Freethought Toastmasters Open House

Freethought Toastmasters will be hosting an open house during our meeting on May 20th in St. Paul. Join us to see what a Toastmasters meeting is like and to meet and interact with the members of our club. The doors will open at 6:00 PM with the meeting beginning at 6:30 and finishing around 8:00 PM. There will be complimentary pizza and beverages for all attending and time to socialize and eat before and after.

Freethought Toastmasters (http://freethought.toastmastersclubs.org/) is a club of Toastmasters International (http://www.toastmasters.org/). Build your leadership and communication skills in a supportive, freethinking environment; a place where you will find familiar faces you know from Minnesota Atheists. (most club members do not RSVP on Meetup since they attend most meeting and coordinate through the 'Toastmaster' of the evening if they cannot attend, so don't let the low RSVP numbers dissuade you from attending)

The Format for this meeting is the traditional Toastmasters format:

We will have four speeches followed by Table Topics (impromptu speaking) and individual evaluations of each speech. Edible prizes will be awarded to the best speaker and Table Topic participant.

Schedule:

• 6:00pm - Doors Open

• 6:30pm - Meeting Starts

• 8:00pm - Meeting Ends

Toastmasters International is a world leader in communication and leadership development. While in many other Toastmaster Clubs the culture deters any mention of religion, so atheists feel guarded and often stay "in the closet," this club provides not only training in public speaking, but also continuous education in topics of interest to atheists.

This club offers the opportunity to talk about a wide range of topics. We welcome people of all worldviews, but of course our members tend to be non-religious. We take current events seriously, but our politics range from capitalist to socialist, from liberal to conservative. Our ages run from the 20s to the 60s (and beyond).

If you decide to join, you can learn to be a better, more confident speaker. No matter what our worldviews, we are committed to mutual respect, tolerance, honesty, encouragement and constructive criticism. If you become a member, you will have the opportunity to prepare and deliver speeches regularly, and receive constructive evaluations of your speeches. It’s a great place to become comfortable as a speaker. With the help of other members, we learn to prepare and present effective speeches on a wide range of topics from humorous to serious. We also learn to think fast during our "Table Topics" sessions (impromptu speeches). We never know quite what to expect from our speakers, but we can always count on an interesting evening together.

Toastmasters International does require membership dues: $45 per six months (prorated depending on when you join) plus a $20 new member fee. The new member fee pays for speech manuals and the general membership fee pays for district events (local educational sessions for the greater Toastmasters community) and a Toastmasters magazine members receive in the mail.