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10+ years ago, a software development manager that worked for me had obvious problems with public speaking, even to small in-house groups (5+ people). She attended Toastmasters and, after a couple of years, was a changed woman. She now makes a great living through consulting and professional development seminars she sells. Granted, she was both highly motivated to improve and extremely talented, but after seeing the complete transformation she underwent through Toastmasters, I became a believer in Toastmasters. I think Toastmasters is perceived by most as a conclave of dorky awkward people who like to give boring speeches in front of a captive audience. It may or may not be that, but my experience with her and others, is that it is also quite effective in imparting valuable communications skills. I think many view boys that earn their Eagle Scout rank in the same way -- they are square, uncool, dorks, doing things that nobody cares about -- anachronisms. But, in the long run, the life skills they get are priceless. My experience has been that that there are many technical prodigies in any industry. However, the population of technically competent people that are highly effective communicators is quite small. Being at ease when communicating in the large, or in the small, gives one a huge leg up in competing with their peers. My personal opinion is that it would be hard to go wrong giving Toastmasters a shot. |