The Beginnings of Toastmasters
As Educational Director of the "Y" he discovered there was a need for training in speech. He began to design a club and struggled for a name. The General Secretary of the "Y", George Sutton, suggested calling it a Toastmasters club. The boys liked the name and the club was a success. At each club meeting, there was a rotation of duties with members taking turns at presiding and speaking. Short speeches were evaluated by Ralph and the other older men, and the boys were invited to join in the evaluation to learn more. The club performed its intended purpose as leadership and speech improved in the other educational groups with which these young men were associated.
The club only lasted a year after Ralph Smedley moved to the YMCA at Rock Island, Illinois as General Secretary in 1910. He organized a Toastmasters Club at the Rock Island "Y" which soon reached a membership of 75. When Ralph Smedley left the Rock Island "Y", the Toastmasters Club there also soon perished.
After he spent over two years with an architect working on YMCA architecture he accepted the post of YMCA Secretary at San Jose, California in September 1919, and soon had a Toastmasters Club flourishing at his new YMCA. Again the club lasted only a short time after he moved to Santa Ana, California in 1922.
Read more about this topic: Ralph C. Smedley
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