Why Toastmasters Will Be Around For Centuries

One hundred years ago, a small group of about 20 college age men gathered together around a table in the basement of the YMCA. They wanted to learn to deliver toasts and speak eloquently under the mentorship of a master communicator. Somewhere, in the not so distant future, a group of people from all over the world, of all races, ages, and genders, put on VR headsets to meet in a cartoonish virtual universe to communicate and exchange perspectives. Both of these scenarios are illustrations of Toastmasters International, an organization that teaches communication and leadership through evaluations and mentorship. Toastmasters International is a microcosm of how business and communication continues to evolve from a modern past, to a transitional present, to a postmodern future. The historical and fundamental purpose of Toastmasters is firmly rooted in modernism, a movement that stood in opposition to the conservatism of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The aim of modernism was tha