JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, Texas –
The Randolph Toastmasters has earned the international organization’s top honor - the Golden Gavel Club Award - for achieving high standards in conducting and organizing it's weekly meetings.
Toastmasters, who are affiliated with Toastmasters International, is an organization that helps their members improve their communication and public speaking and leadership skills.
Huddleston said Toastmasters provides a supportive, encouraging environment for JBSA-Randolph members to help them improve their communication and leadership skills. The skills club members gain may help them advance in their military or civilian careers, he said.
The club achieved the award by fulfilling 11 requirements for running effective meetings. Those included starting and adjourning the meeting on time, providing printed agendas, giving a warm welcome to members and guests, having 15 or more Toastmasters members in attendance and two non-Toastmasters guests present. Other requirements include interesting topics for members to speak about and speeches that follow guidelines from the Toastmasters manual, said Adrian Huddleston, JBSA-Randolph Toastmasters president.
The award was based on an evaluation by Toastmasters Area I-40 director Jim Lowery, who observed the club’s meeting in April.
JBSA-Randolph Toastmasters club consists of 30 members at JBSA-Randolph, including active-duty members, retired military and Department of Defense civilian employees.
Huddleston said this year is the first time ever that Toastmasters, which started in 1958, has received the award.
“This is a very prestigious award,” he said. “In order to get the Golden Gavel Club Award you must have an exceptional meeting when someone is there to evaluate you.”
“It’s a place where you can practice your communication and leadership skills and gain self-confidence as a communicator and a leader,” he said. “We learn by doing is our approach in Toastmasters. We find out the more you speak, the more confident you get. The more confident you are, the more you want to speak.”
Huddleston said club members gain leadership skills by learning how to conduct meetings, holding leadership positions and learning how to communicate
effectively through practical experience at their meetings.
The skills club members learn from Toastmasters can help them advance in their military or civilian careers, Huddleston said.
“It gives them an opportunity to practice their communication and leadership skills and then apply that to their mission,” he said.
Amy Espinoza, Air Education and Training Command logistics program analyst, said getting involved in Toastmasters, which she joined in 1997, has helped her become a better communicator.
“It has helped me out in my job in being able to facilitate meetings, to communicate more clearly and to be able to think quickly on my feet,” Espinoza said.
Espinoza has benefited by becoming a Toastmasters officer at the district level.
“It helps me to understand the various roles of leadership and responsibilities,” she said. “It is a nonprofit organization; everyone is a volunteer. You are not only helping yourself, but others.”
Staff Sgt. Channing Cook, 338th Specialized Contracting Squadron administrative specialist, said she has become a more confident public speaker and leader since becoming a Toastmasters member two years ago.
“I’m building my leadership skills,” Cook said. “These are the tools I’m going to be using to lead Airmen in the U.S. Air Force.”
Cook likes the encouraging atmosphere of the Toastmasters meetings.
“Nobody is there to judge you,” she said. “Everyone who comes to the meetings is there to support you. They give you constructive criticism and want you to succeed.”
The Toastmasters club meets at noon every Wednesday at the JBSA-Randolph Education Center, building 208, in room 35. To join Toastmasters, individuals must fill out a new member application that can be picked up at their club meetings. For more information, call 863-1517.