Cranberry Township Toastmasters a tradition in respect, confidence-building
CRANBERRY TWP — Everything starts with a handshake at the Cranberry High Noon Toastmasters.
Not just the start of a meeting — every introduction of a Toastmaster member to the podium saw the leader of the session shake hands with the upcoming presenter.
Kathleen Kuznicki, president of the Cranberry High Noon Toastmasters, said the tradition is a show of respect and way to instill confidence in people who may be just starting their journey into developing public speaking skills.
“We never leave the front space unattended, and we shake each other's hands,” Kuznicki said after the Toastmasters’ Monday, Sept. 21, meeting. “We always stand up there and acknowledge the person that was there before us until they leave. That is a Toastmasters thing.”
The Cranberry High Noon Toastmasters formed in June 2013, when Kuznicki and Melissa McGavick wanted a chapter of the international group that met during the day — and created a name that signified the assembly time.
Not only does the club meet in the middle of the typical work day, but Kuznicki said it is based around the idea that people attending are seeking to enhance their public speaking and leadership skills for their careers.
That was what initially drew Kuznicki’s interest in Toastmasters. In 2011, she was making a career change from scientist to attorney — a field that depended on her relaying information to other people without the cushion of a visual aid — so the public speaking group stuck out to her.
It’s why many people in the 13 years since the club formed have joined it. They are looking for ways to rise to the challenge of their careers. And it’s what has kept Kuznicki with the group for those 13 years.
“I became an attorney and I needed to be able to communicate with people. I didn't have slides showing data behind me … so, I had to learn to talk one-on-one,” Kuznicki said. “I have to talk to people about the law and I don't want to see their eyes glaze over and as a scientist that happens. And that's why I stayed in.”
Toastmasters International formed in 1924, and is an organization based on giving people group settings to practice planned speeches and unplanned responses; give and receive meaningful feedback; and step into leadership opportunities. There are clubs all over the world. The Cranberry High Noon Toastmasters group is in a division that encompasses a region including Erie and Cleveland, Ohio.
The agenda for the average Toastmasters meeting Sept. 21 laid out the meeting’s events down to the minute, which Kuznicki said is another trademark of the organization. Aside from formalities like the welcoming of guests and introduction of the meeting’s presiding officer, the agenda included times for members’ prepared speeches and “table topics,” a time for people to practice making a speech with no preparation.
The first speech came from a recent member of the High Noon club, Jacqlyn Boggs, who gave her “ice-breaker speech,” a tradition for newbies. Every new member of the Toastmasters club gets a mentor, with Kuznicki being Boggs’ mentor. Kuznicki would have been the person evaluating Boggs’ ice-breaker speech, but she had her own prepared speech to give that day to practice for a competition taking place the following day.
Another Toastmaster gave the official evaluation of Boggs’ speech. However, Kuznicki said anyone can offer feedback. There are more than a dozen educational pathways a Toastmaster can set themselves on when joining the group, but the ice-breaker is the first speech for all of them.
“You can choose your own pathways which could be a special interest you have,” Denise Etter, past president of the Cranberry High Noon Toastmasters, said. “And you have to become more proficient as you go along and it's going to ask you to practice these things in your speech, ‘How about start delivering this way.’ So it's helpful in the way they present the learning paths to you.”
Kuznicki said some workplaces encourage their employees to join a Toastmasters club as a professional development opportunity. There are even “corporate clubs,” like the Westinghouse Toastmasters, Kuznicki referenced, which form to develop employees’ skills within their field directly.
McGavick, who is the secretary of the Cranberry High Noon Toastmasters, said the club keeps meetings to one hour so people can get in and out.
“This works for a lot of business professionals who need to be in and out and have to fit around their work schedule,” she said.
But the High Noon Toastmasters follows many of the formats of other Toastmasters Clubs. The Table Topics session at the Sept. 19 meeting saw the club’s vice president of membership, Joe Montanti, give prompts to members who then had to deliver their response on the spot.
The table topics portion of each meeting gives people a chance to practice speaking off the cuff.
Plus, a Toastmaster member’s role can change every meeting, from being a timer to the person who pitches table topics.
“On any given week, I can be an evaluator of someone's speech, I could be a timer, I could be a grammarian,” Etter said. “So, we always have the opportunity to be able to evaluate and give feedback or constructive criticism or whatever is necessary.”
The listening element of being in the club is equally important to the public speaking part, Etter and Kuznicki agreed.
“With Toastmasters, there's presentations on effective listening and how to be an active listener as well,” Kuznicki said. “That's why we have mentors and evaluators.”
The competitions hosted by Toastmasters districts are optional for members, but they exist to stretch and push a member’s speaking as well as their confidence. Kuznicki prepared a humorous speech, “Modern Lawyering,” for a competition, in which she spoke about her career as a patent attorney and the interactions she has with clients who have discovered how to use artificial intelligence.
By preparing a speech like this, Kuznicki said she was honing her skills as a speaker and delving into the purpose of her career. She added that the High Noon club has always risen to the highest level of Toastmasters International standards, reaching the recently declared Smedley Distinction through achieving the goals laid out by the overhead organization.
“We actually then achieved all those goals which is to achieve all 10 educational membership and administrative goals and to have at least 25 members by June 30,” Kuznicki said. “We worked very hard to be that very highest level of distinction and we're working to do that again this year.”
Anyone can be a gust at the Cranberry High Noon Toastmaster meeting, which takes place at noon at Dutilh Church, 1270 Dutilh Road in Cranberry Township. There are dues to become an official member. More information is available on the club’s website at cranberryhighnoon.toastmastersclubs.org.
