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Bolton Toastmasters Club helps residents become better public speakers

July 27, 2023   ·   0 Comments

Public speaking, whether at social events, work functions or simple communication exercises, can be difficult for some. That’s where Toastmasters comes in to help.

Toastmasters is an international club with 358,000 members in over 16,800 clubs in 143 countries around the world.  It is a non-profit organization dedicated on educating about public speaking and leadership skills, creating confident, driven and strong communication skills.

Bolton has their very own Toastmasters club, known as the Bolton Banter Toastmasters, run by local residents. The club was chartered on May 17, 2006 and has been educating and providing community involvement with the club for over 17 years.  Members gather at the Albion Bolton Community Centre the first and third Thursday of the month. The Bolton Banter Toastmasters have members who live in Orangeville, Nobleton and Caledon East, in addition to Bolton.

Orangeville had a Toastmasters club up until the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bart Burness, vice president of membership, talks about the joy of Toastmaster and who it benefits.

“People who want to personally improve themselves, and they don’t want to settle with who they are.  People who have a fear of public speaking and want assistance and channels to overcome that fear. Sometimes people get into job promotions that require them to speak in front of people for the first time, and they didn’t do much of that in their previous role but now that they’ve been promoted they’re required to speak in front of a bunch of people. Some people have social situations like weddings, or social activities that they need to practice on,” explains Mr. Burness.

Founded in 1924, Toastmasters has travelled all over the world with members of all diverse backgrounds.

Each meeting holds featured speakers.  Members choose the topic they wish to speak about, and thus brings interesting stories, and learning more about people.

“The first speech is an ice-breaker in which a person is introducing themselves to the group.  You might think that would be hard to do, but it isn’t,” says Mr. Burness. “The culture of Toastmasters in general is that we’re trying to provide a safe environment for people to participate, grow and take risks.”

If learning and improving your public speaking is something that you’ve always wished to do, the Bolton Banter Toastmasters doors are always open for newcomers.

For more information about the Bolton Banter Toastmasters, please visit boltonbanter.org or burnessbarton@gmail.com.

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