Ms. Margaret Soo, Vice President of Group Corporate Affairs, tackling her 2 minutes impromptu speech

UCSI University students, staff and members of the Toastmaste​rs Club of the Malaysian Institute of Management taking a group photo

Interested participan​ts signing up for the UCSI University Toastmaste​rs Club

Kuala Lumpur, 28 April, 2011 - Realising the importance of effective presentation skills to anyone climbing the corporate ladder, the UCSI University Alumni Network mooted the idea of setting up a Toastmasters club to help members of the UCSI Community overcome the challenge of speaking professionally in front of an audience. Invited to be the sponsor club, The Toastmasters Club of the Malaysian Institute of Management (MIM) in KL recently held a demonstration meeting on campus to introduce the Toastmasters way of public speaking to the UCSI community in hopes to help charter a new club here. More than 25 people showed up for the demonstration meeting, and by the end of the evening 15 applications for charter membership were received from alumni members, students and staff of UCSI who found the personal development club worthy of joining and promoting. 

What is a Toastmasters Club? A Toastmasters Club is a personal development club which aims at helping people develop their public speaking and leadership skills. An international movement with more than 260,000 members throughout the world, and growing, Toastmasters clubs adopt a "learning-by-doing" philosophy, wherein each member learns at a pace suitable to his or her developmental needs. The Toastmasters programme is divided into two separate tracks: communication and leadership, with members progressing along each track by presenting speeches and taking on roles within their club, district, and Toastmasters International itself. Ranks are achieved based on experience, and range from being a Toastmaster (TM) who gives the ‘Icebreaker’ (first speech) session to becoming a‘Distinguished Toastmaster’ (DTM) which is the most experienced. During a Toastmasters meeting, which usually last for two hours, members will take on different leadership roles to learn the art of public speaking, and the process of organizing and supporting such gatherings. Playing the different roles of being Time-keeper, Sergeant-at-arms, Invocator, Toastmaster of the day, table topic master, Grammarian and Evaluator at regular Toastmasters meeting helps a person grow, not just in terms of his public speaking skills, but also his ability to organize meetings in a professional and efficient manner, moreover, members learn to accept and give criticism in a positive and constructive way, made possible by an environment of trust and camaraderie. Mentors will be appointed to each new member as they advance from simple ice-breaking speeches to more sophisticated speeches which require paying attention to one’s body language and handling figurative use of words. 

“One of the main goals of speaking to a group is audience engagement,” said Jon Tan, Advanced Toastmaster Gold (ATMG) when asked to comment on one of the impromptu speaker’s performance; “When giving speeches, making eye contact with audience members is an important quality and listening skills are also crucial to offer valuable feedback to other speakers – and benefit when you’re the one getting tips – you must make a focused effort to hear what other people say,” he added. Jon Tan was invited to be the ‘Language Evaluator’ during the meeting, assisting the speakers by pointing out grammatical errors and areas they may improve on. 

A few members in the audience took up the challenge to speak in an impromptu manner, much to the admiration of the rest. “I was truly impressed with all the speakers and their presentation skills,” said Amanda Loh, an EXCO Member of the UCSI University Alumni Network. “I am definitely going to join this club in hopes that it will improve my speaking skills amongst friends, colleagues and higher ranking authority in my workplace,” she added. 

UCSI University’s Alumni Network hopes to charter a club on campus as soon as they successfully recruit 25 committed members. All current students, staff members and alumni of the UCSI University and group are welcomed to join in. Members are required to pay a bi-annual fee of RM160 for the relevant materials and as the clubs sustainment fee. The meetings will be held in the University’s Kuala Lumpur campus in Cheras, twice a month. Members who sign up will be inducted into the club and this membership will enable them to attend any toastmasters meeting locally and internationally. 

The Alumni Project team plans to host another demonstration meeting soon, those interested should contact Alumni House at 9101 8880 or email [email protected] to register for a place. 

Toastmasters International is a nonprofit educational organisation that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of clubs. The organisation currently has more than 260,000 members in over 12,500 clubs in 113 countries. Since its founding in October 1924, the organisation has helped more than 4 million men and women give presentations with poise and confidence.