Toastmasters International is a non-profit organization founded in 1924 by Ralph Smedley to promote the art of public speaking and effective communication. Worldwide, Toastmasters International has approximately 16,400 clubs in 141 countries around the world with a total membership of 352,000.
Ralph Smedley was a continuing education officer beginning in 1904 and founded many oratory clubs to give advanced high school students the opportunity to give short speeches in a set setting. However, these clubs often disintegrated after the founder left. The first club to survive the departure of the club's founder was "Smedley Club Number 1," founded on October 22, 1924, at the Santa Ana (California) YMCA. Thereafter, there was rapid growth of the concept as well as the associated organization. As a non-profit organization, Toastmasters International was incorporated in California in December 1932. If you would like more information about Toastmasters International, we recommend the Wikipedia entry or else the own Homepage from Toastmasters International.

Where and how are we now part of Toastmasters International?

Here you will find an animation explaining and threading the organizational structure of Toastmasters International.

en_USEnglish
de_DEGerman en_USEnglish