# Toastmasters



## FrozenInferno (Nov 18, 2010)

Anybody have any experience with this? I'm really considering giving it a shot. By far, the most traumatizing experiences of my life were during presentations, and I'd like to work on getting over at least that aspect of my social anxiety. The first time I ever really had the feeling of extreme panic was during my first seventh grade presentation, and it basically just snowballed from there, metastasizing into other parts of my life. I'm just hoping it'll help with my 1-on-1 anxiety as well, I mean, it couldn't hurt right?


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## tomcoldaba (Jul 1, 2007)

I am a member of toastmasters for 3 years. It helped me immensely in presentations and also on one on one conversations. Try to join a club that meets every week. 80% of public speaking is just standing up and speak. The more you do it the faster you will feel better. Warning: Toastmasters does require work. Most toastmasters have some form of sa and are very supportive.


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## wxolue (Nov 26, 2008)

Exposure therapy in one area DOES help other areas that may not have been specifically targeted. Exposure therapy in public speaking WILL help your 1v1 conversations, assuming you do the exposure correctly.

Toastmasters is a great opportunity to get some public speaking exposure. Haven't done it, but I've thought about it (its hard for me to get around as I don't have my license). I did a lot of public speaking exposure in my CBT therapy sessions, and realized my problem with presentations wasn't the public speaking part, but potentially being judged by my peers and professors on the quality of my presentation. I would procrastinate a lot on projects (like many people with SA do), worry that my presentation would suffer from not putting in enough time (because I procrastinated), tell myself the presentation would go bad before, and was bad after, start to believe that I was incapable of making a solid project/presentation, avoid working on a project because I didn't want to face doing something I told myself I couldn't do, and you can kind of see the cycle here.

Consequently, doing public speaking exposures where I wouldn't know about the topic until moments before was actually easier. The good thing about toastmasters is that it targets my problem since you have prepared speeches and unprepared speeches, and it obviously targets anxieties associated with actually doing a speech.


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## Attica! Attica! (Oct 8, 2008)

I was thinking about getting into this as well! After the last presentation I had to do in front of actual clients (I'm a graphic design major), I realized my lack of public speaking skills is not only embarrassing to me, it WILL get in the way of getting and keeping a good job in my field. 

I'm obviously very anxious at the thought though... what exactly happens when you meet? and what kind of people are there? I don't want to be the only one who is absolutely horrid at public speaking............


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## tomcoldaba (Jul 1, 2007)

wxolue said:


> Exposure therapy in one area DOES help other areas that may not have been specifically targeted. Exposure therapy in public speaking WILL help your 1v1 conversations, assuming you do the exposure correctly.
> 
> Toastmasters is a great opportunity to get some public speaking exposure. Haven't done it, but I've thought about it (its hard for me to get around as I don't have my license). I did a lot of public speaking exposure in my CBT therapy sessions, and realized my problem with presentations wasn't the public speaking part, but potentially being judged by my peers and professors on the quality of my presentation. I would procrastinate a lot on projects (like many people with SA do), worry that my presentation would suffer from not putting in enough time (because I procrastinated), tell myself the presentation would go bad before, and was bad after, start to believe that I was incapable of making a solid project/presentation, avoid working on a project because I didn't want to face doing something I told myself I couldn't do, and you can kind of see the cycle here.
> 
> Consequently, doing public speaking exposures where I wouldn't know about the topic until moments before was actually easier. The good thing about toastmasters is that it targets my problem since you have prepared speeches and unprepared speeches, and it obviously targets anxieties associated with actually doing a speech.


You make a good point. Use toastmasters as a means of exposure therapy. After I had attended many toastmaster meetings and had given nearly 20 speeches, my internal critic which caused so much anxiety was silenced for the moment.

Now I am in a maintenance mode. I attend meetings now and then. If I feel really anxious, I attend more meetings or giving speeches.

It also helps with 1v1 conversation. Giving a speech is really talking to 1 person at a time. It is just practice and hard work. Overcoming anxiety is a challenge. Now I have no issue talking to neighbors, strangers. I just think I am giving a speech to an audience of 1.


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