Hi Nick I remember when you mentioned to me that you were going to write this post. I'm glad you did. I agree wiht you whole-heartedly. It was worth the wait. After about a year of being a member of two Toastmasters clubs and speaking regularly I had gotten in a rut. It was then that I branched out and spoke at other clubs, and even participated in contests. I developed enormously during ths time. I also secured two speaking gigs outside of my clubs. One was speaking for a charity and the other was compering for another. Any speaking club is great for helping people break their barriers to help them present in their jobs. But if anyone wants to pursue it further then they HAVE to get out there and get in front of different audiences, paid or unpaid. I'm emigrating to the U.S. this year (all being well with the visa process) so I will be speaking two a different culture altogether. The fastest way for me to get used to that new environment will be to speak as often as possible. So I'll be joining Toasties clubs, finding civic organisations to speak at, getting into the U.S. stand-up circuit and maybe even getting involved in improv shows. That'll be my stage 2. Good job. I'll throw you a link over. Cheers, Jason