June is designated National Effective Communication Month, highlighting the importance of good communication in our personal and professional lives. As Toastmasters, we appreciate eve ry meeting as a celebration of effective communication that empowers each member to elevate his or her communication and leadership skills. Toastmaster clubs provide a safe space to practice these skills in a mutually supportive environment. Whether it’s p racticing new techniques when presenting project speeches, improving our grammar and vocabulary, exercising time management skills, being a great listener, or learning to give specific, positive, and helpful feedback – each meeting provides ample opportuni ties to hone our communication skills. completion, and building effective teams. All of these growth opportunities work in tandem to provide a healthy boost of selfself-confidence, which builds incrementally at each meeting.
This month’s contributors agree d that National Effective Communication Month was the perfect th eme for this final edition of Synergy for the 2020 2020-2021 year. Bobby Blackmon opines that connection is the key to effective communication, requiring us, as speakers, to know our audience, our topic, and ourselves ( Page 14 ). What can we do to communicate more effectively? Maria Martinez offers a few pertinent recommendations to achieve this goal ( Page 10 ). Overwhelmed with Information overload? Debi Jo Londono ( Page 5 5) shares her District plan t o focus on clear, concise, and consistent communication to help us manage the barrage of communication that may overwhelm us.
