[Smaug123]

I am only 26, and I know I'm not good at management, but I don't think that's really true. During secondary school, I took part in Model United Nations conferences, and after the first two or three, I was magically completely happy standing up in front of a large audience of peers being asked awkward questions. There are a bunch of required skills that you can simply train (e.g. with Toastmasters), even if you can't hit the entire spectrum of management skill this way.

[ajarmst]

That's a fair point, but note that you're describing the sort of experience that is real, and therefore valuable. Model United Nations is one thing, 'give a two minute speech on a topic of your choice, and we're going to grade your slide deck' is another. Extra-curricular things like toastmasters and Model UN and things like apprenticeships, internships and co-op are ways of acquiring more real experience earlier, not a replacement for real experience. Sadly, programs that provide that sort of experience are among the first casualties of budget or other pressures.

[jl2718]

I was active in Model UN many years ago, and I really just didn’t get Toastmasters. It felt like talking about nothing for no reason to people that don’t care. It’s unfortunate that meaningful formal debate seems to stop in adulthood. There certainly are plenty of things to disagree about.

[thimkerbell]

There should be a topic-specific analogue of Toastmasters and it shouldn't urge you to exude false confidence.