Broad Ripple Toastmasters

Death. Taxes. Public Speaking.
It’s hard to make death or taxes fun, but Broad Ripple Toastmasters is doing their best to make public speaking less painful, and sometimes, yes… even fun. This group meets every Tuesday morning upstairs at the Bethlehem Lutheran Church at 52^nd and Central. Official start time is 7:00 am, although true to the relaxed nature of this group, the actual start time is closer to 7:10.
Who gets up at 7:00 am to practice public speaking? If this group is any indication, it would be some mixture of the following: accountants, lawyers, small business owners, a Children’s Museum manager, a nonprofit director, and more.
The thing I love about this group is that the people are so great, you can’t help but feel completely comfortable as soon as you enter the room. You can really see that everyone in the room genuinely likes each other and the good-​natured ribbing is fun to watch. This group knows that public speaking is hard and they are good about being encouraging while at the same time gently pointing out areas for improvement.
So why wait until you have to give the Big Speech before you figure out how to do it? Wouldn’t it be better to hang out with some new friends and get comfortable speaking so that when it counts you’re not covered in flop sweat, avoiding eye contact, and mumbling?
I’ve found Broad Ripple Toastmasters to be a great way to help me improve my speaking skills and develop some great new friendships in the process.
*Note: I am a member of this group, although there is no financial incentive to be gained here. Membership fees are minimal and nothing is bought/​sold as a result of membership.