Toastmaster's

[Chilling_Echo]

has anyone heard of or gone through Toastmaster's?

 

[GettingThere]

I had a Doctor suggest Toastmaster's to me as a means of treating my SA. Actually he was a professor and the most respected in this field in my part of the world.

I did not follow it up though. It would seem like and SA's worst nightmare making speeches but the suggestion must have some merit as a means of desensitisation.

 

[Tim001]

I have gone through Toastmasters, well attempted anyway. It was sponsored through my company. Basically, it is useful for someone who is moderately shy and needs to develop or improve their presentation skills. Imho, it is not for people suffering from SP. It is like going from 0to100 instantly. There is really no understanding of what sp is, and is therefore not very accommodating. I would suggest an SP group session before recommending Toastmasters. By the way, it was a total disaster for me. I was absolutely scared out of my wits.

Tim

 

[Anonymous]

I agree with the above posts. Toastmasters would only be useful if you had minimal nervousness giving speeches and is only detrimental for people with phobias. Even if you have a minor fear of public speaking, there are better things for getting cured. It is my opinion that rapid desensitation is the absolute worst way to approach SA. It will only cause misery and will rarely produce results.

 

[Chilling_Echo]

i see. my old psychotherapist suggested it a long time ago but i knew that i'd never have the nerve, sorry it didn't work for you guys

 

[Shadow]

I guess it could work, but I wouldn't recommend it.

I think slowly desenitizing yourself is the best way to overcome SA. I've been doing that and it's going great.

 

[Anonymous]

I took a public speaking class in college and it didn't help much. The "constructive criticism" part of the class was painful.

 

[Anonymous]

When u r ready. Toastmasters is an excellent platform to try out your new found confidence. This is coming from somebody that was housebound at one stage in his life and found toastmasters to be an excellent stage to practise conquering your anxiety. Once you can conquer (sorry, can't spell) this grasshopper, you will be free. (Grasshopper being from Kung Fu, I am showing my age arn't i).

You know that you can go along to Toastmasters and just watch. This is a good way of de-sensitising yourself. When you r ready, you can do a speech.

Most people fear Public Speaking to some degree and they are only there to practise. You will find that the more meetings that you can attend that they are really a friendly and caring bunch.

Take care and best wishes.

Life's Good.