Lands End Toastmasters Club

San Francisco's Lands End Toastmasters Club meets at the San Francisco VA Medical Center located at 4150 Clement Street (and 42nd Avenue) in the Outer Richmond District of San Francisco. Meetings are held from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Wednesdays of every month. We meet in Conference Room 1A-122 (known as the Teak Room) on Floor 1 of Building 200 (Clinics Building).

We are very much a San Francisco "Community" club. That means we are open to anyone who would like to join. We encourage you to drop by for a visit and observe or just jump right in and participate. Members from other Toastmasters International clubs are always welcome.

For more information about San Francisco's Lands End Toastmasters Club contact:

Ms. Gene Gibson at (415) 750-2250

Lands End Toastmasters Club is a proud member of

Toastmasters International, District 4, the Golden Gate District.

Lands End Toastmasters Club is Club #3976 (Area D2, Division D).

The Lands End Toastmasters Club Web Site was last updated on:

October 21, 2005

About Toastmasters:

Lands End Toastmasters Mission: "To provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment in which every member has the opportunity to develop communication and leadership skills, which in turn foster self-confidence and personal growth."

In short a Toastmasters club is a laboratory for learning to get up and speak in front of others. The audience always wants you to succeed and mistakes have no penalty. What better way to learn and practice public speaking? Meetings are held in a businesslike fashion but the atmosphere is friendly. Members learn by doing: giving speeches, receiving evaluations, and observing others. Toastmasters provides a comprehensive set of materials to aid in the development of these skills. These materials address everything from the use of body language to dealing with stage fright. It is a simple and powerful approach to building skills that are useful in ones daily life in both the community and workplace.

Club Meetings:

Meetings revolve around two main activities:
The first activity is "Table Topics" where someone brings in a theme or list of questions to use as topics to speak on. Members of the audience are called upon to speak "extemporaneously" (performed with little or no preparation) for a couple of minutes. This exercise in "thinking on your feet" gives everyone a chance to speak and has a very practical purpose. As a visitor you are welcome to participate or to pass.

The second activity involves prepared speeches. Often these speeches utilize the Toastmasters "manuals" that guide one through a "lesson plan" for public speaking. The topic itself is always up to the individual but the goals of the speech will vary: using body language effectively, organizing the speech, and persuading others are some examples. Prepared speeches are typically 4-7 minutes in length.

The Education Speeches are voluntary prepared speeches that highlight various public speaking educational topics to help both the speaker and the audience members gain expertise or reinforcement in the skills necessary to be a good public speaker.

Joining Lands End Toastmasters:

Club dues are $27 for six months membership to Toastmasters International and $3 for membership to Lands End Toastmasters club (DUES TOTAL of $30), collected twice a year on a prorated basis. This includes a subscription to the well written and always practical monthly magazine called, you guessed it, "The Toastmaster."

There is also a new member fee of $20 which is a one-time cost and gets you several professional and educational booklets ("Gestures", "Your Speaking Voice", "Effective Speech Evaluation") and the basic speaker's "manual". The manual guides you through 10 speeches concentrating on different aspects of speaking in each one. You are always free to pick the topic for "manual" speeches.

Finding a Toastmasters club near you:

Go to the Links Page. The Toastmasters International site has listings of all clubs indexed by geographical location. The District 4 site has listings for the area from Monterey to San Francisco and links to club web sites where applicable.

Or you may call the District 4 Hotline at 415-437-4029 or 408-491-9204 to find a club in the Monterey to San Francisco area. For clubs in the East and North Bay (District 57) call 800-464-8657.

�2005 Lands End Toastmasters

Visitors to Lands End Toastmasters Club Website.