I'm currently a happy member. I'm getting a lot of value by voluntarily exposing myself to talking and it has thus far made me more aware of the way I speak, t

I'm currently a happy member. I'm getting a lot of value by voluntarily exposing myself to talking and it has thus far made me more aware of the way I speak, the way my body reacts and that the stage fright is something that never really goes away, even for "experienced" speakers. To get a feel for the structure, meetings are commonly comprised of three parts: 1) prepared speeches (these are members doing their assignments according to a specific course they're working towards), 2) table topics (impromptu speeches, also available for guests to participate), 3) evaluation and feedback. Prepared speeches are the most visible thing and a way to progress towards the completion of a course. Table topics are 1 to 2 minute speeches in reply a given situation, that can be a question, a picture, a situation or anything else. It's a practice for getting better at unexpected speaking opportunities and usually a way for a guest to see how valuable the feedback is and the existence of a real need to improve. They're moderated by topics master. Big part of the meeting is evaluation and feedback, which is a thing that's rarely given in real life. Toastmasters make for a playground where you can practice giving feedback. There's several evaluation roles in a meeting: speech evaluator, timer, ah-counter, grammarian and general evaluator. I personally see most growth in the evaluation roles, as they can be quite difficult to master. The event is held together by someone in the role of toastmaster, which opens, moderates and closes the event. THEN AGAIN, similarly to the number of ice cream tastes, there's also a number of ways the Toastmasters meetings can be held. For someone who dreads public speaking, a critical feedback might kill off the willingness to speak entirely. Culture of acceptance can differ widely between clubs, so my advice would be to visit multiple clubs, if possible, to see which you find most fitting. If you do decide to join, the Toastmasters membership fee is 90$ yearly + 20$ new members fee, which is usually not that big of a deal for any decent human in tech, but clubs might have higher fees to cover other expenses, eg. renting a room.