Speechcraft is enjoyable if well planned and the time well kept. If the prospective members enjoy the sessions they are likely to join. Speechcraft is not geared for a 1hr meeting, it’s a seminar that runs 2-4 hrs several times. It’s a way to get new people geared up and is a good marketing tool for clubs. At the end of the program, the participants can be halfway through their CC manual.

The coordinator for the whole program can be a speechcraft advisor helping individual participant and get credit for ACG after finishing a whole Speechcraft program. It normally lasts 6-8 sessions, 1.5-2hrs for each session. With about 8-10 participants, it requires at least 2 hours.

But for 4-5 participants, you can do it in one hour if the facilitator keeps things moving along. The speech project times are shorter than for Toastmasters, so that helps a little. If your club is agreeable, this hour can also be part of the normal meeting. But if you have more than five participants running speechcraft in one hour would be rushing it too much.

By modifying the program to be six two hour sessions, a club can effectively accommodate up to ten participants per program and still have lots of time for educational presentations and open discussion about public speaking in general and the participants’ specific questions and concerns. As with anything else this complex, the big thing is to do as much planning upfront as you can. Make a written agenda to help manage the time you have for each session. And, above all, relax and have fun with it.