Toastmaster Acronym Translator
Acronyms and verbal shorthand are popular in Toastmasters.
Humans all talk in abbreviations, acronyms and inside lingo. The Toastmasters cult is no exception. Veteran Toastmasters are myopic about how they lose new members in conversations and presentations when they talk over the heads of neophytes.
I have been in Toastmasters for 6 years off and on. When I hear an acronym not yet committed to memory, I don't hear the rest of the sentence and the next full sentence. In my opinion, this is exclusionary, does not make the new kid feel welcome. Just one man's opinion.
It gets worse when several acronyms are crammed into one sentence.
Pity the new member who hears “ Fred almost achieved DTM, but he hasn't been a VPPR, SAA or an AG. “ Trying to keep up with exchanges between advanced members is discouraging.
You'd have to ask a psychiatrist why people in general persist in acronyms. Maybe it's acceptance ? Specific to toastmasters, maybe it's to save time. There's a lot of ground to cover in tightly scheduled meetings. Not saying the full words saves three seconds. Over the course of a meeting, it could add up to three minutes.
How do I know this practice is ubiquitous ? I attended the full world conference in 2013. It was acronym city.
Toastmasters are not going to change. ( Professional linguists are never prescriptive about usage and purity of languages. ) This being the case, here is an alphabetical list of common toastmaster acronyms and their definition in plain English:
ACB advanced communicator bronze
ACG advanced communicator gold
ACS advanced communicator silver
AD area director
AG area governor ( now known as AD )
ALB advanced leader bronze
ALS advanced leader silver
CC competent communicator
CL competent leader
D + a number district # ____ DCP district club plan
DTM divine toastmaster ( just kidding )
Distinguished toastmaster
P not official yet; will probably be the abbreviation for the new track called “pathways” “ P “ for short
SAA sargeant at arms
TLI toastmaster leadership instruction
( usually takes place on a weekend when the weather is perfect)
TMOD toastmaster of the day
VPE vice president of education
VPM vice president of membership
VPPR vice president of public relations
Hope this helps. Maybe memorizing all these will someday be part and parcel of achieving CC.
In the meantime, maybe print this out and hold it up when advanced members are talking.