Life in Balance: Amit Chaudhary’s Blog
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Toastmasters International is an organization of clubs around the world which help members in public speaking. The clubs tend to be small in size to ensure everyone gets a chance to speak.

Late Jan 2008, I went ahead and attended the Yahoo ToastMasters club in Sunnyvale, called Yapsters as guest. It was definitely worthwhile and I became a member and have delivered my first speech.
It is obviously about public speaking, however it is useful in many ways:

• The core approach is to do a series of 10 speeches with each focusing on a certain aspect of speaking (Speech organization, Body language including eye contact, Vocal variety)

• You will automatically find your own areas which need focus, be it planning for a speech, english language, fear of being in front of an audience.

• There are stories to hear and things to learn from other’s speeches. I enjoyed one about the Mexico desert where the stars touch the ground at the horizon and look forward to others.

• You become part of a highly motivated and ambitious group.

• There is a leadership track with 10 activities, which you choose to go on that instead of or in addition to the public speaking track.

I would recommend it and am glad I added it to my todo list when Steve Pavlina mentioned it in his blog. It has become one of the things I look forward to.
If you would like to find a club near you, please use the following link: http://www.toastmasters.org/find/default.asp