Communication and leadership skills are of critical importance in today’s fast-paced world. Whether it is giving a speech in front of hundreds of colleagues, offering a toast at a friend’s wedding, or managing a departmental meeting; these skills are crucial to achieving success in both your business and personal life.

The Greater Stamford Toastmasters provides help by offering an established speaking program in which members deliver a series of prepared speeches on a self-determined schedule. Each prepared speech has a distinct set of goals that builds upon lessons learned from previous assignments. The program is designed to generate improvement from the moment that you start participating in the club!

"Communication, Leadership, Excellence" - these words represent the ideals of the Greater Stamford Toastmasters club. Our club offers fun and easy ways to improve your public speaking and management skills, whether you are an absolute beginner or seasoned pro. For those just starting out, we have a special seminar designed for those who are intimidated by the prospect of attending a meeting; while for the seasoned pros, our club has various types of specialty speech programs as well as regular speech contests to pit your skills against others in the club and beyond.

Whether you just need to practice an important speech before the club or you want to develop and refine your motivation skills - our club can help! After every prepared speech, the presenter will receive both written and oral feedback from members of the audience. This allows the presenter to instantly gauge whether or not their presentation got the desired audience reaction.

Additional benefits of our program include:

• Develop the ability to deliver a dynamic presentation to win the enthusiastic support of an audience
• Learn how to communicate complex ideas for maximum retention
• Techniques to handle props, handouts, and slide / Powerpoint presentations
• Manage fears and anxieties around public speaking.  Nervous Beginner?
• Enhancing your leadership skills
• Practice how to give constructive criticism to yield beneficial results
• Learn how to effectively manage a meeting of virtually any sized audience
• Networking opportunities to meet new people in a fun and supportive atmosphere

The Greater Stamford Toastmasters club, based in Stamford, Connecticut is conveniently located in the southwestern corner of coastal Fairfield County, and is comprised of a diverse group of individuals. Please feel free to drop in and visit one of our club meetings. There is no charge to visit as a guest, and you do not have to call in advance, all you need to do is just show up. We usually have several meetings ( sample agenda ) a month, on two different nights, where you can speak in front of a supportive audience (and a recording video camera if you are really brave!).

Come inside and see how the Greater Stamford Toastmasters is continually working to be the "Best Darn Club on the Planet."

Are you thinking about joining the club? Here are some things you should know:

• Toastmasters is a worldwide volunteer organization. No one in any club is paid - we are all volunteer members.

• All members of Toastmasters join with the same goal - to improve their public speaking skills. So at a Toastmasters club you will find others with the same goal as you - to become the best speaker they can be.

• Membership in Toastmasters is inexpensive. There are no thousand-dollar courses or tuition. Each members of Toastmasters pays dues of approximately $39 every six months. (New members pay a one-time fee of $20 to cover the cost of the books they receive.)

• You do not need to become a member right away. Our meetings are open to the public - you are welcome to attend as many meetings as you like as a guest. You can even participate in our impromptu speeches ("Table topics") as a guest. We just ask that you become a member before giving your first prepared speech.

• If you're sure you want to join the club, you can even fill out a membership application and bring it with you! If not, we have membership applications available at the meeting.