Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
For a group of people who come together to gain more confidence speaking in front of other people, having a reporter interview them could be uncomfortable - or even downright nerve-wracking.

Maui Pare, secretary for the Yellowknife Toastmasters Club, delivers a speech during the club's first November meeting. Toastmasters is an organization that aims to help people improve their public speaking skills and boost their confidence in front of crowds. - Laura Busch/NNSL photos

"There are people who are nervous, obviously, speaking to news organizations. That's the whole idea of the group," said Dilprit Shergill with a laugh.

However nervous some of the members of the Yellowknife Toastmasters may have been, their desire to spread the word about what they fo won out over their fears.

"To get people in the doors is usually the hardest. Because people who don't like to speak, you know, sometimes are in their shell. So, we'd like to get them out and tell them that they can do something about it," said Shergill who, as vice-president of membership, is responsible for reaching out to potential new members."

The group meets twice per month at the Calvary Community Church. There are multiple roles to be filled, including toastmaster, or host who introduces all speakers for the evening and keeps the show moving along; and what's known as a "wizard of ahs," a person who lets everyone know at the end of the night how many filler-words they added to their speech.

The public speaking portion of the evening is divided into two parts. First, there is a table talk session, in which members are asked to speak for two minutes about a subject they are given on the spot.

"The idea is, during interviews or job interviews or something like that, you have to be able to think on your feet," said Shergill. "You have to have the ability to form coherent sentences and not worry."

There are also two prepared speakers during each meeting who give an approximately 10-minute-long speech and are evaluated at the end of the evening.

The Yellowknife Toastmasters is part of the larger Toastmasters International, which has a set curriculum and chapters around the world. To complete the Toastmasters' competent communicator course, a participant must present a series of 10 speeches. Each speech focuses on a different aspect of public speaking, such as voice projection or using descriptive words.

Though all of the current Yellowknife Toastmasters members were working towards the same goal when they joined the group - to improve their public speaking skills - they had different motivations.

"I have a phobia of speaking in front of crowds, and I always have," said Darcy Hernblad, who completed three of his ten speeches. "I had to find a way to build up my self-confidence in front of crowds and talking, so I hunted down Toastmasters."

Hernblad told Yellowknifer that for him, repeating the process of giving a speech in front of a room of people has built his confidence and made him a better speaker.

"Every time you got a little bit better and they give you good constructive feedback so then you say 'okay, I've got to work on that.' So, you work on it; then you do your next one," he said. "You keep doing it and all of a sudden it gets to be second nature and you start

to feel good about it."

Though the club is small - there are 13 members - it appears to be a tight-knit and accepting group.

"I can see myself staying with this for a long time," said Hernblad. "Because it's a good outing, it's a good group of people and I don't know if you can ever get enough confidence in speaking in front of crowds."

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.