With many business people wanting to improve their public speaking and overall confidence, La Grange Park’s Chamber of Commerce enlisted the help of an iconic American brand-Toastmasters International.
“How many of you would like to present better,” Fred Boskovich asked the crowd at the Chamber’s monthly meeting Dec. 21 at Hop District, 23 E. 31st Street. “If you want to be able to speak better, present better, Toastmasters is the organization for you.”
Boskovich, 70, a retired sales executive, has been a Toastmaster member for 8 years and currently serves as the vice president of public relations for the West Suburban Toastmasters Club.
The West Suburban Club started in 1951, and already has a solid presence in La Grange Park, holding its bimonthly meetings at Plymouth Place Senior Living. The Club is also ranked as the 100th oldest Toastmasters club in the world.
Boskovich spoke for about 30 minutes, giving his audience a detailed description of what the Toastmasters mission is and what a typical meeting involves.
He walked the audience through an entire meeting, beginning with the Pledge of Allegiance, hitting on the Inspirational thought of the day, introducing the functionaries — whose tasks are to evaluate the meeting’s speakers, serve as “wordmaster” to introduce a significant word to be included in the speeches, and time the speeches.
Boskovich stressed the attention to detail Toastmasters encouraged. One functionary is an “ah-counter,” so named because the individual’s task is weed out clichéd conversation and actually count the number of what Boskovich called “bridge” words, like ah, huh, well, and you know.
Another functionary’s duty is to time the speeches against the time limits set, important because, as he said, “you don’t want to have a run-on.”
After evaluations, and criticisms from other members, members vote on the best speaker.
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Boskovich stressed that the Toastmaster way is to provide a “safe, and supportive environment to practice public speaking.”
He encouraged people to get young adults in their families involved in a Toastmasters Club.
“I wish I would have done this when I was 30 years old,” Boskovich said. “I was in sales and marketing for 35 years, and this really makes you a better presenter … we have people there whose careers have flourished. “
He warned against the problem many have with public speaking — fear.
“It’s hard to get up here and speak to a group,” he said, admitting that even after his long years of experience, he was sometimes plagued by doubt.
Chamber members seemed receptive to Boskovich’s pitch.
“It was very good,” Chamber President Sheri Sauer said of the presentation. “Toastmasters is a great organization.”
Sauer said she would definitely recommend the organization to Chamber members and that she was looking into joining herself.
“It was a real interesting speech and it is something that is very useful to the community,” La Grange Park Library Marketing Director Janet Tencza, said. “I wasn’t aware of it personally and I’m glad it’s here in La Grange Park. It’s an important skill.”
La Grange Area Historical Society President Katherine Padgett spoke of her past experiences with Toastmasters.
“I did the Toastmaster program when I was working at a software company,” she said. “I can’t say enough good things about Toastmasters.”
Boskovich closed by noting the importance of communications for business people.
“Whatever business you’re in, whatever you do, if you can communicate better, you’re going to sell more, be more efficient, be more productive, and you’re going to make more money,” he said.
For further information on the West Suburban Toastmasters club, visit its website at 930.toastmastersclubs.org.
Hank Beckman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.