By Jillian Risberg 

Shy, quiet, introverted, fear of public speaking, not a social butterfly? No problem. For 60 years Wayne Toastmasters Club has helped people of all ages and walks of life become more confident communicators, public speakers, and leaders. 

Current VP of Membership and past Club Treasurer, Eileen Kirschbrown, has experienced such growth. “In my role as Research Manager for a prominent Digital Market Research Company, I bring over 30 years of business experience. I realized I needed to improve my communication skills to be marketable and current. To this end, I thought Toastmasters would help me to develop my communication skills in a non-threatening environment. I have not been disappointed. Toastmasters is a wonderful organization!” 

There are 20 current members of Wayne Toastmasters, which is quite an accomplishment considering the past year. 

“We have continual interest; I think, honestly, it’s a really good club,” says Laura Graziano, past Club President and current new-member Mentor. “We run a good meeting; have great members and we’re nurturing.” 

Meetings are the second and fourth Tuesday of every month, 7-8:30pm on Zoom, and live meetings may be coming soon. 

According to Graziano, one can grow as a speaker and leader with the club’s constructive feedback on speeches. 

“We like to use what they call the ‘sandwich method,’” the motivational speaker/personal development coach says. “Your evaluator will say something positive about your speech, then give suggestions for improvement, and close with another positive message.” 

She says they look at different aspects of your speech — eye contact, gestures, vocal variety, connection with the audience. Plus, they count filler words like “ah” and “um,” and all speeches are timed. 

Individuals can also grow their impromptu speaking skills through segments of the meeting dedicated to answering impromptu questions — the 30-Second Go Round and Table Topics. 

Personal and professional development through Pathways, Toastmasters’ newer online education program, is composed of 11 paths that teach more than 300 unique competencies. 

“Every path has the Icebreaker talk about yourself, Researching and Presenting to learn how to design a speech and use visuals, and Evaluation and Feedback for improvement. Evaluating is key in Toastmasters, not only to receive feedback as a speaker, but also to become an effective evaluator for other speakers.” 

There’s flexibility about the topics you choose. 

“Elective projects might have a choice of 12; pick one that speaks to you,” says Graziano. 

She recently started working in the new online Pathways program in the ‘Motivational Strategies’ and ‘Effective Coaching’ Paths. Each path is divided into five levels, which build in complexity from Level 1–5. At each level, the individual completes two to three projects to earn a digital badge and certificate. 

For fledgling Toastmasters, she says it’s whatever you make it, and you can focus on your own specific goals. 

“Take things at your own pace,” the motivational speaker says. “We have members who don’t give a speech until they’re a member for a year. They volunteer for other roles until they feel comfortable. Other people join, go to a couple of meetings, and jump right in.” 

A new member, Justin Brzostowski, and the coach worked together a couple of times to prepare him for the Icebreaker. 

An experienced mentor can help on your journey. 

“I saw such a huge advantage to that,” Graziano says. “He hit the ground running.” 

And Justin attests to that, “The Icebreaker was intimidating at first, but with the help of my mentor, I was able to organize my thoughts and deliver a more effective speech. The group is so encouraging and helps each member grow towards their goals.” 

Toastmasters International follows a hierarchy: club (level) — area — division — district. 

Wayne Toastmasters is part of District 83, which includes all of Northern New Jersey, Rockland County and Staten Island. 

When Graziano first joined Toastmasters in 2014 after starting her own business, Personal BEST Coaching & Programs, she would spend a couple weeks working on any talk she had to give. 

“Now I can actually put together a talk in a couple of hours,” she says, though for a client it would take more preparation. 

“I had been giving personal growth retreats and workshops and wanted to feel more comfortable in front of larger groups,” she says. “Toastmasters helped me be a confident speaker and leader.” 

“Now I get paid for speaking engagements,” she says. “I also belong to a number of associations; give talks for those groups and do team building,” 

Graziano first started in the traditional Legacy program, which had a communication track and a leadership track with manuals for each. The core of the communication track was the Competent Communicator Manual, containing 10 speech projects to help gain the basic skills needed to present an effective speech. 

The core of the leadership track was the Competent Leader Manual, with 10 leadership projects to help develop the basic skills needed to be an effective leader. 

“Once completing your Competent Communicator, you could select two other manuals, one might be on storytelling, one on persuasive speaking,” says Graziano, adding that each manual contained another five speeches and forms for your assigned meeting evaluator (who) must complete a written evaluation of your talk, and return it to you. 

The personal development coach was an Advanced Communicator Bronze when they introduced the new online Pathways program. 

It was the year she was president of the club, 2017-2018. 

“A lot of my time was spent leading the club, introducing the new online system,” the personal development coach says. “When I was ready to move ahead personally the following year towards becoming a Distinguished Toastmaster, the pandemic hit.” 

Everyone who had progressed in the Legacy system was given until June 2020 to complete whatever they were working on before the new online Pathways program would take over. 

“I felt like I had accomplished too much already and didn’t want to just throw it away and start over,” says Graziano. 

She stated that it was a crazy time because part of becoming a DTM required one to give about 60 different talks and many leadership projects; including club contests, high performing leadership presentations on effective coaching and more, and also serving in the District. 

“I wanted to serve our District as a club coach for a struggling club,” says Graziano, who was assigned to ‘Dining to Speak’ Toastmasters (Dec. 2019), which she eventually joined. 

“In order for me to get my DTM award, I had to coach the club to Distinguished status.” 

They immediately lost three members when COVID hit. 

“We had to replace three and grow another five; a small club of 11 had to gain eight new members,” says the motivational speaker, adding the onset of COVID made it a huge undertaking. The club pulled out all the stops. 

Plus, there are educational goals one must meet, according to the coach. She says Pathways was met with resistance from some of the old timers used to working in Legacy. But they worked it out, and the club rallied. 

“We met 10 out of 10 goals last year,” and the coach says that with her guidance, ‘Dining to Speak’ grew to 16 members and reached the highest club status of ‘President’s Distinguished.’ 

On June 30, 2020, Graziano personally met the highest level of achievement for a Toastmaster, receiving her Distinguished Toastmaster Award (for Public Speaking & Leadership). 

“We inspire one another,” and Graziano says they help each other succeed. “When new people come, they get that right off the bat.” 

Current Wayne Toastmasters Club President, Kathy Fieggen, agrees and would like to invite you to be a guest at one of their upcoming club meetings to see for yourself. “Guests are always welcome and encouraged to participate, plus we always have fun!” 

For more information, visit www.wayne.toastmastersclubs.org.