Frequently Asked Questions
The club provides members with an opportunity to meet in a relaxed atmosphere to exchange views on a wide variety of topics while developing public speaking skills.
Members are able to listen to and evaluate high quality presentations, respond to Editor's paper topics on current events, develop confidence and techniques to improve public speaking skills and participate in after meeting refreshments in a comfortable private home setting.
The club holds 12 regular meetings every other Tuesday evening from 8 pm until around 10:00 pm from the last week in September to the second week of March. In addition an annual awards banquet is held in April where partners of members are invited to attend and participate in the proceedings.
The full member fees for the 2008-2009 season are just $30. There is an additional cost for the annual awards banquet.
The meetings are held at the private home of one of the members located in the Toronto area with easy access to the T.T.C. subway and major streets.
The club currently has 18 full members and 10 associate members. There is a maximum limit of 30 full members. From time to time there have been waiting lists of prospective members when the maximum membership was reached.
Guests are always welcome and encouraged. You can contact Peter at TuesLitClub@rogers.com or one of the members to arrange for an introduction to the club.
After attending at least one meeting as a guest you must be nominated and seconded by full members. The club will then hold a confidential vote on the nomination and advise you of the results. Payment of the seasonal dues is a condition of membership and currently there is no waiting list for new members.
There is no foolproof way for overcoming the fear of public speaking however with practice, preparation, support, repetition and membership in the Tuesday Literary Club you will feel the fear diminish each time you speak.
You will have the opportunity to respond to one of the editor's paper topics at each regular meeting. In addition as a full member you are expected to make a presentation of between 20 to 30 minutes each season. The topics can be whatever you like ranging from personal experiences, books, interests, music, art, history or politics or religion. All members are expected to show respect for other members in their presentations and comments and not use the opportunity to solicit members or speak at length on their field of work.
The club annually elects an executive consisting of a President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, Critic, Counsellor and two Editors. These officers run the club functions with the support of various ad hoc committees as needed.
Your success in both your personal and business life is greatly influenced by how effective you are. Through active membership in the club you can learn to effectively speak, listen, conduct a meeting, lead a committee and motivate others. In particular responding to the Editor's paper is a valuable way of building the skill of 'thinking on your feet' where you speak with little or no advance warning.
The Tuesday Literary Club is open to anyone interested in joining, both men and women. The current members are drawn from various professions and business interests. The diversity of members' interest adds greatly to our meetings.
Traditionally the members are drawn from the Greater Toronto Area but we do have full active members who regularly drive to meetings from other locations in Southern Ontario, for example Guelph and Kitchener. There are some associate members, formerly full active members who are unable to attend meetings regularly for various reason but who continue to maintain their connection with the Club, much further away from Toronto.