Choosing a Professional Toastmaster

What does being a 'qualified' toastmaster mean?
Qualify as a Professional Toastmaster with the Guild of Professional Toastmasters

Great care should always be taken when selecting a Toastmaster for any kind of function. The red tailcoat and the gold medallion on a collaret worn round the neck, does not in itself mean that the person wearing them has been properly trained and appropriately qualified as a true professional.

All members of the Guild of Professional Toastmasters have been through a rigorous training programme. This begins with an interview with the training officers, so that they can judge whether the individual seeking to join the Guild is likely to be a suitable candidate for training and carrying out the demanding role of a Toastmaster. An intensive full-time training course then follows, where classroom tuition forms only part of a varied curriculum. Practical sessions, using microphones and professional public address systems, performing scenario based exercises in front of bright spotlights, before a specially imported “crowd” form an important part of the course.

Only when a trainee has completed the course to the satisfaction of the training officers, is the diploma of the Professional Toastmasters’ Academy awarded. But their journey to Guild membership has only just started. Visiting functions, in person, with Fellows of the Guild, to watch the more experienced Toastmasters in action, is a requirement, taking in several different types of event with different Fellows.

A 2½ hour written examination then takes place with a high pass mark and if that was not enough, trainees have to undergo practical examination at a minimum of two different functions. These are real functions at which the trainee has been engaged, where two different Fellows of the Guild will carry out observations, to ensure that the very high standards of the Guild are being upheld by the person wishing to join. It is only then, when a trainee has completed this procedure successfully, that the Toastmaster can apply to join the Guild of Professional Toastmasters. So you will see that we are all fully trained and qualified.

You can be confident that a Professional Toastmaster from the Professional Guild is amply qualified to assist you with your special event.

The Guild fully participates in Continuous Professional Development (CPD), ensuring that all our Toastmasters keep up to date with changes in client needs in the 21st Century.

TRUD-KEITH

A recently admitted Fellow of the Guild, receiving her medallion of office from Chairman, Keith Reading, FGPT