When somebody first suggested that Karen O’Donnell should consider joining Toastmasters, she was not – shall we say enthusiastic? – about the prospect.

“I had this idea that it would be old guys telling you what to do and I’m not really good at following instructions, so I thought: ‘This isn’t a good fit for me,’” recalls the Wicklow-based life coach.

“But eventually I had an evening off from clients and I went over and I just found it so supportive. It wasn’t at all what I expected.”

And the current PRO – voted district Toastmaster of the year 2015/2016 – is just one of almost 3,000 active members in approximately 125 clubs nationwide, from rural Ireland right up to the headquarters of companies like Google.

Toastmasters, which was established in America by Ralph Smedley almost 100 years ago, is an international organisation dedicated to helping its members improve their communication and leadership skills.

Members join for a multitude of reasons, such as overcoming a fear of public speaking, to prepare for an important speech (eg best man or father of the bride), to improve interview skills, gain self-confidence, enhance their career opportunities or simply to have fun and meet new people.

Most clubs meet twice a month, with new members receiving a competent communication manual. This contains 10 different speech projects that they can work on at their own pace. It starts with an icebreaker speech where they simply introduce themselves to the group, gradually adding in extra elements such as body language, introducing vocal variety, using visual aids like PowerPoint and, finally, learning how to inspire or persuade an audience.

“By the time you’ve done those 10 steps, you should be pretty much an accomplished speaker,” says Karen, who explains how positive feedback from your fellow Toastmasters – known as evaluation – is key to every member’s development.

“There is what they call the Toastmasters’ Sandwich – so you always say what you liked about the speech, what you felt the speaker could learn or what they could improve and then what you loved about the speech,” she says, “so it’s done in a very positive way.”

Meetings also include a section called “Table Topics”, where members are encouraged to speak off the cuff on a series of random questions.

“That’s the scary bit I think because you have no time to think about it, but most clubs keep it quite light and fun and people tend to get up then,” says Karen, who explains that as a rule, “sex, religion and politics” are kept off the agenda.

Members also take turns with different roles during the meetings, such as timing the speeches or acting as MC. Then, of course, there is the most important part of any Toastmasters’ gathering.

“The obligatory tea and coffee break,” quips Karen.

After completing their “CC Manual”, members can work through as many as 15 advanced manuals and can also take part in a number of competitions, right up to international level. In recent years, Toastmasters has been active in working with transition year students as part of their youth leadership programme, as well as with multinationals like Facebook, Google and Accenture to help employees develop their communication skills.

But perhaps its real power is on a more personal level, whether it’s helping a member to overcome a problem like a stammer, or giving them the confidence to deliver a heartfelt speech when it really counts, be it a father of the bride speech or a eulogy for a loved one.

The only issue is that you might find yourself more in demand than usual.

“I think when you become a Toastmaster, you’re always asked: ‘Will you do a speech here?’” laughs Karen.

For further information or to find a

Toastmasters club near you, visit www.toastmasters.org. New members usually pay a one-off joining fee, which varies at each club. There will then be a regular payment either monthly or every six months for membership dues, plus any additional charges that a club may impose for running costs. CL

>> Case study

Sean Gahan

Sean Gahan is a dairy farmer and apple grower at Askinamoe Orchard in Ferns, Co Wexford. He first discovered Toastmasters as a student in Kildalton College in the early ’80s, but between farming and family commitments, he only joined his local club in Gorey five years ago.

“I still had an interest,” Sean explains, “but it did take about 25 years before I actually got around to it!”

While Sean was attracted by the social side of the club, he really wanted to increase his confidence in speaking in front of an audience, as he was often asked to give talks to local groups on apple growing.

“Now, before Toastmasters, if I was asked to do that talk, I would have ran a mile – or a couple of miles – to get away from the idea,” he says.

But Sean feels that the 10 projects laid out in the Toastmasters’ “CC Manual”- starting with the icebreaker introduction speech and working up to the inspire your audience speech – gave him the building blocks he was looking for.

“By speech number six, I could say that the nerves were almost gone. I was starting to feel quite confident and that I could deliver an entertaining speech,” he says. “And definitely by speech 10 the nerves were gone completely.”

Sean explains that while some people complete their 10 speech projects as quickly as possible, he was able to take his time and do three to four a year.

“You could say it was fun learning,” he says. “It wasn’t pushing myself.”

Sean now gives regular talks on apple growing and has since moved on to a more advanced Toastmasters’ manual – the entertaining speaker. He has also taken part in competitions, finishing second in both the club and area rounds of the tall tales contest.

He believes the key to making an entertaining speech is being able to poke fun at yourself before your audience.

“So make the joke on yourself first,” he advises, “because you won’t get away with making the joke on someone else!”

Anne Doyle

Anne Doyle lives on a tillage and sheep farm near Athy, Co Kildare, where she practices kinesiology (a holistic therapy) as well as raising her family of five.

She decided to join Toastmasters to improve her public speaking abilities for work presentations and for answering off-the-cuff questions.

“As somebody said, anybody can speak for 20 minutes because you can ramble on,” she explains, “but if you were given a two minute slot or 60-second slot and you need to get your message across within that space and time, then there’s a certain amount of skill to how you put that speech together.

“It’s important that your speech has a beginning, a middle and an end and that you put all the necessary details in it.”

Anne found the “table topics” section of the meetings very beneficial, as it got her used to thinking – and talking – on her feet. More importantly, she found Toastmasters a great forum to build self-confidence.

“So if you think you’re not a good speaker or if you think you’re not capable of giving a presentation, you think you’d never write a humorous speech or your opinions don’t matter,” she lists. “And all of sudden you’re getting up every week, you’re going to a meeting every week and your opinions are listened to. People are honouring your space because you’re doing or saying what you’re doing. All of a sudden, all those things fall away and you go: ‘I know this’ or ‘I feel this’ or ‘This is who I am and I’m capable of doing this.’”

During her time with Toastmasters, Anne also took on various roles, including club president. She has since taken a step back to concentrate on other interests, but would encourage anybody who is interested in Toastmasters to give it a go.

“Even if you never made a speech,” she says, “it’s just a great forum for building your own self- confidence.”