Is Chatter Masters for You?

   Through Toastmasters you can be the successful confident person you want to be! By actively participating in Chatter Masters you will learn to:

1. Organize your thoughts and present them clearly.

2. Listen to others carefully and give constructive feedback.

3. Think and respond confidently.

4. Improve your skills at conducting meetings.

5. Have fun, meet new people, and form friendships that will last a lifetime.

   Chatter Masters is open to the general public. Membership is open to anyone 18 years and older. We welcome all people who are interested in self improvement and development. Chatter Masters presently has 33 members. Attendance at our weekly meetings is typically 15-20 members. Visitors are always welcome.

   For meeting times and directions, go to Club Information

A Typical Chatter Masters Meeting

A typical meeting follows the following format:

Opening

   The Opening consists of several section. First, the club president opens the meeting and introduces the Toastmaster of the day. Next, a vocabulary word-of-the-week is presented. This is followed by introductions and then a short inspiration or joke.

Prepared Speeches

   In this section, members learn public speaking skills. New members receive a manual with 10 speech projects. Each project in the manual has a specific objective in an area that helps you learn different speaking techniques. These objectives are designed as guidelines to help you understand the qualities that make a good speech.
   Once you have finished the first manual, you can choose from a wide variety of specialty manuals. This gives you the chance to practice skills in an area that interests you, such as technical speeches, story telling, or public relations.

Table Topics

   In this section, members learn impromptu speaking skills. The table topics leader will put forth a question to the audience. He will then select one member to answer the question. The goal of the person answering the question is to talk about the topic for approximately 1 to 2.5 minutes. Sometimes the topics are light hearted, such as "My Favorite Food", and sometimes they are more difficult, focusing on issues of the day, such as education, elections, or Chattanooga road construction, where you may be asked to give an opinion, or argue a point of view.

Evaluations

   During this portion of the meeting, each prepared speech is evaluated by a fellow member. The evaluator tells what they liked about the speech and offers suggestions for improvement.
   After speech evaluations, the general evaluator discusses how well the meeting was run. Then the grammarian points out any grammatical mistakes made during the meeting.

Awards

   During the meeting, members and guests vote for the best prepared speech, table topics respondent, and evaluator. The individuals receiving the most votes are presented a ribbon at the end of the meeting.

* The individuals pictured are actual Chatter Masters members. However, there is a remote possibility that the events did not occur exactly as depicted.