Nashville Business Owner Earns Distinguished Toastmaster Award

As part of the Toastmasters progressive educational track, Yvonne Perry gave a 1-hour leadership presentation from the Successful Club Series, “How to Conduct Productive Meetings,” on June 12 at Fleet One in Nashville, Tennessee. It was an important event because it was the final presentation she needed to complete her DTM (Distinguished Toastmaster Award). The DTM is the highest level of accomplishment a Toastmaster can achieve and is a major milestone for any Toastmaster.

Good speaking and leadership skills are important to everyone—especially business entrepreneurs, people in sales, and those who earn their living as writers. Yvonne Perry is both a freelance writer and the owner of Write On! Creative Writing Services, who says that Toastmasters has helped her accomplish her business and personal goals.

“Toastmasters has helped me improve my communication and leadership skills during our club meetings,” says Perry. “We are both teachers and students as we learn from one another. We are a group of like-minded people striving for self-improvement in a safe and encouraging environment.”

Leadership cannot be learned in a day. It takes practice. In Toastmasters, members build leadership skills by organizing and conducting meetings and motivating others to assist them in reaching a common goal. Club leadership roles and a leadership development program also offer opportunities to learn and practice.

Being able to communicate effectively is an important part of any success strategy. Joining a Toastmasters Club will prove to be one of the best investments you’ve ever made because it is an investment in yourself that will help you can become the successful, confident person you want to be. By actively participating in your Toastmasters Club you will learn to:

• Improve your leadership skills
• Listen to others and give constructive feedback
• Organize your thoughts and present them clearly
• Think and respond confidently

In a Toastmasters club, members learn by speaking to groups and working with others in a supportive environment. A typical Toastmasters club is made up of 20 to 30 people who meet once a week for about an hour. Each meeting gives everyone an opportunity to practice.

As a Toastmaster, Yvonne puts her speaking skills to good use on her weekly podcast. Writers in the Sky Podcast contains content-rich material to help freelance writers, and authors aspiring to publish a book, as well as those who love to read. The show, which offers author interviews, book discussions, tips on writing, marketing and publishing, can be downloaded at no cost on iTunes.com or accessed from Yvonne’s blog at http://yvonneperry.blogspot.com .

Toastmasters is a highly effective program with a successful track record for over 75 years. Since its inception in 1924, Toastmasters International has helped over four million men and women become better communicators and better leaders. Currently, there are about 190,000 members in 9,000 clubs in 70 countries around the world.

To locate a club near you, visit www.toastmasters.org .