Learn to Speak from Your Heart.
Your words can change the world.

The First Hanseatic Toastmasters Club in Hamburg meets on the first, second and third Tuesdays of each month to practice public speaking, communication and leadership skills.

Join our next meeting

Is this you?

Fed up of being timid

You know it is time to take action, but it's really hard to step out of your comfort zone.

Not daring to speak up

Being the only one at company meetings who says nothing despite having so much to say.

Hesitant to take responsibility

Are you waiting for someone else to take charge and then think: "I could have done this" but you didn't speak up ...

Suffering from stage fright

You can easily speak to one person - but put you on a stage and you die a thousand deaths.

Lacking regular English practice

Your last active English conversation was at your vacation 5 years ago? You are an expat living in Hamburg and want to connect with other expats?

Blacking out during presentations

Despite your best efforts you lose your train of thought right in the middle of a presentation?

Join our Toastmasters Club in Hamburg and you
will become eloquent, confident & fluent
through the power of practice.

First Hanseatic Toastmasters Club in Hamburg

Join Our next Meeting(s)

2nd of April - regular in-person meeting 19:00-21:00

9th of April - regular in-person meeting 19:00-21:00

16th of April - regular in-person meeting 19:00-21:00

7th of May - regular in-person meeting 19:00-21:00

In-person at Staatliche Handelsschule Berliner Tor- Room 04,
Bei der Hauptfeuerwache 1, 20099 Hamburg

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Enter the building and go to the end of the corridor, on your right you will see a staircase, on the left side in front of the staircase is room 04, this is where the meeting will take place.

If you visit us as a guest - you are welcome to drop by spontaneously without prior notice.

If you are visiting for the first time, we recommend you arrive 15-10 min prior to the meeting to have enough time to settle. 

Club Member? Sign in to Easyspeak.

March 19th - Regular club meeting - alternative location in HAW Mensa due to school holidays

April 20th - Division A contest in Lüneburg. Please register with this link

At Mensa Berliner Tor - Studierendenwerk Hamburg, Berliner Tor 7, 20099 Hamburg - Enter the Mensa through the main entrance. Go up the stairs to the first floor or take the elevator to the first floor.

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Join our meetings online on Zoom.
Meeting ID: 843 5030 7107
Passcode: Hamburg

Join us on Zoom

Visiting the First Hanseatic Toastmasters Club - What to expect.

When and where

We meet every 1st, 2nd and 3rd Tuesday of the month from 7pm to 9pm. The third Tuesday is an online meeting via zoom.

How does it work?

As part of Toastmasters International we follow a proven structure and educational program (Pathways) to ensure the success of our members. Toastmasters International is a non-profit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of clubs.
Guests are welcome and you can bring friends as well. Toastmasters is considered the best kept secret in the world because most members become members through word of mouth. 

Structure of a Meeting

01. Introduction and prepared speech projects

We start the meeting with an introductory question, after which we introduce the roles. This is followed by the prepared speech projects. The Toastmaster of the Evening moderates the meeting.

02. Impromptu Table Topics Session

After a short break we proceed with the second half of the meeting, beginning with the Table Topics session. This is when everyone present has the chance to give an impromptu speech in response to a question or topic. Guests are encouraged to participate.

03. Evaluation Part

The last part of the meeting is when we give and receive feedback in an open and honest way. This allows for opportunities to improve our skillsets because it’s not just focused on what was done right but also outlines areas where specific improvement could be made as well!

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Benefits of Membership

Gain confidence

Develop confidence in front of an audience by practising on a regular basis and doing different speech projects.

Become a more effective speaker

Follow a proven education program (Pathways™) that will teach you the skills to be a more effective speaker on every occasion.

Improve your language skills

Each club meeting gives you an opportunity for English conversation and for learning new words.

Be a part of a supportive community

No matter how your speech comes across, you will always be applauded by a warm and supportive community.

Have lots of fun!

Enjoy every part of each evening, be entertained, moved, grow in a fun environment and watch others develop.

Effectively develop and present ideas

Present yourself better in your personal and professional life.

Become a better communicator

Receive feedback on your speech as you learn about your strengths and areas of improvement.

Offer and accept constructive criticism more objectively

Besides receiving feedback you will become adept at giving constructive criticism, helping you grow.

Become a member

Here's how you can develop leadership and communication skills through a membership:

Every meeting provides a structured opportunity to speak in front of an audience. We have roles like Toastmaster of the Evening – where you practice moderation skills, or Evaluator – where you listen closely to a speaker and then deliver a structured speech.

11 Paths in toastmasters, learning material, videos, interactive and many speech projects that you will prepare and deliver at meetings – and receive feedback to know exactly how you can improve.

Structured series of speeches to help you give you guidence and opportunity to actually practice those aspects of public speaking. other people want to practice putting their ghoutgs in order and want to practice that. valuable practice, all those things fun way of becoming better at giving 

11 Paths in toastmasters, learning material, videos, interactive and many speech projects that you will prepare and deliver at meetings – and receive feedback to know exactly how you can improve.

Toastmasters offers many opportunities to practice leadership by doing. Becoming part of the Club Executive Committee 

If you get too comfortable speaking in front of the audience of club members – once in a year there is a competition – where you prepare a speech and participate in the club and then the competition goes on to other levels with larger audiences up to the World Championship of Public Speaking. 

Every meeting provides a structured opportunity to speak in front of an audience. We have roles like Toastmaster of the Evening – where you practice moderation skills, or Evaluator – where you listen closely to a speaker and then deliver a structured speech.

11 Paths in toastmasters, learning material, videos, interactive and many speech projects that you will prepare and deliver at meetings – and receive feedback to know exactly how you can improve.

Toastmasters offers many opportunities to practice leadership by doing. Becoming part of the Club Executive Committee 

If you get too comfortable speaking in front of the audience of club members – once in a year there is a competition – where you prepare a speech and participate in the club and then the competition goes on to other levels with larger audiences up to the World Championship of Public Speaking. 

What our members say about the club

"The reason I stayed a member for such a long time is the overwhelming impression by the special atmosphere, the helping hand. As well as the community, my Toastmaster family and friends."
Silke
Member for 15 years
"I stayed for many years and my enthusiasm is still the same like on my very first day as a Club Member."
Li Ping
Member for 15 years
"I was like drawn into the club. I joined several nights as a guest and felt welcomed. And it was an amazing atmosphere. One of the great things about our club is the international outreach. We've got China, Hungary, America, Germany, Russia, Great Britain. We've got people from all over the world. We've got an attitude."
John
Member for 10 years
"I didn't realize how much fun it would be. I thought, well, this is good for me to develop. And then realizing I enjoy every evening and every part of it. Another surprise was, that I would take on leadership roles and actually enjoy it. So here I am."
Claudia
Current Club President, Member for 5 years
"First Hanseatic Toastmasters gave me the opportunity to really practice speaking on stage. It builds a form of confidence that no amount of practicing just by yourself can ever make up for. I learned to remain calm on stage even with technical failures."
Sofia
Member for 3 years

Become a member

A membership costs 66 € every 6 months, plus an admission fee of 30 € for the first time you sign up as a Toastmaster.
You are paying for your access to your learning material (online on toastmasters.org) – your first path is included in the admission fee.

To become a member of the First Hanseatic Toastmasters you need to fill out the membership application (last 3 pages of this document) and sumbit it to our Vice President Membership at vpm@first-hanseatic-toastmasters.de 

Membership application

To get the most out of your membership, follow these 3 tips from our Club Member, Distinguished Toastmaster and former Club President Csaba:

You will get the most benefits out of the experience if you join the meeting regularly and make progress, consider how you can make time for that. 

What do you want to achieve in Toastmasters?  Why is it important for you? The clearer picture you have of your goals, the better we can support you in reaching them. 

Once you become a member you can get mentorship from a more experienced member.

About the First Hanseatic Toastmasters Club in Hamburg

First Hanseatic Toastmasters is the oldest English-speaking Toastmasters Club in Hamburg with very diverse cultural, vocational and geographic backgrounds. We have experienced professional speakers and beginners alike. Competent speakers can be intimidating to newcomers at first, making them feel in the wrong place. However, the opposite is true, since they can provide good examples to learn from and give excellent feedback to help you grow thus providing an invaluable guidance for less experienced speakers.

You don't need to be an English master, and many of our members aren't native speakers. However we do have some native-speakers who are a great resource when it comes to using language correctly!

There’s no need to come in formal attire and you can wear whatever makes you feel most comfortable. We are also diverse with respect to age and gender, so everyone feels welcome at our meetings!

20

years of club history.

15

Active members from 9 nationalities

11

consecutive years in which we achieved Distinguished Club status

Club Executive Committee

The club has an executive committee consisting of eight Club Officers. These leadership roles cover various topics and are ideal for providing practical leadership experience such as taking on responsibilities and working with a team, which is a part of the Toastmasters’ mission.

The Committee meets regularly and takes care of many things behind the scenes that are necessary to successfully run the club, such as organizing regular meetings and special events.

There is no particular qualification required to become a Club Officer and any member can be elected. Elections take place the end of May. Club officer terms last from July through June the following year.

Meet Our Current Club Officers

FAQ

Questions you might be asking.

You can bring pen and paper if you want. Taking notes helps you remember what impressed you about a speech. Your feedback is very valuable to the speaker, so we provide slips to each person in the audience. After hearing the speech, you write your feedback on it and give it to the speaker.

We want you! Join one of our next club meetings as a guest and just observe. We encourage guests to attend up to 3 times. You’ll see how you will develop your skills at your own pace.

You can always go back to your seat without saying anything and we will clap because you made the effort to improve as a speaker.

You can use notes. As you gain more practice – you might speak without notes eventually as most experienced members do. Instead of taking notes it can be helpful to use little drawings because in a speech you are stressed and you can understand pictures faster than text.

You can also use slides like in Powerpoint or PDF slides or your favorite program. We have a large screen at our meeting room. Be sure to arrive early to test your device with our screen.

For some people it is. They attend to overcome stage fright and get better at public speaking and Toastmasters definitely makes it easier because we provide the most supportive environment for people to step out of their comfort zones.

The main focus in Toastmasters is to improve communication and leadership skills. Debate can be a part of it, especially in the leadership positions such as the Club Board and further Leadership roles beyond the club. …Toastmasters provides resources for a good debate. In a regular meeting you will be able to give speeches which are similar to parliamentary debates that are given in debating clubs.

There is a lot of resource material you can access as a Toastmaster. Our club organizes workshops from time to time. You can also visit events and
workshops held by other clubs. Every year there are conferences holding a variety of workshops that members are encouraged to attend.

As a guest you are always welcome to step on stage during Table Topics. You can also volunteer for another role at the start of the meeting if it’s still available. All roles are explained during the meeting so you will know what to do. 
As a member you can sign up for a role in advance through EasySpeak. We use the web based software EasySpeak to manage our Club Meetings and the speech progress. If you want to give a speech, you need to request a speech slot. Otherwise you can just sign up for a role. 

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