Boost your public speaking skills with Toastmasters
- EFN Staff | March 21, 2017
Structured to encourage students on public speaking and writing, one student is hoping to influence others with a new program on campus. Fraser Heathen is a third-year business student at the First Nations University of Canada (FNUniv) and holds the Vice President role in the FNUniv Student Association. Heathen introduced the toastmasters program at the Regina campus recently and hopes it will continue to grow.
“In every program that is offered here, you’re going to be required to do public speaking in one way or another,” he says. “It’s really beneficial for anybody. I’m hoping people can see the value in it for themselves in terms of professional development, building confidence, growing as a leader and improving your communication and public speaking skills.”
The FNUniv Student Association had their first demo meeting on Wednesday, March 8th which overall is still in the early stages of development. At the toastmasters meetings, participants are taught many communication skills including impromptu speaking, where they are given an item to speak about based on the theme of the table topics. In the exercise, you have no time to prepar,e only going off the top of your head, then elaborating on that specific topic.
“When you’re in those situations in the real world and by being a part of this club, you’re training your mind to be effective, efficient, and productive when you’re speaking, especially when you’re caught off guard, and especially when you only have a small time frame to speak,” Heathen says. “The intent of Toastmasters clubs around the world is to shed light on the good natural qualities you may possess as a communicator and also to shed light on the areas where you can improve on in terms of presentation and public speaking. It’s a really positive environment, each speech has an evaluator assigned to it to assist with constructive feedback on the areas you can improve on, and also to reinforce the good natural leadership qualities that one may already possess. As previously mentioned, the hope is that students, staff, and guests can see the true value of what this club offers and how it can improve the communication skills of any individual, whether they are a first timer, or have 30 years plus experience in a club like toastmasters, it truly is an effective aid that will help you on your journey in whatever profession one may be pursuing.”
The responses Heathen has received about the toastmaster’s have been positive from attending participants to this new initiative.
“They’re really optimistic and enthusiastic about seeing this club succeed,” he says. “[The participants] are taking it upon themselves to try and recruit more people to join in this initiative, as it is an “open” club not only restricted to FNUniv students and staff, but open for all to attend. It’s really good to see that they’re taking it upon themselves to get more people involved with this program.”
Heathen hopes students can see the value in this club for themselves in terms of personal and professional development. He says he would like to see the toastmasters grow for years to come.
“It’d be nice to see more involvement from our students…I’m hoping for this to assist with developing a stronger kinship type relationship between our staff and students, and guests from surrounding communities.”