Toastmasters, Buswells Hotel, Molseworth St, Dublin, Thursdays, 8.00pm. If you've got a topic, then why not talk about it? If you don't think you'd be able to talk about it in front of a crowd of people, then Toastmasters is for you

Meeting every week in Buswell's Hotel in the centre of Dublin city, Toastmasters is part of a network of societies world-wide which teach people the art of public speaking and the confidence to speak in public. Michael Connolly is President of the Dublin Toastmasters club. The club was brought to Ireland in 1957, at first it was only for men! Thankfully that has now changed and men and women alike now meet every week with a shared goal is in developing communication and leadership skills.

Toastmasters "encourage self confidence" and provide the atmosphere for people to "learn easier in a really friendly way, mutual support." "Every week's meeting is different", says Stephen, but the "whole club gets the chance to perform." The club gets its members to volunteer each week to take up specific speaking tasks - thus everyone's involved. There's even a drama evening planned, said enthusiastic Stephen. "Variety is very important in this well - membered organisation", he adds. And how do people find out about Toastmasters? "Word of mouth is so important", stresses Stephen. "We also advertise meetings in the local press" he says. "People come here from different professions."

Margaret Nugent joined Toastmasters because of what she saw as an opportunity to develop on a "personal and professional level." She's found Toastmaster evenings "extremely beneficial" and they've helped her in her work. "It's a social outlet, you meet other people, other professionals…", she added. And Margaret is doing just fine: while Nightcourses.com listened, she spoke very credibly about the advantages and disadvantages of single sex schools.

Kathryn Cumming and Eddie Kershaw have both been coming to Toastmaster for over three weeks. "I enjoy it. I've done it for four months about ten years ago", says Kathryn who's from New Zealand but who arrived in Ireland several months ago. Working in the IT industry, she's based at the Oracle computer company in East Point Business Park.

A law student at Trinity College in Dublin, Eddie reckoned "There's a great mix of people here. I've been here before so I knew some people and that was easier for me then." Members of Toastmasters begin with the Communication and Leadership programme, upon completion of which they are awarded Competent Toastmaster (CTM) status. The program runs in ten stages, each of which concentrates on different aspects of speech writing and delivery. The subject matter of all speeches is left to each Toastmaster. Meetings are made to seem structured to make people feel comfortable with speaking publicly. All members speak at each meeting, every member at least once and some quite a bit more, as this reporter noticed. Formal speaking jobs included that of Toastmaster, Topics Master, Timer, Evaluator, and General Evaluator. Before each meeting all guests, (including yours truly), were welcomed and invited to sign the guest book. Then the President invited the Sergeant at Arms, (on this occasion Margaret Nugent), to the podium to welcome the guests. The Secretary is then invited to the podium to read the minutes of the last meeting. Once the minutes were over with, the President introduced the Toastmaster of the evening who in turn introduced the Topics Master.

We were away then on an hour-long roller coaster through topics as various as "Young People Have Never Had It So Good" to "The Case for and Against Euthanasia".

The topics session was quite fun, but the quality of the submissions varied wildly. But then the Topics Master selects the topics so members must speak "off the cuff" on what they're given. Members are confined to two minutes to make their contribution.

In the second half, members gave prepared presentations, choosing their own subjects. Oliver Muldoon spoke succinctly and effectively on "The One Minute Drill", a deliberate stammer that can cut unwanted phone calls short. Oliver cleverly took out his mobile phone to demonstrate, but alas the gag didn't work.

Oliver's contribution was evaluated by a fellow Toastmaster while everyone else in the room got a chance to evaluate on the sheets of paper supplied. Two more speeches then followed before the General Evaluator made his comments on the Evaluators and the officers who ran the meeting. And that was it! Everyone was out the door fairly smart and the wine and chat-up lines were soon flowing in the bar next door.

See www.toastmasters.ie for details and updates.