| Join The Club |
| The benefits of membership |
| JETS is part of Toastmasters International, the internationally recognized and world-reknown public speaking organization. By joining JETS, you become part of Toastmasters' global organization with access to countless tools, guides, events and publications aimed at improving your public speaking skills. As a JETS Member you receive: Toastmaster's Membership Guide - Toastmaster's Ten-Step Communication and Leadership Program, we generally call it "the manual", is your time-tested guide to better speaking and communication skills. Hundreds of thousands of people around the world who have used it can speak to its effectiveness. The 85-page Toastmasters manual will walk you through the objectives of each speech from the "Icebreaker" speech to "Show What You Mean" to "Inspire Your Audience" and includes guides on all the Toastmaster roles, events, contests and numerous speaking tips. |
| Toastmaster Monthly Magazine - This 30 page glossy magazine published monthly by Toastmasters International features great articles, letters, case studies and news related to improving your speaking skills. Recent topics have included "how to use humor in speeches" and "effective negotiation techniques". |
| Quarterly District Newsletter - JETS is part of a Toastmaster Regional Area focused in the San Francisco Bay Area that includes a dozen or so other Toastmasters clubs. This newsletter is published by the Area Governor and relates information on Area news and events. JETS members have been featured prominently in these newsletters as many JETS members have gone on to compete successfully at Area speech contests. |
| Annual Speech Contests - There's nothing like a healthy dose of competitive spirit to inspire you to give a speech on a topic you always wanted to speak out on. JETS holds four main speech events each year: the Humorous Speech Contest, the Evaluation Contest, the Tall Tales Contest and the International Speech Contest. |
| The Humorous Speech Contest invites club members to present a 5-7 minutes speech on a humorous subject or tall tale. This event usually takes place in the Fall and is a very popular event. The Evaluation Contest invites club members to compete in an evaluation of a target speaker. The Evaluations are 2-3 minutes long. Evaluations are a great way to improve both your speaking and listening skills...and the best part about evaluations: you don't need to take any time to prepare! The Tall Tale Contest invites contestants to tell a 'tall tale', (i.e., an untrue and increasingly unbelievable story...previous Tall Tales have included long narratives about the excellence of SBC's customer service and George Bush's commitment to alternative energy development (because he's sick of working in the oil industry). |
| Annual Club Events - As a member, you're also automatically invited to our two great social events: the Summer Party and our December Bonenkai. These events are great fun...and significant others, spouses, partners, children, friends and family are all encouraged to come along. |
| Karaoke Parties - JETS members generally get together two or three times a year for karaoke parties. Some members are quite accomplished singers. A veteran member's singing skills were recently showcased on a popular Karaoke show in Japan. Discounts on Toastmasters Goods and Publications - Toastmasters has a huge inventory of useful, low-cost speechcraft tools, publications and other paraphernalia. |
| Great!...How do I sign up? Just follow these three easy steps: |
| (1) Complete a Membership Application and give it to the V.P. of Membership at the next meeting. |
| (2) Write a check to JETS for your Membership Dues. For new members joining in April or October, dues are $21.55 (new membership kit including tax) plus $27.00 for Toastmasters International fee and $6.00 for JETs club fee. However, if you join mid-term, your dues are discounted according to the following payment schedule. Thereafter, dues are $33 for each six month period. The dues cover the cost of your materials (manual, etc.), plus the rental of our meeting location (two nights each month for six months). So $33 is quite a deal and much lower than many other Toastmasters clubs in the area!! |
| (3) Introduce yourself at the next JETS meeting as "JETS Newest Member". Welcome to the Club! We are sure you will enjoy it and your speaking skills will benefit greatly. |
| Still not convinced to join? Read how JETS benefited these members. |
| Maxime Chen - Former Scheduler and JETS member since 2002. "At JETS I get an avenue to use my Japanese skills on a regular basis. I get to meet wtih wonderful people of many different backgrounds with whom I share common interest about intercultural activities. I always have a great time at the meeting and laugh a lot because of the Joke of the Day or funny speeches or table topics answers from our members. I love the 'nijikai' afterwards and the karaoke outings. I made new friends at JETS and have also gained self assurance in speaking in front of groups." |
| Chako Ando - Former Scheduler and long-time JETs member |
| "JETS is a very friendly group of people and a great place to practice speeches in both native and non-native languages in a supportive, non-intimidating environment. My stage flight in public speaking hasn't 100% gone away, but has reduced it enough that I actually enjoy speaking now." |