About

Toastmasters International is a world leader in communication and leadership development.
Since 1924, Toastmasters International has helped people of all backgrounds become more
confident in front of an audience.

Toastmasters has members around the world and the organization is divided into many
districts. Each district comprises of members in several countries.

We are in District 97 of Toastmasters International comprising Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar,
Thailand, and Vietnam. Members in our District 97 come from more than 30 countries and
all share two things in common: improving our communication skills and enjoying meetings
for two hours every week or two weeks.

We offer a program of communication and leadership projects designed to help people learn
the arts of public speaking, listening, and thinking through a worldwide network of clubs.
Each club meeting is a learning-by-doing workshop in which participants hone their speaking
and leadership skills in a friendly and supportive atmosphere.

Each year there are also Toastmasters Conferences which feature public speaking and
leadership development workshops and fabulous speech contests, such as International
Speech Contest, Table Topics Contest, Evaluation Contest, and Humorous Speech Contest.

The history of Toastmasters in South East Asia region especially in Thailand and Vietnam has
been lasting for more than 60 years. Take a look at the reminiscence of Toastmasters in
South East Asia collected by our District Honorary Adviser Paisal Sae Lor, DTM to know
more about our district.

The District 97P Collection of Reminiscence Paisal Sae Lor, DTM District 97P Honorary Adviser

Toastmasters International is a non-profit organization that helps people worldwide master
their public speaking skills – the vital key to leadership success.

The newly formed District 97P of Toastmasters International proudly dated back to its root
in the mid 1950’s. The first club in South East Asia, Bangkok Toastmasters Club, launched its
first Chapter Meeting on 20th October 1955. Thailand Toastmasters joined force with those
in Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia to form a provisional District 51 in 1993 and had
gracefully achieved the full status of District 51 in 1996 before Brunei, Hong Kong, and
Macau joined in.

After another reformation, Thailand and Singapore have been affiliates of District 80 since
the year 2004, but we, Toastmasters in Thailand had to break away from our soulmates in
Singapore by the end of 30th June 2014 when a Toastmasters International Reformation
Mandate came out of the blue – urging Thailand to spearhead a provisional District 97
comprising Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam.

District 97P had officially launched its maiden voyage on 1st July 2014 with a record of 36
clubs: one in Cambodia, one in Laos, None in Myanmar, 4 in Vietnam, and 30 in Thailand.

This significant amalgamation of clubs in the Main Indochina Region except West Malaysia
is just in time to help the upcoming ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) build more
effective communicators and leaders. In the meantime, all District 97P leaders are to
strive for a fully-fledged District 97 status that requires a minimum of 60 Toastmasters
clubs within three years at most.

To achieve the District 97P Mission, let’s synergize our ideas, share the Power of Excellence
and march towards our common goals in great unison.