For 15 years, local members have met once a week
Published in the Jan. 7 – 23, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Marty Cheek
Many Morgan Hill residents are just rolling out of bed at 7:30 a.m. Thursdays when Morgan Hill Toastmasters Club members start their meeting at BookSmart with a Pledge of Allegiance flag salute. For 15 years, T
Photo by Marty Cheek
Morgan Hill Toastmasters members Christy Davids and Deanne Deaville shake hands at December meeting.
oastmasters members have been meeting on a regular basis for an hour every week to work on their public speaking and leadership skills and enhance their personal life and professional careers.
Christy Davids is a founding member of the Morgan Hill club and recalls how in 1999 she attended a “demonstration meeting” at the Old Republic Title office building when the club was getting started. Davis had been attending a Toastmasters club in Fremont for several years but liked the idea of helping to organize a locally-based club because she lived in Morgan Hill.
Today, the Morgan Hill Toastmasters group averages about 25 members, with 15 to 20 of them attending meetings regularly, she said.
Membership costs $45 for a six-month period, a fee that is prorated depending on when a new member joins. New members also pay about $20 for communication and leadership manuals with a series of exercises they go through. Membership also includes a monthly Toastmasters International magazine full of advice and inspiring stories.
“With both communication and leadership tracks, there is an opportunity to stretch your wings and do things in a very supportive environment, in an environment that’s safe and won’t get you in trouble at your job,” Davids said. “There’s not that added pressure, so you can learn about leadership and learn about communication in a way that is kind of fail-safe. You learn at your own pace, so if you want to step up into a leadership position you can and if you don’t want to you don’t have to.”
Club meetings are structured but flexible, she said. Usually, there are two “manual speeches” given by members which are later given evaluations by more established members. The meetings also include other speaking opportunities such as a tip of the day, a story, and “table topics,” an impromptu one to two minute speech members can give on a surprise question.
Photo by Marty Cheek
Club President Stewart Witter speaks at a recent Toastmasters meeting.
Members must be 18 to join, but the Morgan Hill Toastmasters has sponsored for several summers a Youth Leadership program at Kaiser Hospital in San Jose where teenage interns learn about leadership and communication skills in a similar way to the adult Toastmasters program.
Toastmasters is different than college speech classes because members get feedback right away when it’s fresh so they can know what to do better the next time, Davis said. Also, there is no pressure with grading, and members can attend meetings whenever they wish depending on their schedule.
Membership age and job demographics range the gamut. The group is roughly divided in men and women membership.
“What I get more than anything is that this is such a nonjudgmental and supportive environment,” Davis said. “You can get up there and make mistakes and it’s OK. We kind of push an evaluation where we say something positive, then something they can improve on, then something positive. People feel very supported knowing they can make errors and it’s alright.
Retired Morgan Hill teacher Margaret McCann has been a Morgan Hill Toastmaster member for two years, and joined the club because she thought it would be challenging and help with her American Association of University Women activities.
“Many times I have the opportunity to get up and communicate in front of groups, but I didn’t think I was very good at it,” she said. “Therefore I wanted to improve my skills in public speaking. It seemed like the logical thing to do.”
Among other public speaking skills, she learned how to stand with confidence so that the audience believes she knows what she’s talking about, she said.
“There’s a lot about how your posture — how you physically present yourself — impacts what you say,” she said. “I’ve learned all about the voice variety in speaking, too, so that I don’t have to be afraid to get out and communicate. The learning curve has been pretty steep, but I’ve learned a lot.”
Morgan Hill resident Nellie Jorge joined the local club in 2004 and has seen the club change and grow. “People come in and out depending on what’s happening in their life,” she said. “It’s a great opportunity to develop your leadership skills and prepare your speaking abilities.”
With a career in real estate and as an office manager, she sees Toastmasters helping her develop confidence and structure her thoughts so she can share them clearly to co-workers.
“When I speak to my staff, I need to organize my thoughts at meetings,” she said. “Table topics has helped me to think on my feet at meetings and answer questions.”
Stewart Witter serves as the president of the Morgan Hill Toastmasters club. He first joined a San Jose-based Toastmasters in 2002 when he worked for IBM, then joined the Morgan Hill club two and a half years ago.
“We have a great camaraderie,” he said. “Everyone is very supportive so we can help people improve and become a better speaker. And that is the hallmark of our club. We have a supportive nature so we can all improve.”
Every six months, members participate in Toastmasters speech contests in the area, district, and division levels and this is a great experience for members to see the top-notch speakers of other clubs in the Bay Area, he said. Morgan Hill members also have participated over the years in local public events such as member Jim Carrillo emceeing the Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce’s annual Celebrate Morgan Hill gala. The club regularly helps local students prepare for speech contests, he said.
With 2015 starting, Witter invites South Valley people who want to improve their personal and professional communication and leadership skills to attend one or two Toastmasters meetings at BookSmart and see if the club is something they want to join.
“We’re all about personal improvement, and New Year’s resolutions are all about personal improvement so we can help people out with their speaking and leadership skills and build their self-confidence,” he said.
