Keith Lee (right) looks at his wife Laurel Korbo as she presents during a Toastmasters meeting. (submitted photo/Keith Lee)

By Aaron Schulze

Melfort Toastmasters

Melfort could get Toastmasters chapter

Jan 9, 2020 | 2:19 PM

An international educational organization that aims to build communication and leadership skills hopes to get settled in Northeast Saskatchewan.

Keith Lee and Laurel Korbo moved their family to Melfort in April and are in the beginning stage of establishing an official Toastmasters club in the area.

“The mission of Toastmasters is to empower individuals to be more effective communicators and leaders,” Lee told northeastNOW. “The ability for people to connect with one another through the gift of speech and meeting together, it’s so powerful. I’m hopeful we can bring Toastmasters to Melfort and area so more people can come together as a community.”

Lee said he’s been a Toastmasters member since 2003 when he lived in Calgary, serving as a club officer, district officer, and ran leadership training programs with the group. He credits Toastmasters for helping him meet his wife and other friends and build the skills he needs for his job as an employment instructor with the Prince Albert Multicultural Council.

With the three closest Toastmasters clubs in a 150-mile radius to the northeast being in Humboldt and Prince Albert, Lee also hopes setting up a club in Melfort can lessen the travel barrier for interested members in the northeast.

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The Melfort chapter won’t be recognized as an official Toastmasters club until it reaches at least 20 members. To gauge interest, Lee and Korbo will host demo meetings every Thursday evening in January at the Kerry Vickar Centre.

Demo meetings, as Lee describes, are a condensed version of a Toastmasters meeting. It includes practicing prepared speeches, impromptu speaking and table topics, and giving and receiving feedback. Lee said the remainder of the demo meeting is dedicated to answering questions and concerns regarding Toastmasters.

“If the response is promising we’ll arrange more dates,” he said. “One of the projects that has potential for the spring is to run the speech craft… a four or six session workshop where people can learn public speaking skills on a low commitment basis. As to how long exactly we’ll commit to it, time will tell. I’m committed to the program regardless, but if we can help start a chapter here, that will definitely allow my wife and I to help engage and hopefully make a difference for people.”

The first Melfort Toastmasters demo meeting is on Thursday, Jan. 7 at the Kerry Vickar Centre at 7 p.m.

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow