Toastmasters International (TI). A U.S.-headquartered nonprofit educational organization that operates clubs worldwide for the purpose of helping people develop communication, public speaking, and leadership skills.
On 24 March 1905, Dr. Ralph C. Smedley, a 1903 graduate from Illinois Wesleyan University, who was also the educational director for Bloomington YMCA in Illinois, started a club in a dinner meeting, to train young boys and men in speech, to face an audience, and to express their thoughts. He envisioned it as a weekly social club, with training programs for short speeches, debates, and work in chairmanship.
The members took turn to speak in 5 to 6 minutes while the elder men served as speech evaluators. George Sutton, General Secretary of YMCA, named the club “a Toastmasters Club.” Smedley later noticed a significant improvement in his members’ speeches and leadership abilities. When YMCA transferred Smedley to another city named Freeport in Illinois, he decided to expand his club to the new city.
The organization grew out of a single club founded by Smedley on October 22, 1924, at the YMCA in Santa Ana, California. It originated as a set of classes with the aim of improving the communication skills of the young men under his charge. Toastmasters International was incorporated under Californian law on December 19, 1932.
The first international chapter was established in Vancouver, Canada, in 1932. The organization began admitting women in 1973.
In 1999, Toastmasters International (TI) had 170,000 members spanning 68 countries. By 2016, TI had 16,000 clubs worldwide.
Notable Toastmaster graduates: Jim Luce
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