NEW BREMEN — The Crown Equipment Toastmasters Club recently honored five members with the Toastmasters International’s Competent Communication Award.
To receive this distinguished award, a member must complete 10 speeches as outlined in the Competent Communicator handbook. The following Crown employees received this award:
• Shelly Busse, Manufacturing Program Development Specialist
• Nathan Greaves, Manufacturing Engineer II
• Craig Homan, Manufacturing Engineer
• Gayle Howell, Supervisor at the New Knoxville manufacturing facility
• Steve Wade, Process Technician II
“Toastmasters is a great way to learn how to communicate in front of an audience,” Wade said. “You are able to build your self confidence in a safe learning environment.”
Each speech focuses on specific areas such as organizing a speech, using body language and inspiring your audience. Assigned evaluators provide feedback on each speech to help the speaker improve.
“Although I have reached the goal of completing all ten speeches, I will continue with my Toastmasters journey because public speaking is a skill that can always improve,” Greaves said. “I also want to continue building new relationships with employees throughout Crown.”
The Crown Toastmasters Club also earned the Distinguished Club Program Award. The Distinguished Club Program includes 10 goals that a club strives to achieve each year. The 10 goals are grouped into four areas: education, membership, training and administration.
“As a member of the Crown Toastmasters program, employees not only become a better speaker and listener, but they learn to ‘think on their feet’ and expand their professional network,” Busse said. “Most importantly, we have fun.”
Crown Toastmasters is only one of the many talent and development programs that Crown Equipment offers its employees. Crown provides more than 150 active courses and more than 18,000 employees have attended these courses. Courses range from business writing, financial acumen, personal productivity, product training and service technician training to leadership communication.
Toastmasters International is an organization that started in 1924 to help millions of men and women become more confident in front of an audience. Since January 2015, the Crown Toastmasters has enrolled more than 60 members.
