champions.
The Social Toastmaster
This person is not in it for leadership or speaking, they just want to hang out and listen to other people talk. Depending of the age of the person, this could be someone that thought Toastmasters would be a good way to network or they are retired and looking for a reason to get out of the house.
The Survivor
This is the person that inspires me the most. The Survivor is the person that has overcome some great obstacle in their life and are at toastmasters to learn to talk about it, or in some cases, Toastmasters is what has help them survive some great physical or mental challenge in their life. It is the survivors that keep me coming back, give me a reason to get better, and challenge me to be a better leader.
What other types of Toastmasters do you see?
What type of Toastmaster are you?
No matter the Toastmaster that you are, all Toastmasters have a mandate to support their fellow members, grow the organization, and life a life of respect. Though many of our new members find us through the Internet, without creating a genuine club environment, then this organization will cease to exist. No matter why you are in Toastmasters, you are in it for a reason. Be proud of that and think of how you can help your fellow Toastmasters reach their goals.
About the Author: My Toastmasters Blog is written and edited by Chris Elliott, a professional speaker and blogger. Chris serves as a leader for supply chain and international non-profit organizations. He enjoys uses his knowledge and experiences during his speaking engagements, workshops, consulting projects, and one-on-one coaching sessions. The result—connecting people and empowering change. If you would like information on how you can bring Chris to speak to your next meeting, please download Chris' one sheet or contact him by clicking here.
Chris,
Interesting breakdown. I think the Social Toastmaster can be broken down into a few categories. In some cases, there is the “Toastmasters is my life social toastmaster.” These people are often harmless but they often don’t know how to function outside toastmasters events.
The more positive extreme are people who are at the point they want to be with speaking and enjoy toastmasters because they feel that they can help other. These are great people to have in a club because mentors are in such supply.
I agree about the survivor. Watching someone grow from a nervous speaker into a more confident speaker is truly an inspiration (and one of the reasons I enjoy Toastmasters).
Great post,
James
blog.jvf.com