CLUB MEETING ROLES

Let's Talk About Meeting Roles!

Our meetings cannot function without specialty roles! They carry the agenda of meetings and are diverse in nature, skill and responsibilities! Familiarize yourself with them below! Note that anyone can take on these roles during a meeting, regardless of being a member or guest!

Toastmaster

The main duty of the Toastmaster is to act as a genial host and conduct the program, including introducing participants. The Toastmaster role is critical to ensuring a successful meeting.

For obvious reasons this task is not usually assigned to a member until they are quite familiar with the club and its procedures. Program participants should be introduced in a way that excites the audience and motivates them to listen. The Toastmaster creates an atmosphere of interest, expectation, and receptivity.

Speaker

A major portion of each meeting is centered around one to three speakers. Their speeches are rehearsed and planned beforehand.

Speeches typically run anywhere from 4 to 8 minutes each - there is no set time. Every Speaker who completes their speech will receive feedback - both from the audience and their speech evaluator.

Table Topics Master

The Toastmasters program has a tradition- every member speaks at a meeting. The table topics session is the portion of the meeting that promotes this tradition. The purpose of "Table Topics" is to let members "think on their feet" and speak impromptu for a minute or so.

The Table Topics Master prepares and issues the topics; originality is desirable as much as possible. Each speaker may be given an individual subject, or a choice of topics may be presented from which the members can draw at random.

Speech Evaluator

After a speech by a speaker, the Speech Evaluator will give both a verbal and written report of their evaluation regarding the speech. The evaluation presented is intended to support the speaker's learning and growth.

Evaluations help speakers become less self-conscious and become better speakers. This requires being fully aware of the speaker's skill level, habits, and mannerisms, as well as their progress to date.

Table Topics Evaluator

Similar to the speech evaluator, the Table Topics Evaluator will examine every person who answered a question from the table topics master. Typically each evaluation is far more brief compared to the evaluation given by the speech evaluator.

Being a table topics evaluator demands paying attention to detail, as well as testing one's memory as they recall each person's speech and their evaluation for said person - usually in the range 10-12 people.

Timer

The Toastmaster will call upon the Timer to explain the timing rules of the meeting. One of the lessons to be practiced in speech training is expressing a thought within a specified time. The timer is the member responsible for keeping track of time.

Each segment of the meeting is timed. The Timer at the end of the meeting will give their report. This is an excellent opportunity in practicing communicating instructions-something that we do every day.

Ah Counter

The purpose of the Ah-Counter is to note any overused words or filler sounds used as a crutch by anyone who speaks during the meeting.

Words may be interjections such as "like, and, well, but, so, you know". Sounds may be "ah, um, er". They also note when a speaker repeats a word or phrase. At the end of the meeting, they give a report of their findings and common words used.

Grammarian

The Toastmaster will call upon the Grammarian to introduce the word of the week at the beginning of the meeting. Grammarians have two basic responsibilities.

First, to introduce new words to members via the word of the week, and second, to comment on the use of colorful English during the course of the meeting. They report their findings at the end of the meeting.

General Evaluator

The general evaluator is just what the name implies - evaluating or thinking critically about what happened during the meeting. The responsibilities are large and so are the rewards - namely for learning to improve future meetings. They are responsible for evaluating every specialty role of the meeting, barring Speakers.

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