Cheers!

Most people avoid public speaking but going up in front of a crowd wasn’t a problem for participants at the International Toastmasters conference.

More than a hundred people packed the Valhalla Inn for the conference. The two-day event, which started on Friday, featured awards, speech contests, education sessions and silent auctions. One of the most notable competitions was the humour speech presentation.

Don Mathews, an engineer from Minneapolis, Minn., started Toastmasters about 14 years ago. He said he’s usually mistaken for being a lawyer or salesman because of how well his public speaks but credited his ability to do so to his training.

Mathews said he’s never been nervous speaking in front of people and liked being the centre of attention but Toastmasters helped a lot to polish his speaking abilities.

“I wanted to be better at speaking and it was a book that I was reading that suggested Toastmasters,” Mathews said. “I joined a club and everything else is history. Everybody that gets involved improves on their public speaking and their leadership skills.”

Mathews took a shot at the humour speech contest and prepared a presentation to make as many people laugh as possible. He said he likes to tell stories when he’s in front of a large crowd but there’s a lot more in giving a speech besides what is told.

Body language, projection and vocal variety all play a part in a competition. He said beginners don’t usually know how much work actually goes into preparing a speech until they have to do it themselves.

Not everyone at the conference was a member of the club.

The club members honoured At-Large Coun. Rebecca Johnson with an award for communication and leadership. A well-known public speaker herself, Johnson admitted that even she still gets a bit nervous when she has to speak in front of a large crowd.

‘There’s always an apprehension though. You never lose that butterfly feeling in your stomach when you’re getting up in front of a crowd,” Johnson said. “I’ve had the opportunity to speak quite often. I don’t know if you ever get to the point where you’re always satisfied with what you are speaking but I think you get more comfortable with it.”

Johnson said she felt fumbled to have received the honour and found out she was one first Canadian’s in recent memory to receive the award. While not a member of the club, Johnson did attend a Toastmaster course a few years ago.

She said it helped her become the public speaker that she is today.

Conference co-chair Karolyn Hoard said the Toastmaster conference had members from the Thunder Bay district as well as members from Minnesota.

“People come to Toastmasters for various reasons,” Hoard said. “Some come to speak English better, some come to improve their communication skills like I did and some come to improve their listening skills. That’s an important skill as well.

“Communications is a very important part of life. Since I’ve come to Toastmasters, I know it has certainly helped me to gain to skills I needed for job interviews and that kind of thing. I realized how important (communication) is.”

For more information about how to join Toastmasters visit the website.