Social Skills is a monthly column featuring community groups where you can meet new people through exercise or other enjoyable activities.
Rather than lords of bread and butter, Toastmasters is a worldwide group that focuses on improving members’ ability to speak publicly – or toast, say at weddings, or other events.
Formally founded by a dapper-looking Ralph C. Smedley in 1924 in California, Toastmasters has spread across the world, including Shenzhen, where the official website lists more than 40 groups that meet regularly.
Online, many gatherings are designated English, Chinese or bilingual, and list Shenzhen locations ranging from the CBD, Shekou to the factory outskirts.
“You have to do presentations, you have to prepare and deliver a speech,” says Veronica Chen, a Shenzhen-based art teacher and eight-year member of the group. “You inspire people and that’s why I like it.”
Each group has slightly different rules about joining, according to Chen, and contact information is available online. Member fees go to renting the space where events are held.
Chen says the cordial atmosphere results in cross-industry networking, as members work in fields ranging from education to high-powered finance.
The focus is on developing leadership and communication, but Shenzhen’s status as a city of singletons has actually lent the local branches an unofficial motto.
“Toastmasters has a slogan: where leaders are made,” says Chen. “But in Shenzhen, we have another slogan: where couples are made.”
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[Image via Toastmasters.org]
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