{"66172":{"#nid":"66172","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Club Helps Members Master Speaking Skills","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIf giving a speech in front of a group fills you with as much fear as the thought of walking across I-85 during rush hour, there is a campus resource that you should check out. \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESince 1987, Tech has been home to a Toastmasters chapter, known as \u201cTechmasters,\u201d that aims to provide the skills and confidence members need to effectively communicate in any situation. \u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cTechmasters isn\u2019t about perfection; it is about practicing public speaking in a no-fail atmosphere,\u201d said Kimsey Pollard, the club\u2019s most senior member and sergeant-at-arms who works in the Microelectronics Research Center. \u201cThere aren\u2019t any experts \u2014 it\u2019s just members helping members.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe club meets every Thursday morning from 7:30 to 9 a.m. in room 102 of the Microelectronics Research Center Building. Currently, there are 54 members, with about 20 to 30 percent of the membership being students and the rest being faculty and staff members, as well as members of the general public.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cBeing a member has helped me to become more confident and has enhanced my leadership skills,\u201d said Edgar Jones, a 10-year member who works in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. \u201cThis is a good place to work on your presentation skills, and you get a chance to network with like-minded people from all over campus.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGary Hulsey, a technical writer for the Georgia Tech Research Institute, has belonged to the club for five years and would recommend it to anyone interested in enhancing communication and leadership skills.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cTechmasters has helped me build some comfort as a speaker through impromptu speaking practice, which has given me the confidence to do things like call a talk radio program,\u201d he added.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMeetings start with Table Topics, where members of the club are invited to give a brief speech on impromptu topics such as \u201cConvince Hitler to Join Techmasters.\u201d Next, there is a brief break with light refreshments, followed by prepared speeches and then evaluations of the speeches.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESo if you visit a meeting, what can you expect?\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cVisitors will be encouraged to stand and introduce themselves at the beginning of the meeting and provide their impression of the meeting at the end,\u201d said Joe Blount, the group\u2019s vice president of public relations who works in the Office of Information Technology. \u201cVisitors rarely opt to participate beyond this at their first meeting.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo learn more about the club and membership fee information, click \u003Ca href=\u0022\/\/techmasters.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESince 1987, Tech has been home to a Toastmasters chapter, known as \u201cTechmasters,\u201d that aims to provide the skills and confidence members need to effectively communicate in any situation.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Since 1987, Tech has been home to a Toastmasters chapter, known as \u201cTechmasters,\u201d that aims to provide the skills and confidence members need to effectively communicate in any situation."}],"uid":"27445","created_gmt":"2011-05-13 11:11:13","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:08:45","author":"Amelia Pavlik","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-05-16T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2011-05-16T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"66173":{"id":"66173","type":"image","title":"Techmasters","body":null,"created":"1449176931","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:08:51","changed":"1475894587","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:43:07","alt":"Techmasters","file":{"fid":"193288","name":"techmasters.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/techmasters.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/techmasters.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1959235,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/techmasters.jpg?itok=ngSZystb"}}},"media_ids":["66173"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/techmasters.gatech.edu\/","title":"Techmasters"}],"groups":[{"id":"1259","name":"Whistle"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1506","name":"faculty"},{"id":"4308","name":"public speaking"},{"id":"167018","name":"staff"},{"id":"166847","name":"students"},{"id":"13145","name":"Techmasters"},{"id":"4545","name":"toastmasters"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:amelia.pavlik@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAmelia Pavlik\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications \u0026amp; Marketing\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-385-4142\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}