Joining Our Club

Before joining, we recommend that you attend at least one meeting as a guest.  Guests are always welcome and made to feel at home. We only ask that you register (for free) through Eventbrite.

The only real restriction for membership is that one must be at least 18 years of age.  However, everyone is welcome to attend as a guest.

The cost of a twelve month membership is $150 which covers dues levied by Toastmasters International as well as the McGill Toastmasters Club.

There is also a new member fee (one-time fee) of $50 which consists of:

-$30 to cover the Toastmasters International processing charges and gain access to the educational materials PATHWAYS; and

-$20 McGill Toastmasters Club enrolment fee.

For this small fee, you will get:

  • Weekly meetings with fellow public speaking apprentices
  • The Toastmasters International monthly magazine
  • A friendly supportive environment
  • Plenty of educational materials
  • The chance to interact with other clubs in joint meetings

The running of a regular meeting

Hi prospective members!

So you’re wondering how a typical McGill Toastmasters meeting is run? Here’s how it goes;

The meeting starts at 17h45 every Tuesday.

The first part of the meeting consists of a short introduction of the guests and the head table, an introduction of the “word of the day” by the meeting’s grammarian, updates about club activities in the “business session” – plus four short roles and three improvised speeches.

The short roles, which members sign up for in advance, are 1 minute long. They include:
1- Public Speaking Tip: a tip on how to improve one’s public speaking
2- Moment of Reflection: the speaker’s reflection about a topic of their choice; It could be something they’ve observed, a quote, a news event, a parable, etc…
3- Moment of Humour: a joke or retelling of something humorous
4- Toast: a toast to a person of note

After the short roles, comes the improvised speeches. We call them “Table Topics”. This is a challenging yet fun part of the meeting. Three questions/topics are proposed and three random people are invited to give a speech based on the question or topic, without any preparation. Adrenaline shoots through the roof here! There’s a lot of laughter too! Table Topics are a great way to challenge your creativity and to become a pro at impromptu speeches!

At 18h35 we take a 10 minute break during which people socialize and enjoy free goodies (juice, coffee, tea etc…).

The second part of the meeting consists of three prepared speeches.
In this part, three people deliver speeches that are 5 to 7 minutes long.  These speeches are prepared in advance (usually days or weeks in advance).

The third and last part of the meeting is the evaluation session.
Three people evaluate the three speakers.  Each evaluator has three minutes to report on what they felt the respective speaker did well, and what they believe the speaker can improve upon for next time. This is a valuable part of the meeting since we all want to improve.

The meeting ends at 20h. People socialize right after, and everybody feels energized to SMASH the rest of their week!

To secure your seat as a guest for an upcoming meeting, please register here on Eventbrite.