The mission of every Toastmasters Club is "to provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment in which every member has the opportunity to develop communication and leadership skills, which in turn foster self-confidence and personal growth"

 

Ku Ring Gai Toastmasters meets on the first and third Monday of every month at 7.00pm in a private room at the Greengate Hotel, Pacific Highway, Killara.   Our club was first formed in May 1970, making it one of the longest established clubs in Australia.

 

 

Our membership (currently 20) ranges from uni students to retirees with all points inbetween.  Most members live locally, around the North Shore and we have an enthusiastic, lively attendance.

 

Our meetings are fun and informal, following a traditional Toastmasters agenda, organised into two hour long sessions with a short break in between.   Good quality food is available from the Greengate menu as are drinks and coffees during the break.

 

A Typical Ku-Ring-Gai Club Agenda
Item	Time	Description
Welcome and Opening	5 mins	Formal Beginning of the meeting. The Chairperson for the evening welcomes members and visitors, confirms the agenda and controls the meeting until the close.
Toast	2 mins	A toast is given (charge your glasses!), usually addresses the Theme of the meeting
Table Topics	35 mins	A "Table Topics Master" asks questions or makes propositions to which a meeting participant makes a 1 - 2 minute response. The speaker does not know the question before hand, so this is a chance to develop "thinking on your feet" skills. Most if not all people at the meeting get the opportunity to contribute.
Business Session	10 mins	A standard business session that both works through the club's issues, and develops formal meeting skills for those present. This includes voting on club issues, updates from Club Officers, and educational sessions around leadership, speaking skills and building a successful club.
Meeting Recess	10 mins	Anyone who ordered a meal will get served about now.
Speech Session	45 mins	This section is lead by a Toastmaster who introduces each speaker. 3 speeches are given, each of which is generally between 4 and 8 minutes. The Speakers may be experienced professionals, or those new to speaking. Those newer to the club will generally progress through the 'Competent Communicators' manual - a series of 10 speech projects, each focussing on a different element of presentation skills (such as vocal variety, body language and speech structure). After the speeches each one is evaluated by an experienced member, which is invariably positive and rewarding feedback to help us all continually develop our speaking skills.
Words Wizard	5 mins	The appointed 'Word Wizard' has been listening to the meeting and gives a report to the club on the interesting word and phrase usage. This helps develop listening skills in addition to being entertaining.
Timer	2 mins	The appointed Timer reports to the club on how long the various tasks have taken. This helps us develop our time management skills.
Master Evaluator	10 mins	The Master Evaluator provides feedback (invariably constructive!) to the various participants in the meeting. This helps us continue to develop.
Meeting Close	3 mins	The Sargeant-at-arms provides awards for the best Table Topic response, best prepared speech and best evaluation. The night's Chairperson then seeks feedback from visitors, closes the meeting, and invites us to attend the next meeting.

 

We look foward to meeting new visitors and welcome new members at any stage of their Toastmasters journey.