Toastmasters International and Yoodli announced today that the companies have entered into a strategic partnership that will give Toastmasters’ more than 280,000 members standard free access to a Toastmasters version of the innovative Yoodli public speaking platform. With the agreement in place, the co-branded version of the platform is expected to be available to members of Toastmasters by the end of the year.
“We are very excited to partner with Yoodli and establish our foothold in the arena of artificial intelligence and speech pattern recognition,” says Matt Kinsey, Toastmasters’ 2022-23 International President. “This collaboration adds tremendous value for our current members and prospective members. We are most thrilled that we can offer this pioneering speech preparation tool at no additional cost to our members.”
Through Yoodli, Toastmasters members will be able to:
- Practice, record, and store up to 60 minutes worth of speeches
- Receive analytics showing their filler words, pacing, word choice, and more
- View an auto-generated transcript of their speech
- Share a speech with others
- Play Yoodli-created word games
“We unveiled the Yoodli platform to Toastmasters’ members at the organization’s International Convention in August and the feedback was incredible,” says Varun Puri, Co-Founder of Yoodli. “We envision a world where public speaking is fun, uplifting, and collaborative as opposed to something that induces anxiety. Partnering with Toastmasters, the world’s expert in public speaking, will allow us to scale our platform across the globe.”
Yoodli has secured more than $7 million in funding that it expects to last several years. Some of their investors include Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s AI Institute, Cercano Capital and Madrona Venture Group, an early investor in Amazon.
For further information about this partnership or to interview a Toastmasters representative, please contact Dennis Olson at [email protected].
To interview a Yoodli representative, please contact the Yoodli team at [email protected].
About Toastmasters International
Toastmasters International is a worldwide nonprofit educational organization that empowers individuals to become more effective communicators and leaders. Headquartered in Englewood, Colo., the organization’s membership exceeds 280,000 in more than 14,700 clubs in 144 countries. Since 1924, Toastmasters International has helped people from diverse backgrounds become more confident speakers, communicators, and leaders. For information about local Toastmasters clubs, please visit www.toastmasters.org. Follow @Toastmasters on Twitter.
About Yoodli
Yoodli is a technology platform that helps people improve their communication skills in a judgment-free environment. Yoodli provides users with personalized and real time feedback on their filler words, body language, and more to help them ace their upcoming speech, interview or presentation. The company is backed by Madrona Venture Group, the Allen AI Institute, and Cercano Capital and was recently voted as one of the top 5 startups in the Pacific Northwest. Learn more at www.yoodli.ai or reach out at [email protected].
