On the Rise is a group of young professionals that is sponsored by the Greater Greenwood Chamber of Commerce, the Johnson County Community Foundation, and Leadership Johnson County. They met this evening in the basement conference room at Stone Creek Dining in Greenwood.
Tonight’s meeting of On the Rise had guest speakers from Toastmasters of Indianapolis. This group meets at University of Indianapolis on Thursday evenings. They introduced what Toastmasters is in the form of a “mini-toastmasters” session. After introductions a member got in front of the group of 20 and presented a five minute “prepared” speech. Then an evaluator got up and gave constructive criticism in a very positive manner. Then the Toastmaster presented what they call Table Topics which are impromptu speeches. They are critiqued as well.
This was a glimpse into an organization I knew very little about before tonight. I am very intrigued by the group and would like to try out a couple of meetings and see if it is something I want to pursue. Public speaking is more a part of my job than I ever dreamed it would be, and I would like to be better at it. The Greater Greenwood chapter meets Friday mornings at Community Hospital South: http://greenwood.freetoasthost.org/membershipinfo.html I might start with that chapter then visit the Thursday evening chapter and see which (if either) I am most comfortable with.