My assignment for our upcoming meeting is a 5 to 7 minute public relations type speech for toastmasters. I will be presenting the below speech this week at our local club. It all started in the basement of a YMCA in the year 1924. Ralph C. Smedley The director of education noticed a need for public speaking skills as well as those required to head meetings. During this period of prohibition and tumult when Capone was king a new nonprofit organization emerged. Today it has now grown to around 250,000 members in more than 12,500 clubs and resides in 106 countries. It offers time proven, and enjoyable, ways to practice and hone communication and leadership skills. I am of course talking about toastmasters and what it can do for you. It has many benefits the first of which is helping you define who you are, clarifying both to yourself and others what you believe. In preparing speeches you must both articulate what you want to communicate and do it in such a way to enrapture your audience. You will discover what truly interests you and how to utilize what doesn’t. For instance many prefer so called soft ball questions such as what do you do for fun. While such inquisitives have their place they are actually more difficult for this speaker to address because, though they do have lasting social ramifications, they have little direct relevance. Of course there is always games, footfall, and so on but these topics are relevant to only those in specific niches of culture. Topics such as history, politics and faith scintillate this presenters mind. Those of Christianity and evolution excite because they have consequences in our lives, our morals, our purse strings, our nation, and our eternal souls. We continue our education from the presidential curse to the bay of pigs and the Cuban missile crisis onward to modern socialistic agendas and how we respond to evil and its face of terror. In essence you must make the audience care about what you care about you do this with a thorough knowledge and passion for your topic. This group allows you to discover more about the diverse community around you without ever going beyond the four corners of the local society. The topics people chose, the answers they give, and the unguarded listening observed all continually teach valuable lessons. You will have an opportunity to help others to excel and live out the American dream which is epitomized by the success of freedom driven by the very real opportunity for failure. For no true success is accomplished without the chance of not succeeding. In the end you learn the power of words what they are capable of doing and of not. For often times what we do not say says more about us than or words possibly can. All of this thanks to Toastmasters. In the end they have fulfilled their mission statement which as you know is “to provide a mutually positive and supportive learning environment in which each member has the opportunity to develop communication and leadership skills, which in turn fosters self confidence and personal growth” | 
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