At Toastmasters, we each learn by speaking to our peers and working with fellow members in a supportive environment. Our club meets approximately one hour each week. About 15 to 20 members typically attend each meeting. At each meeting, every member has the opportunity to speak whether as part of a leadership role, as a prepared or extemporaneous speech, or via providing constructive evaluation of the prepared speeches.

Our members span all walks of life. We are students, working professionals, and retirees, accountants, lawyers, scientists, business professionals, explorers, and educators, and we include many cultural and ethnic backgrounds. We are all Toastmasters because we wanted to learn how to better articulate our thoughts, beliefs, and passions. We also have developed leadership skills, gained confidence, and expanded our horizons by listening carefully to others. 

The term "Toastmaster" was coined nearly a century ago. In October 1924, a group of men assembled with Dr. Ralph C. Smedley in the basement of the YMCA in Santa Ana, California, USA, forming a club “to afford practice and training in the art of public speaking and in presiding over meetings, and to promote sociability and good fellowship among its members.” The group took the name “Toastmasters.” We are a local chapter of Toastmasters International.

Toastmasters International is a non-profit organization which gives its members the opportunity to develop and improve their public speaking abilities through local club meetings, training seminars and speech contests. Toastmasters International includes more than 260,000 members in more than 12,500 clubs in more than 113 countries.

Every Thursday: 6:30 - 7:30 pm

Santa Fe College Blount Center

401 NW 6th Street

Gainesville, FL, 32601

  

For membership meeting information, please see our membership information page.