The Guests

All guests are welcome to visit us up to 3 times in order to familiarize themselves with the club and the program. No commitment is necessary, but returning guests will be encouraged to become a member. Membership is the only way to gain access to all the benefits of Toastmasters International programs and resources.

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The president will introduce you at both the beginning and end of the meeting and you will be given the opportunity to introduce yourself, and give feedback. There is no charge for guests. Sit back and enjoy the meeting!

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All members start with different abilities, experiences, and comfort levels. The primary goal of Toastmasters is not for us to compete against each other, but to improve ourselves. When you invest effort in the program and your personal goals and practice often, you will soon start seeing improvement. Sooner than you’d think, there will be another guest feeling a little intimidated by you!

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The Club

Who are we?

Every Toastmasters club has a unique culture. It is important for prospective members to find the club they most resonate with. The Menlo Park Toastmasters club is characterized by five attributes: welcoming, supportive, informal, diverse, and fun.

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We strive to welcome all guests and make them feel comfortable and to support members and guests in their quests to become better communicators and public speakers. Although meetings follow a predetermined agenda with a focus on prepared speeches, evaluations of the prepared speeches and extemporaneous responses to questions that revolve around a theme of the day, the tone of our meetings is still friendly and casual.

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Club members come from a wide range of professions including attorneys, real estate agents, scientists, therapists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and designers. Ages range from the mid-twenties to early sixties. For a number of our members, English is a second language. Our club is a great place to meet a diverse set of people!

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Although we are serious about and strongly committed to improving our communication skills, we have a lot of fun on that journey. It’s unusual for us to have a meeting without lots of laughter. We invite you to join us as a guest at one of our meetings in order for you to experience the Menlo Park Toastmasters for yourself.

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We provide a supportive and positive learning experience in which members are empowered to develop communication and leadership skills, resulting in greater self-confidence and personal growth.

The Meeting

Every Tuesday

07:00 pm - 08:30 pm

1. Meeting Introduction

The President welcomes everyone and makes sure that everything is in order to start the meeting. In addition, the President asks guest to introduce themselves. After that the whole club does an exercise related to the theme of the month such as vocal projection, gestures, connecting with the audience, etc.

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2. Prepared Speeches

This section is introduced by the Toastmaster of the evening. The Toastmaster will introduce each speech's  evaluator, who explains the background and objectives of the speaker who is being evaluated. Usually there are between 2 to 3 prepared speeches that follow Pathways, a guide from Toastmasters International, that members use to improve their public speaking.

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3. Table Topics

This section allows all members and guests to practice their impromptu speaking. The Toastmaster introduces the Table Topics Master, who has a list of interesting questions that will get asked to the audience. The Table Topics Master then selects someone from the audience to give a 1-2 minute answer.

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4. Evaluations

The Toastmaster introduces the General Evaluator, who will conduct an evaluation of the overall meeting. The General Evaluator asks the Speech Evaluators to give their evaluations of the prepared speeches. Then, the Timer, Ah-Counter, and the Grammarian give their reports.  Finally, the General Evaluator gives feedback on the whole meeting. This section is important because it allows everyone to improve.
 

5. Announcements and Closing Remarks

The Toastmaster makes finishing remarks and hands over the meeting back to the President. The President then asks for feedback from Guest, goes over the roles for next week, and discusses any club business.

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(Optional)

After the meeting, we hang around for socializing and chatting! 

Become a Member

Becoming a member of Menlo Park Toastmasters is EASY and QUICK! Download and complete the Membership Application and the Membership Agreement shown below, and email both documents to treasurer@menloparktm.org. Finally, click on the Payment of Club Dues link to learn how to pay your membership dues via PayPal or check. If you have any questions about these forms, reach out to Vidya Kagan, the club treasurer, at treasurer@menloparktm.org.  Thanks for joining!