Frequently Asked Questions

About Toastmasters|Membership|Advancement|Leadership/Organization|Contest

The FAQ was last updated on October 15, 2005.
Revisions of the FAQ are posted occasionally on the alt.org.toastmasters newsgroup.

About Toastmasters: part 1 of 5 from alt.org.toastmasters

1. What is Toastmasters?
2. What does the name "Toastmasters" stand for?
3. Is this just a group for people just in the US?
4. I'm scared to death of speaking! Why should I look into Toastmasters?
5. How is Toastmasters more beneficial than other forms of speaking improvement?
6. How is Toastmasters organized?
7. Where can I find a club?
8. Do I have to ask permission before attending a meeting of a club in my area?
9. Do Toastmaster's clubs have a meal with their meeting?
10. What happens at a meeting?
11. Where should I go for further information?
12. Can I send mail to Toastmasters officials via the Internet?

Membership: part 2 of 5 from alt.org.toastmasters

1. How does one go about joining Toastmasters?
2. How much does membership cost?
3. Can I belong to more than one club?
4. If I belong to more than one club, do I have to pay full dues for each?
5. Are my dues tax deductible?
6. What do I get for my dues?
7. What do I get for my New Member fee?
8. If I want to drop out of Toastmasters after joining, what do I do?
9. How receptive are clubs to new members?
10. If I join, will they make me speak right away?

Advancement: part 3 of 5 from alt.org.toastmasters

1. What should my main objective be as a new Toastmasters member?
2. What does CTM stand for?
3. What do I have to do to earn a CTM?
4. Do I have to give all the speeches at Toastmasters club meetings?
5. Do I have to work through the C&L manual in the order the projects are given?
6. When I finish the CTM what happens?
7. What's the ATM?
8. What do I have to do to get an ATM?
9. What advanced manuals are available?
10. Other than the CTM and ATM, what educational opportunities are there in Toastmasters?
11. What happens after I earn an ATM?
12. What is an ATM Bronze and ATM Silver?
13. Is there an ATM Gold award?
14. What is a DTM?
15. What happens after I've earned a DTM and an ATM Silver?
16. Is there anything else?

Leadership and Organization: part 4 of 5 from alt.org.toastmasters

1. What leadership opportunities within the club are open to me as a member of Toastmasters?
2. What leadership opportunities are open to me OUTSIDE the club?
3. What is an Area?
4. What is a Division?
5. What is a District?
6. Whoa! That sounds complicated!
7. How do I get to be a District officer?
8. What levels are beyond the District?
9. What's the World Convention?
10. So the Board of Directors and the President and Vice Presidents make all the decisions about dues and so forth?
11. What do I get for serving as an officer?

Toastmasters Speech Contests: part 5 of 5 from alt.org.toastmasters

1. What's all this about speech contests?
2. What are the various contests?
3. How do you pick the winners?
4. Who gets to compete?
5. When do the contests take place?
6. What do I get if I win a contest?
7. Is my District permitted to have different rules for the speech contests than what is specified by Toastmasters International?
8. Hey, what about the Debate Contest or the Interpretive Reading Contest or some other contest you didn't mention?