Toastmasters: Ralph Smedley's YMCA Clubs, Ah Counters and Club Number One

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Toastmasters International began with Dr. Ralph C. Smedley, educational director of the YMCA in Bloomington, Illinois, who on March 24, 1905 organized a group to teach young men to speak and run meetings. The name came from YMCA general secretary George Sutton. The problem was that every time Smedley was transferred, starting with a move to Freeport, Illinois, the club he left behind died. The episode compares him to a charismatic startup founder with no processes and explains how he spent nearly two decades building a structure that could teach without him.

That structure arrived on October 22, 1924 at the YMCA in Santa Ana, California, where the club he founded still exists as Club Number One. Toastmasters International incorporated in December 1932, with an early chapter in Vancouver. The episode breaks down a modern meeting of about 22 members: prepared speeches, impromptu evaluations, table topics and the Pathways curriculum of six paths with at least 14 projects each, including one on engaging humor. It then follows the World Championship of Public Speaking, held since 1938, and the organization's growth, including admitting women in 1973.

• Club roles include a timer with green, yellow and red cards and an ah counter who tallies every um, ah and like.
• Speechcraft, a four to eight week course, offers a shorter entry point than the full Pathways program.
• The world championship draws over 33,000 participants from 141 countries; in 2018 only 106 reached the semifinals and 10 reached the final.
• Championship judges score content, delivery and language on a 100-point scale and look at whether each gesture serves the words.
• As of 2025 Toastmasters reported over 265,000 members in nearly 14,000 clubs across 149 countries.