By Chris Faulkner
for The Beacon
Public speaking used to be the No. 1 fear for people.
It’s understandable, then, why local chapters of the Toastmasters International organization struggle to get members.
Mary Schulte, vice president of the North Dodge club in Iowa City, said one person asked her when approached to join the club, “Do you have to speak?”
“Well ... no,” Schulte responded, “but that is kind of the point.”
Iowa City is a long way from Burlington. But the same COVID-19 virus that led to the Burlington Toastmasters group folding is the virus that led to the more frequent use of Zoom meetings.
The technology enables the lone Burlington Toastmaster, Karen Piper, to join the 11-member North Dodge club from noon to 1 p.m. every Tuesday.
It takes 20 members to start a new club, but Piper is hoping that if Des Moines County residents are willing to learn how to speak better and gain more confidence, having a remote format may be more appealing.
As for concerns about speaking in public, Toastmasters’ whole point is to practice in front of a smaller group that’s more forgiving.
It’s been a bigger plus for Piper, who was part of the Burlington club from 2001 to 2012 before leaving due to health issues.
Piper had been a licensed massage therapist before working at then-Great River Medical Center and was asked by a massage therapist there to address a “few people” about her skill.
She agreed, but then, there was the crowd.
“We walk in the door, and there was 150 people,” Piper said.
“She took me up to the stage and put a microphone on me. I swear I could see my heart pulse through my shirt and sweat go down my back, and I don’t usually sweat,” Piper said.
“The only thing that saved me was I knew the subject.”
Her son, Ryan Whitham, came to the rescue.
He told Karen that she should join Toastmasters as his corporation regularly sent its employees to Toastmasters meetings.
Piper checked around and found the local chapter.
“It helped me feel more confident,” she said. “I have given presentations to clubs, organizations. I have been able to talk to my church.”
It helped at her work, which by that time was at Great River.
She even received a raise because she could handle presentations, which came in handy for her work in cardiac, pulmonary, and hospice.
“Had it not been for Toastmasters, I would not have done a good job,” Piper said.
The dues are $52 every six months and pro-rated depending on when a person joins.
When Piper’s health began to improve, she got back into the Burlington group, but COVID concerns shut down the meetings and people gradually pulled out.
She went online and discovered the North Dodge club.
“It was one of the closest ones I could find,” she said, but there are members at North Dodge from as far away as Austin, Texas, and Seattle.
The club had met at the Pearson Education company building in Iowa City, but now, members enjoy the comforts of their own homes. Piper said she dresses up when it’s a week she gives a speech and dresses more casually when she doesn’t.
There is a downside to Zoom meetings for a public speaking group, however.
“It’s hard to get the body language across,” Schulte said.
She said the group hopes to have hybrid sessions, returning to in-person but allowing remote followers such as Piper to take part.