Florida Toastmasters celebrates their 1000th meeting

Turning shy caterpillars into bright, engaging and confident butterflies are the successful professionals that comprise the Florida Toastmasters. Under the theme ‘A Celebration of Success’, these captains of conversation reached a rarely achieved milestone on Tuesday, 3 March.

Guests, celebrity past members and former presidents gathered to celebrate the club reaching a millennium of meetings. Legend goes that, after one encounter with the Wanderers Toastmasters, founder Terry Collins was hooked and established his very own club for the orators of Florida. Fourty-six years later the glasses remain raised for those who continue the legacy.

Notable past presidents in attendance were Tim Knights, Nikki Quinn and Michael Glencross, among others. Tim took the members and guests on a trip down memory lane, reminiscing about the flyer he picked up at the Florida Library that lured him to his first Toastmasters meeting. He nostalgically journeyed from the club’s peak membership of 54, almost 30 years ago, to it’s early 2000s slump and subsequent rejuvenation into what it is now.

Michael encouraged the youth to get involved in the club saying, “In addition to public speaking, it instils leadership and self-confidence. The sooner one joins the better.” Current president Robert de Kramer reiterated this during his opening address saying, “You can never unlearn what you gain here. It’s all about what is in your head.” The lost art of unscripted articulation can be rediscovered at The Huguenot Restaurant at Flora Centre every first and third Tuesday of the month.

Raise you glasses for a toast to the Florida Toastmasters.