What to expect as a guest

You’ll walk in through the front doors of the Midwest Bank Center, and see a room with Toastmasters signs ahead and to your left; it’s through the glass double-doors. You’ll be greeted, grab a copy of the agenda, and take a seat.

The meeting will last approximately one hour. You’ll get to listen to 1-3 rehearsed speeches, 2-5 short impromptu speeches (called Table Topics), speech evaluations, evaluations of how people used grammar and speech, and a variety of functionaries to run the meeting.

After the meeting, you’ll be asked to give a brief description of yourself and why you came to our meeting; no pressure – you can finish this in a dozen words, or talk for two minutes, or anything in-between. You’ll be free to visit with members afterwards.

Feel free to visit as often as you like! Just know that you won’t be able to complete projects until you do actually sign up.

What is our club like?

We’re friendly, welcoming, professional, inspirational, and focused on giving feedback in a way that is uplifting and useful.

We are not all speaking experts, intense competitive speakers, or highly technical field-experts – though we have a few of each of those!

Who joins Toastmasters?

A range of people from all walks of life and in different areas of their careers. ESL or younger people, but also people gaining seniority in their jobs and finding they have to do more speaking. Volunteers who are leading organizations. Entrepreneurs, storytellers, and thrillchasers (public speaking is a more common fear than even rollercoasters…).

Speaking practice is the normal first-draw of Toastmasters, but many people stay to practice Leadership, since that’s also something Toastmasters is good at teaching.

What to expect when you join.

As a Toastmaster, you’ll get to attend weekly meetings and sign up for roles. Speaking is the most obvious role, but there are several others.

Have you ever had issues with grammar? Or with stammering, um, and er, using too many – too many, ah like, filler words? The roles of Grammarian and Ah Counter help Toastmasters learn to overcome these tendencies.

Toastmasters navigate the Pathways system to perform their speeches. The Pathways system is quite new; it starts you on a few simple warm-up speeches, then gives you a choice on what speaking skills you would like to practice.

How to join.

Send an email to saintcharles_tm@yahoo.com, and our Vice-President of Membership will get back to you as soon as possible. (You can also ask at any of our meetings.)

Where are meetings?

Currently, all meetings are held Online via Zoom.

We alternate between on site meetings and Zoom Meetings.

How much does it cost?

There is a $20 new member fee in addition to the normal dues of $58 every 6 months. All members pay the normal dues twice a year (by April 1 and by Oct 1).

If you don’t start in April or October, you would pay pro-rated dues to get you on the same schedule as everyone else. For example, if you started in January, you would pay for 3 months initially (Jan – Mar) in addition to the new member fee ( 3 months x $58 / 6 months = $29 plus the $20 new member fee for a total of $49). Then, sometime in March, you would pay the normal $58 for the next 6 months. The schedule below shows how much you would pay to get started:

Month Started	Oct/Apr	Nov/May	Dec/Jun	Jan/Jul	Feb/Aug	Mar/Sep
Starting Fee for New Member	$78.00	$68.35	$58.68	$49.00	$39.34	$29.67

After you get started, your next payment of $58 would be due on the normal schedule (Apr 1 and Oct 1).