Bolstered by the Toast

Terry Held first stepped into a Toastmasters meeting two years ago.

A longtime restaurateur who had recently transitioned into the corporate world as a licensing specialist for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Held found himself lacking confidence in his ability to communicate within a culture that was drastically different than the small-business-owner world from which he came.

“I was frightened,” he said.

So, when a co-worker invited him to attend the Save Money, Toast Better Walmart corporate meeting in Bentonville, he agreed to go.

Because it was his first time, Held assumed he would be able to observe quietly. This notion was vanquished, however, when he was, as he put it, “volun-told” to speak.

The group encourages everyone to participate — even the visitors. 

 “I felt compelled to do it. So, I stood up, and I did it,” he said.

Held joked that what happened next came as a surprise to him.

“And … I survived,” he said.

His Toastmasters journey took off from there, and Held never looked back, although now he is a member of the Deihl Toastmasters Club in Bella Vista, because the meeting times better suit his schedule. Like many others who came before and after him, the nonprofit group changed his life for the better.

For almost 90 years, Toastmasters International has been arming its members with the confidence and communication skills needed to succeed in their professional lives.

It started as a small gathering in the basement of a California YMCA building. But, as of November 2011, Toastmasters boasted about 300,000 members worldwide, with an alumni list that includes noted politicians, CEOs, public speakers, actors, television hosts, authors, entrepreneurs, astronauts and athletes.

There are several Toastmasters clubs active in Northwest Arkansas.

In recent years, corporations have tapped into the benefits of having their employees participate in Toastmasters, with some — like Walmart and Tyson Foods Inc. — starting their own clubs.

Beaver Water District and J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. sometimes suggest employees take part in the program. 

 

Toasting to the Top

Communication is the cornerstone of the professional world, Held said. “To have any measure of success in the business realm, you must be able to formulate a coherent thought and be able to express it verbally,” he explained.

Although select members — like Kim Hodous of Fayetteville, The Kitchen Table CEO, — make a living by speaking in public, others just want to be able to make presentations to clients and colleagues or answer questions during a work meeting without getting nervous. 

Some people join the club to prepare for an upcoming performance or competition and some just want to be able to hold their own in everyday conversation.

In addition to delivering speeches in front of the club, the members learn to “speak off-the-cuff” during what is called Table Topics — Hodous’ favorite part of the program, she said.

During Table Topics, participants are given a topic to discuss on the spot for one or two minutes.

“I love seeing speakers develop,” Hodous said. “Watching them hone skills that are so essential in the professional world is rewarding to me.”

Besides speaking, Toastmasters also learn to listen better, said Melisa Frick, a senior paralegal with Walmart and four-year club member.

Toastmasters in the group are responsible for providing feedback to each other.

 

Instant Feedback

For many Toastmaster success stories, the most helpful element of the meetings is the immediate evaluation they receive on their performance.

To reach the first level on the Communication track (there is also a Leadership track) participants must complete 10 speeches to attain the title Competent Communicator, and following each they are given feedback.

This allows members to build on their skill level each speech, said Kayla Mhoon, executive assistant to Beaver Water District CEO Alan Fortenberry, and a former president of Deihl Toastmasters Club in Bella Vista.

They don’t call it a critique. “We’re helping each other. It’s an encouraging, safe, very respectful environment,” Mhoon said.

Held said he appreciates the camaraderie within the group. People who join typically are dealing with the same feelings or have similar goals. Either they have a fear of public speaking or they want to improve their career.

This might, however, be the only thing some of the club members have in common. This is a diverse community, with all different skill levels and from all different walks of life.

Razorback Word Masters president H.B. Fink said his favorite thing about Toastmasters is “getting to know the people.” He recalls a Ph.D. student from Ghana, Africa, who attended his group.

Starting out, the student knew very little English, but through the program, his language improved.

A couple of years later, when the student continued his education at Oklahoma City University, his command of the language was good enough for him to start his own Toastmasters group, Fink said.

 

Inspiring Others

Jim Fairbanks joined Toastmasters three years ago because he wanted to improve his performance at speaking engagements and share his story.

Fairbanks’ self-published book, “What Didn’t Kill Me Made Me Stronger,” documents his experiences dealing with Type 1 diabetes and its side effects.

He writes about how he “found hope” while enduring the physical and mental stress involved in having multiple kidney transplants, pancreatic transplant and vision loss. 

His book is the first in a publishing company he plans to start that will produce inspirational works featuring individuals who have been through a life crisis.

For Fairbanks, losing his eyesight was a big blow to his self-esteem. But, the Toastmasters program has helped him become “more poised than I ever thought was possible,” he said.

Through the club, Fairbanks meets people who say their biggest fear is public speaking. He said he tells these people if he could make it through everything he has with his illness, including living and working in downtown Little Rock as a legally blind man – and, in addition, dealing with cancer, then speaking in front of a group of people isn’t as frightening.

 

Going Pro

Held said the club has helped him eradicate his fear of public speaking — and he is not a unique case.

Willie Johnson said he was “dragged kicking and screaming,” to his first Toastmasters meeting 20 years ago.

He battled an intense fear of public speaking and remembers eyeing the door — contemplating escape — during his first speech.

Now, he works as a performance improvement and training consultant for J.B. Hunt, training employees from throughout the country, and also as a motivational speaker.

At the beginning of last year, Johnson made it to the semifinals in an international Toastmasters speech competition, beating about 30,000 people from 122 countries.

Johnson could not imagine accomplishing any of this without Toastmasters, he said.

Like numerous other participants, the most viable gift the club gave him was confidence.

“In the group, they encourage people to continue to improve,” Johnson said.

Earlier this year, Johnson was appointed as master ambassador for the Toastmasters brand in district, which includes all of Arkansas, northern Mississippi and western Tennessee.

Although Hodous never had a fear of public speaking, Toastmasters has helped her reach new heights in her career as the Kitchen Table CEO.

Hodous travels the country empowering women with the story of how she turned a hobby into a seven-figure business.

She has appeared on various news programs, including ABC News and CBS Money Watch and has been featured in publications such as the Miami Herald, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the StarTribune.

In 2012, she won the Independent Author of the Year Award from the Academy of Best Selling Authors for her book, “Show Up, Be Bold, Play Big.”

But Hodous is adamant that the club is not just for public speakers. “It works for everybody,” she said.

Toast of the Town

“I’m a New Y-uaw-ka,” Toastmaster Dick Suits said, waving his arms to emphasize his point.

Suits, 81, practiced before his fellow Razorback Word Master club members a speech he planned to recite during an upcoming competition.

When he spoke, he looked around the room, wide-eyed behind black-rimmed glasses at his fellow Toastmasters.

“I was born in the Bronx. I was educated in Queens,” he continued, with a deep New York accent that seemed exaggerated but clearly came naturally.

He went on to explain the evolution of his speaking, which started with him as a young boy who taught himself how to speak without the New York accent.

Suits then spoke of how he first started Toastmasters in 1967 in order to become a better speaker but soon found out he was a good at it.

Just a few speeches in, club members convinced him to enter a contest. He won in his area, he won in his district and he finished second in the regional competition, which pitted him against Toastmasters from throughout California and the surrounding states.

Now, he participates in the contests and in the club for fun. “I’m a ham,” he said.

This is evident in his humorous speech, where he talks about how, when he moved to Arkansas, he gained an “expanded vocabulary” with new meanings to words he already knew — words like “fixin,’” which can either be used in the context of “fixin’ to,” meaning getting ready to, or of “dinner with all the fixin’s,” meaning with all the sides and toppings.

 

Bread and Butter

Members pay $36 dues twice a year, and new members pay an initial $20 fee.

The company took in about $32 million through member fees, donations and other income in 2012, with $27 million of that going to fund programs, according to financial data on the Toastmasters website.

It spent about $5 million in 2012 on employee/board member compensation.

So, Toastmasters earned about $5 million last year, adding to its $43 million in assets.

Toastmasters has a minimum number of employees, with individual clubs being run on a volunteer basis.