BRATTLEBORO-The BrattleMasters Toastmasters Club invites the public to its special virtual-only Open House event Thursday, Oct. 23, at 6 p.m. to celebrate its 18th anniversary. BrattleMasters was chartered in October 2007.
BrattleMasters usually conducts its meetings in a hybrid format in which members meet both in-person and virtually via Zoom on the second and fourth Thursdays every month. But because of the holidays, the club meets on the second Thursday only in November and December. It is in the process of relocating to a different physical location in Brattleboro. An announcement will be made soon.
A Toastmasters club meeting consists of three main segments: prepared speeches, impromptu skills practice, and evaluations. During the first segment, members deliver prepared speeches.
During the second segment, a Table Topics Master moderates a topic when members practice speaking off the cuff for one to two minutes on a topic of the Table Topics Master's choosing. During the third and last segment, evaluators provide constructive feedback to the prepared speech speakers.
Other important components of the evaluation segment include reports by an "Ah"-Counter, a Timer and a Grammarian.
"Table Topics are one of my favorite parts of the meeting," said Karen Davis, BrattleMasters club treasurer and 21-year Toastmasters member. "This is where guests and members are randomly selected to speak for one to two minutes. It helps you think and speak clearly on your feet."
At the special open house event, BrattleMasters President Valarie Bouchard will deliver a five- to seven-minute prepared speech titled "Contemporary Connections and Watch Parties."
BrattleMasters provides a supportive and positive environment where members can develop their communication and leadership skills and form meaningful connections with other people who share common interests.
For more information and the Zoom link, email Carolyn Handy at onlyhandy@gmail.com. The website is brattleboro.toastmastersclubs.org.
This Town and Village item was submitted to The Commons.