Toastmasters were born in 1924 by Ralph Smedley. Smedley worked as a director of education and observed that many of his students had a lack of communication skills, so he decided to create the 1st Toastmaster club. Almost 100 years later, Toastmasters’ global network is made of more than 16000 clubs in 141 countries, involving a community of about 350000 members.

The Lisbon Toastmasters Club (1st Toastmaster club in Portugal) was founded in 2006 by João Mendonça and his associates. Until mid-2017, the meetings were held at NOVA IMS, located in São Sebastião. In August 2017, the Club moved to new premises at Instituto Superior Técnico. Since then, the meetings are held every Tuesday at 8 p.m., in Civil Engineering building (amphitheatre VA2).

Meeting Format: Each Toastmasters meeting is divided into three major parts: 1) Prepared Speeches; 2) Improvised Speeches; 3) Feedback. Thus, the participants will develop their communication and leadership skills at the same time.

Upcoming events:
• 5th March (5.30 p.m.) – Workshop “How to master the art of public speaking”, organised by NAPE and LTC
• 13th March (7.45 p.m.) – Special session commemorating the “World Speech Day”, to be held at Lisbon Toastmasters Club
• 3rd April (7.45 p.m.) – Lisbon Toastmasters Club speech contest