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Frequently Asked Questions |
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| How does one
go about joining Toastmasters? |
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First, of course, you must have found a club to join. If
you have visited a club and found it to your liking, ask a
member (preferably an officer, who is more likely to be able
to help you) for an application form.
According to the bylaws all Toastmasters clubs operate under,
any new member of a club must be voted into membership by the
club. In practice, this rarely happens. Instead,
members are welcomed enthusiastically into the club as soon as
a standard membership application ("Form 400") is turned in
with a check for the appropriate dues.
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| Are my dues
tax deductible? |
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In the United States, they are -- IF your job is of a sort
that requires or necessitates good communications skills.
In other words, it must be an educational expense to be tax
deductible. Toastmasters International will send you
complete tax deduction explanations if you request them to do
so.
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| What do I get
for my New Member fee? |
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Your $16.00 New Member fee gets you the following:
* the Communication and
Leadership project manual
* the "Gestures - Your
Body Speaks" manual
* the "A Speaker's Guide
to Evaluation" manual
* the Voice manual
The latter three are instructional manuals rather than project
manuals. Only the first is a workbook.
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If I join, will they make me speak right away? |
No. You will not be asked to speak unless you're ready
to. If you feel more comfortable waiting a few months,
that's fine.
Most clubs attempt to arrange the meeting schedules in such a
way that most members are involved in some capacity at each
meeting, so you'll need to let them know what your wishes are. |
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What should my main objective be as a new Toastmasters member? |
Well, there are two "right" answers to this question.
The first is that your main objective should be to attend
every meeting you can and participate to the fullest, helping
yourself and the other members of the club to become better
communicators. The other "right" answer is that you
should be working toward the CTM award. |
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Do I have to give all the speeches at Toastmasters club
meetings?
No. So long as you are giving the speech to an audience
with at least one Toastmasters member in attendance, and so
long as a fellow Toastmaster completes the manual evaluation
for that project, you may count that speech toward a CTM.
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