By Lee Wardlaw lee@claytodayonline.com
FLEMING ISLAND – Open the doors to the Create New Beginnings building on Monday night, and you’ll likely find a lively meeting going on inside.
The building, located behind Fleming Island High on Village Square Parkway, hosts a meeting on Monday evenings each week, beginning at 7 p.m.
The Orange Park Toastmasters Club 1980 chapter was formed in 1972 and has approximately 20 full-time members as of this date.
The group is part of Toastmasters International, a nonprofit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of clubs. With more than 280,000 members in 144 countries, the program helps people from diverse backgrounds become more confident speakers, communicators and leaders.
The weekly “show” is a full graded competition. There were many sights to see: club president Ken Remsen flashed green, red, and yellow cards as speakers made their pitch to the audience, announcing time limits for the speaker.
It is a process of skill development, but there is no related pressure: members can hold as few or as many positions as they feel comfortable as they continue the program at each meeting.
“We had fun. We laugh a lot, and people learn how to speak in public confidently without getting nervous or sweating and worrying about it. We are not critical, and we try to (evaluate speakers) in a positive way. Better than putting someone down. Then, they never come back. And the people here are great speakers, too,” said Charlie Stillings, a member of the club since 2015.
Regardless, there are many roles to fill in order to run a successful Toastmasters session.
The joke master lightens the mood of the members, while the grammarian teaches the word of the day, providing comic relief and an interesting educational tidbit for the members during the induction of a meeting. But it’s just the beginning when it comes to position, where the important part of every game comes especially the “clutch” at the end of every meeting.
The recent lineup of speakers includes three current members of the club.
First is Charlie Stillings, from California. A resident of Fleming Island since 2020, Stillings has previously lived in several areas of the Golden State. In his speech, “California vs. Florida,” Stillings compared the similarities and differences between his new and old home. While Stillings still loves his home state, he said the cost of living, among other factors, is one of the reasons he and his fiancee are staying in Florida.
Second, Jack McClure, a military veteran who works in the field of information technology, spoke in an audiobook that was so focused on him that he drove for two hours past his intended destination before realizing that he should return, while stressing his wife a lot in the process, in his speech entitled, “Work Flow.”
New member Annette Cox paraphrases a story from driving on the highway to a work meeting titled “Traffic Light.” Cox used props by equipping chairs with red, green and yellow posters, each displaying a short message.
After her story, Cox has a coming of age period as she learns to follow the habit of judging other people. After facing road rage from an unruly driver, he stops to meet the woman and discuss the details. But after pulling into the parking lot, Annette befriends her counterpart, who turns out to be not only confined to a wheelchair but also has little experience driving a car.
In his second appearance at the lectern, Cox stole the show, earning the week’s prize for “best speech.”
Talks are just the beginning of a fully engaged process in every meeting. After the speeches, volunteers are invited to answer the topics at the table, who must give a one-minute answer to a question chosen at random by the toastmaster leading this section of the meeting.
Then, pre-selected individual evaluators will provide a public review of each of the toastmasters’ speeches. Each of the toastmasters stood up and gave a thoughtful review.
If that’s not enough, votes are counted for several categories, such as best speaker, best speaker, and more. There is even an “Ah” counter, which writes down unwanted phrases created by each speaker to reduce (or at least teach) the practice.
After each weekly one and a half hour meeting is adjourned, club members and guests may not realize how much more they have done to increase their confidence than was previously thought possible in the 90’s. minute workouts in a tight, welcoming, and family-like Clay County community environment.
Incoming member Micheal Giummo traveled from Arlington, a suburb of Jacksonville, to attend the final meeting.
“In my career, I just want to improve my public speaking and presentation skills, and I feel that I can do it myself. I failed a lot, so I thought I had to look at other solutions, so here we are,” he said.
The Duval businessman came away impressed, and he plans to return, looking to become more involved.
“It’s very nice. Everyone interacted, and they gave me a lot of information about what was involved in the process. Just seeing how everything is presented is inspiring. I feel like there is a lot of work ahead for me, but there is a lot of progress to come as well,” Giummo said. To learn more about meeting times, directions, how to join the club, etc., please visit the following link at https://www.orangeparktoastmasters.org/.
