At the August 29th meeting, Rotarian of the Day, Michael Olay introduced Jing Herwig (L), Melissa Testut (C), and Suellen Miller (not shown) with Edmond Toastmasters club 170. Suellen Miller started off the program with the story of how she was forced into an emcee role at a previous employer and after a near disastrous day of it, she turned to Toastmasters. Toastmasters encourages people to break out of their shells and become fluent public speakers through exercises at every meeting. People attending meetings are assigned speaking tasks then are evaluated on their performances and through encouragement of their peers learn to improve on their speeches.
Some participants like Jing come to Toastmasters to become more proficient in speaking the English language. Melissa, the winner of the District 16 humorist speaker award this year wanted to be more effective in ministry and reaching a congregation. Others just want to learn to make proper toasts at weddings, and others aspire to politics or join to improve college skills. Whatever the reason, speakers of all levels are invited to try Toastmasters. The Edmond 170 club meets at Denny's on E. 2nd Street from 7:00 - 8:15AM on Friday Mornings.