Alberton Toastmasters Club will soon meet face to face again
Alberton Toastmasters Club resumes to face-to-face meetings after two year hiatus
The Alberton Toastmasters Club (ATMC) will soon resume face-to-face meetings at Alberton Retirement Village after two years of absence due to Covid-19.
The pandemic forced the club to meet online since 2020. As vice-president for public relations, Vuyo Sabani, said the club is looking forward to returning to face-to-face meetings so members can build rapport and improve their communication and leadership skills.
Through a worldwide network of clubs, ATMC is an affiliate of Toastmasters International, a non-profit educational organisation that teaches public speaking and leadership skills.
The organisation offers its members an individually tailored educational programme that provides diverse skills that range from public speaking, PowerPoint presentations and leadership skills, among others.
“At ATMC we help our members build their leadership and communication skills, and this is nurtured better face to face. We will not completely abandon members who prefer to meet online as we will have hybrid meetings,” said Sabani.
Hybrid meetings consist of having a face to face and online meetings concurrently.
“As a club, we are part of an international community and as such, we have members in the United States of America who can join our meetings online conveniently. There are also visitors from other international clubs who have been able to visit our meeting online. On various occasions we have had visitors from China,” added Sabani.
The club president, Charles Mokoena said that the online meetings exposed them to new skills of hosting meetings on a different platform and which became relevant to times.
Hosting online meetings, however, may not always address certain challenges like public speaking fears and dealing with the walk up to the podium.
“An audience that is large and diverse requires the use of a podium and stage. This is what the in-person meeting addresses and helps to improve.”
No membership is required to attend the club’s twice-monthly meetings. Contact vice president for membership Warren Venter on 083 429 7457 if you would like to visit.
