Although there are a large number of 'long termers' in any Toastmasters club, most members of Toastmasters are relative newcomers who are working toward achieving a basic qualification in public speaking, known as the Competent Communicator or CC. When a new member joins the club, they are given the Basic Manual, which provides them with the guidelines they need to achieve the CC qualification.

The Basic Manual is divided into ten stages, and each Toastmaster needs to deliver ten speeches - one for each stage. How long they take to deliver all ten speeches is up to them. The first speech is the icebreaker speech. The aim of this is to introduce yourself to the club, and to control your nerves in front of a group of people. The second speech is not much different: you are asked to select a topic that is close to your heart, and to expound on this for five minutes or so. Again, the focus of this speech is very much on controlling your nerves.

The next four speeches are more technical. They concentrate in turn on organizing the speech into a logical structure, using body language effectively, raising and lowering the tone and rate of your voice, and selecting the right words to maximize the impact on the audience. The later speeches focus more on the art of speech craft bringing all your technical skills together, using props and flipcharts, designing a persuasive speech, and finally, delivering a speech that inspires your audience.

This program can seem daunting, but it is actually a lot of fun. The main thing to remember is that you are among friends, so if you freeze up, or forget your lines, or miss an entire section of the speech midway, no one will belittle you or laugh at you. As you go from speech to speech, your style will improve. You will be told about things that are effective in your speaking style, and you will be alerted to unconscious distractions. You will become more confident about your speaking ability and less afraid to speak coherently in front of a large audience.