Toastmasters Wiki

Why this website is so frustrating

This website would be fabulous -- if only it were finished! The trouble is, I'm just one guy with a Mac, and I don't know it all. But I know some of it, and so do you. I've added the bits I know. What about you?

If you click on a link and it's empty and you know anything at all (even if you just have a question) please click on "edit" and add that bit. Give it a shot: click here! That's what a Wikicity is all about!

For more info, click on the "help" link on the left of this page. To get you started, here are some FAQs.

• Doesn't it compete with Toastmasters International? Well, no it doesn't. I can't find anything about being a successful Toastmaster on that site. It's a fabulous site for managing clubs, but it's not that useful in many ways. Look at this site, look at the TMI site and make up your own mind.
• How do you control who puts stuff up? The answer is, I don't. If somebody changes a page, I get an e-mail (you can too, by clicking the "Watch this Page option). If a vandal has vandalised the page I, (or you) can simply "roll back" the page to the previous version. No harm done.
• Who is allowed to change the site? Anybody. You. Me. Anybody.
• Who owns the site? We all do. I started it, but anybody with a browser owns it.

The word is Wikicity. Please spread the word. The more people know about the site, the more useful it becomes as a resource. (Click on the Help button on the left for more info).

Everything you need to be a successful Toastmaster

This is an on-line community called a Wikicity created for the use of all Toastmasters and Toastmasters clubs. Anybody (yes, that means You!) can contribute to this Wikicity. Would you like to add to this page? Try it! Click on the "edit" button at the top of this window!

What this website offers:

For New Members

• What's the Etiquette of a Meeting
• What to expect -- The Ideal Program
• Who's who -- what the club's Office Bearers do (and why they have funny names)

For speakers:

• How to join a Toastmasters Club
• How to choose a topic for your speech
• How to structure your speech for your audience
• How body language can help you achieve your objectives
• How to use language and your voice for maximum effect
• Specific Tips Per Assignment

For Mentors / Protegés

• How the mentor / protegé relationship works.
• What if you don't like your mentor / protegé

For club event / programme management

• What is the ideal program for a Toastmasters club
• Table Topics
• How to speed up a slow meeting

For Toastmasters Development

• Improvements to Speechcraft
• Improvements to Better Speaker Series
• Improvements to Better Club Series

For Club management

• How to get people keen to serve on a new committee
• How to hand over to a new committee
• How to run a membership building programme
• Why people drop out of your club
• Date in the Toastmasters' year
• What to do for the DCP programme
• How to grow a club
• How to price your club's membership fees
• What to spend the club's money on

For Area / Division / District management

• How to help an under-performing club
• What to do with all those bored CTMs
• How to remove a President / VPE who is underperforming
• How to motivate clubs to achieve their goals

Running Speechcrafts, conferences and Youth Leadership programmes

• How to run a successful Toastmasters conference
• How to run a successful speech competition
• How to sell a Speechcraft
• How to run a Speechcraft
• How to run a Youth Leadership programme

If you're starting a new club

District 74 PDG Tim Knights and Anella Grimbeek have prepared an excellent document to help you start a new club. Get it here: File:Toastmasters Proactive Club Formation.pdf.

The mission of this WikiCity is:

• To share up-to-date resources (such as Speechcraft manuals, Table Topics, Evaluation Guides and so on) quickly between clubs.
• To be a forum for individual clubs to promote themselves to each other and to the public at large.
• To provide a place for people to swap information about resources (timing lights), guest speakers, advanced evaluators and whatever else we need

Useful external links

Toastmasters official site: http://www.toastmasters.org Toastmasters southern Africa: http://www.toastmasters-sa.org.za The best little blog on the web: http://ah-um-er.blogspot.com/

This Wikicity started as just a District-74 resource. But the original WikiCity creator, User:Erich Viedge, thought it would be better to have a global WikiCity covering all 200,000 Toastmasters, not just those in southern Africa.