About Us
History of Toastmasters
Toastmasters began as a series of speaking clubs organized by Ralph C. Smedley during his time working for the YMCA in Bloomington, Illinois, United States. As director of education at the YMCA, Smedley saw a need for the men in the community to learn how to speak, conduct meetings, plan programs and work on committees, and he wanted to help them.
Smedley decided to organize a club where men could learn these skills in a social environment, and they responded well to the concept. He named the group the Toastmasters Club; "toastmaster" was a popular term that referred to a person who gave toasts at banquets and other occasions.
The first unofficial Toastmasters meeting was held March 24, 1905. Much like Toastmasters meetings today, the participants took turns leading and speaking at each meeting. Smedley and the older, more experienced men evaluated the short speeches, while the younger men were invited to join in. However, as Smedley accepted positions at other YMCAs—in Illinois and later, in San Jose, California—those first fledgling clubs lacked leadership and did not flourish.
In 1922, Smedley began working at the newly organized YMCA in Santa Ana, California, and for the first two years, his time was spent building a home for the organization. However, his passion to help others learn to speak and lead remained. Once the new YMCA building was christened in April of 1924, he was able to introduce the idea of Toastmasters to his colleagues, and organize the Toastmasters club that eventually became Club No. 1 of Toastmasters International. The club’s first meeting was held at the YMCA building on October 22, 1924. Word spread about Smedley's Toastmasters club and soon people in surrounding communities and other states were asking how they could start their own.
Since that first Toastmasters meeting in 1924, millions of men and women have benefited from the Toastmasters experience. And the organization continues to grow both domestically and internationally. The organization's membership currently exceeds 357,000 in more than 16,600 clubs in 143 countries.
The first Toastmasters club was formed in Qatar in 1996, which is Doha Toastmasters Club.
History of EF Toastmasters
Engineers Forum (Qatar) is an organization of Indian expatriate engineering professionals of Keralite origin, living and working in the State of Qatar. It is an affiliate of Indian Cultural Center (ICC), the Official Body of Indian expatriate community functioning under the patronage of Embassy of India for the purpose of advancement of sports, social and cultural activities of the Indian community in Qatar. EF Toastmasters club was launched by Engineers Forum for the development of its members in communication and leadership.
Five speechcraft sessions were conducted immediately after the first demo meeting, which was held at ICC (Indian Cultural Centre, Doha, Qatar) premises.
The first session of speechcraft program of EF Toastmasters was held on 18-October-2011 at 6:45 PM at Indian Club (Doha, Qatar), it was the second official meeting of the club. In the first speechcraft session, three educational modules were presented, namely, ”Orientation to Toastmasters” by TM Raghavan, ”Reveal yourself” by TM Sameer H Moosa and ”Speechcraft program” by TM Subha Anupindi. During the period of five sessions, various Education modules were presented including “How to Organize your speech”,” Impromptu speaking”, ” Creating an Introduction”, ” Evaluate to motivate”, ”Toastmasters Education Program”, ”Using Body Language”, and ”Voice Modulation.”
The first regular meeting was conducted on 24th January 2012. First speech contest of the EF Toastmasters club conducted on 15th and 28th February 2012.
A Gavel’s club was launched by EF Toastmasters later for the children aged between 12 and 18 years. The first meeting of the Gavel Club was held on 23rd December 2012 at Indian Club at 7 PM.
EF Toastmasters membership is open to the members of Engineers Forum.
The Vision of the Toastmasters Club
Toastmaster Clubs provide a supportive and positive learning experience in which members are empowered to develop communication and leadership skills, resulting in greater self-confidence and personal growth.
Meeting Schedule of EF Toastmasters
We meet on the second and fourth Tuesdays of every month.
How to Become a Member of EF Toastmasters
If you are interested to become a member of the club, the easiest way is to fill up the contact form and submit. It would be better if you can include your telephone number in the message. We will get back to you and provide you with the details for joining the club.
Executive Committee of the Club for 2022-2023
President: Lineesh Nadukkudi
Vice President Education: Ranjith Sukumar
Vice President Membership: Thomas Alex
Vice President Public Relations: Rijas Abdu
Secretary: Shivkumar Jadge
Treasurer: Akhil Chandran
Sergeant at Arms: Rajesh S
Immediate Past President: Harris Babu
Do you want to know more?
To know more about EF Toastmasters, please fill up the contact form, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.