When you run things, communication stops being a nice-to-have. It's how you win the work or the funding, how the plan gets understood, and how the team stays behind you on a Monday morning. That's as true of a school, a charity or a sports club as it is of a company — and the club is a standing rehearsal space for all of it.
You already get plenty of practice speaking. What you stop getting is anyone willing to tell you honestly what landed and what didn't.
When you're the one in charge, feedback runs uphill through a filter. People tell you it went well. Nobody mentions that the middle third lost the room, or that the message everyone actually took away wasn't the one you intended. A speaking club solves that narrow, useful problem: it puts you in front of people who have no stake in flattering you — and who have a structured habit of telling you precisely what they saw.
The case that wins the contract or the funding, and the everyday communication that decides whether people follow you. Both are the same skill wearing different clothes.
Team briefings, all-hands, the announcement that isn't good news. There's a real difference between informing a room and moving one — it comes down to structure, delivery and conviction, and all three improve with practice and feedback.
Sales pitches, tenders, funding applications, the case to a board or a committee — the ten minutes that decide whether you get the contract or the grant. People buy clarity and conviction, and being right is not, on its own, enough to carry either.
Networking events, panels, local media, open evenings, AGMs, and the thirty seconds where someone asks what it is you actually do. Being able to explain the whole thing clearly and without waffle is worth far more than it sounds.
Difficult questions, an unhappy client or parent, a negotiation, a team meeting that's gone sideways. Thinking clearly while under pressure is a trainable skill rather than a personality trait — and it's trained at every meeting.
The second reason people in charge get involved: sponsoring staff or volunteers into the club, as a development route that costs a fraction of commercial training.
Staff join as ordinary members and work through a suitable programme for them. What makes it genuinely useful for an organisation is the elective projects — each member chooses projects that suit their role, so the practice maps onto the job instead of sitting beside it. These are real projects from the programme:
Active Listening, Understanding Conflict Resolution, Managing a Difficult Audience and Focus on the Positive — close to what a difficult call actually demands, whether the person on the other end is a customer, a patient or a parent.
Connect with Storytelling, Inspire Your Audience, Question-and-Answer Session and Make Connections Through Networking. Staff practise the pitch in a friendly room before using it on a prospect, a funder or a committee.
Public Relations Strategies, Building a Social Media Presence, Write a Compelling Blog and Create a Podcast — for whoever is the public voice of your organisation, online and off.
The club runs the Pathways education programme from Toastmasters International. You choose a track, work through five levels of projects at your own pace, and earn a recognised digital badge at each level.
Most people assume that means a public speaking course. Several of the tracks currently on offer are closer to leadership curricula that happen to be delivered through speaking — which is what makes them useful once presenting itself is no longer your problem. Four are worth a look if you lead people.
Focuses on leadership and communication styles, the effect of conflict on a group, and the skills needed to defuse and direct it — alongside strategies for driving change through an organisation. It culminates in a project applying your leadership skills in practice.
Strategies for building connections with the people around you, understanding what actually motivates them, and leading small groups to get things done. Includes projects on emotional intelligence and motivating others, and finishes with a full team-building project.
Built around negotiating a positive outcome, conflict resolution and leading in difficult situations — the complex conversations that come with running things. It culminates in a High Performance Leadership project of your own design.
The strategic side: planning how you communicate across an organisation, sharing information with a group, and communicating change well. It culminates in developing and launching a long-term vision for your business or your career.
For anyone on your team who is genuinely nervous about speaking: a step-by-step route of ten speeches, three levels and a personal mentor.
Thinking on your feet and knowing how you come across — useful on both sides of a hiring conversation, not just for candidates.
Presentations, important speeches, college, a love of words — the other reasons people walk through the door in Wicklow.
Why not come along as our guest, meet some club members and see what you think? No pressure to speak.
Come along as our guest