Education Program
Toastmasters' education program is called Pathways. It helps you learn communication and leadership skills that you need to succeed. Pathways allows you to:
Dynamic Leadership
This path helps you build your skills as a strategic leader. The projects on this path focus on understanding leadership and communication styles, the effect of conflict on a group and the skills needed to defuse and direct conflict. These projects also emphasize the development of strategies to facilitate change in an organization or group, interpersonal communication and public speaking. This path culminates in a project focused on applying your leadership skills.
Effective Coaching
This path helps you build your skills as a positive communicator and leader. The projects on this path focus on understanding and building consensus, contributing to the development of others by coaching and establishing strong public speaking skills. Each project emphasizes the importance of effective interpersonal communication. This path culminates in a "High Performance Leadership" project of your design.
Engaging Humor
This path is designed to help you build your skills as a humorous and engaging public speaker. The projects on this path focus on understanding your sense of humor and how that sense of humor translates to engaging audience members. The projects contribute to developing an understanding of how to effectively use humor in a speech, including challenging situations and impromptu speeches. This path culminates in an extended humorous speech that will allow you to apply what you learned.
Innovative Planning
This path helps you build your skills as a public speaker and leader. The projects on this path focus on developing a strong connection with audience members when you present, speech writing and speech delivery. The projects contribute to building an understanding of the steps to manage a project, as well as creating innovative solutions. This path culminates in a "High Performance Leadership" project of your design.
Leadership Development
This path helps you build your skills as an effective communicator and leader. The projects on this path focus on learning how to manage time, as well as how to develop and implement a plan. Public speaking and leading a team are emphasized in all projects. This path culminates in the planning and execution of an event that will allow you to apply everything you learned.
Motivational Strategies
This path helps you build your skills as a powerful and effective communicator. The projects focus on learning strategies for building connections with the people around you, understanding motivation and successfully leading small groups to accomplish tasks. This path culminates in a comprehensive team-building project that brings all of your skills together, including public speaking.
Persuasive Influence
This path helps you build your skills as an innovative communicator and leader. The projects on this path focus on how to negotiate a positive outcome together with building strong interpersonal communication and public speaking skills. Each project emphasizes developing leadership skills to use in complex situations, as well as creating innovative solutions to challenges. This path culminates in a "High Performance Leadership" project of your design.
Presentation Mastery
This path helps you build your skills as an accomplished public speaker. The projects on this path focus on learning how an audience responds to you and improving your connection with audience members. The projects contribute to developing an understanding of effective public speaking technique, including speech writing and speech delivery. This path culminates in an extended speech that will allow you to apply what you learned.
Strategic Relationships
This path helps you build your skills as a leader in communication. The projects on this path focus on understanding diversity, building personal and/or professional connections with a variety of people and developing a public relations strategy. Communicating well interpersonally and as a public speaker is emphasized in each project. The path culminates in a project to apply your skills as a leader in a volunteer organization.
Team Collaboration
This path helps you build your skills as a collaborative leader. The projects on this path focus on active listening, motivating others and collaborating with a team. Each project contributes to building interpersonal communication and public speaking skills. This path culminates in a project focused on applying your leadership skills.
Visionary Communication
This path helps you build your skills as a strategic communicator and leader. The projects on this path focus on developing your skills for sharing information with a group, planning communications and creating innovative solutions. Speech writing and speech delivery are emphasized in each project. This path culminates in the development and launch of a long-term personal or professional vision.
Each path is made up of five levels of increasing complexity. The program is designed this way so you're always building on what you learned in the previous level. All learning paths contain the following levels:
Level 1: Mastering Fundamentals
Level 2: Learning Your Style
Level 3: Increasing Knowledge
Level 4: Building Skills
Level 5: Demonstrating Expertise
Every path has required and elective projects. Path recognition is achieved when a member completes 14 projects across all 5 levels - a combination of 10 required projects and 4 elective projects chosen from a comprehensive list covering a variety of subjects. Each project includes at least one speech. Though members are required to complete 4 elective projects, they have the option to complete as many as they would like.
