Anything can happen? What exactly do you mean by that?
Toastmaster meetings provide a structure of short (5-7 minute) prepared speeches; even shorter (1-2 minute) spontaneous speeches; and lots of motivating feedback.
“Anything can happen” means that even in a structure you can find fun, humorous moments or be surprised by the topics our speakers choose.
Official club members (those who have joined Toastmasters International and pay their dues of about 10 euros per month) participate in every aspect of the meeting. Our guests, non-Toastmasters who are encouraged to come as often as they like at absolutely no cost, enjoy listening to the prepared speeches, providing short written evaluations, and volunteering for the spontaneous speeches.
Guests are always asked if they want to participate, never forced, and never embarrassed into saying “yes” when they are feeling “not yet”!
The whole point of Toastmasters is to provide a friendly and safe environment for individuals to practice at their own pace. If your plan is to put yourself in a situation where you can experiment and test your comfort zone, then Toastmasters would fit well with your intentions.
From experience we’ve seen that at Toastmasters, “anything can happen” means anything you want to happen in reaching your goal, can happen!
Khushi Pasquale
Founder, Center Berlin Toastmasters