Since the preference and needs of an individual club vary from
one club to another, you are encouraged to use the information
contained on this page as a guide to prepare a similar outline
for your club.
Some examples of preference are:
a. Invocation and pledge - The agenda calls for the Sgt.-at-Arms
to perform these duties unless a member has agreed before the
meeting to assume them. Your club may want to assign these duties
to a specific role player in the meeting, such as the grammarian.
b. Introduction of guests - The agenda calls for the Sgt-at-Arms
to perform this duty also, since it is the Sgt-at-Arms who has
the responsibility to greet guests at the door. Your club may
want to assign this duty to the President of the club to perform
during the introductory remarks.
c. Ballot counter - The agenda calls for a Ballot Counter task which can be assigned to any member. Your club may want to assign this duty to the Sgt-at-Arms.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
MEETING AGENDA
A. INTRODUCTION
B. EDUCATIONAL SESSION
3. Master Evaluator responsibilities
4. Toastmaster summary
C. BUSINESS MEETING
2. Unfinished business
3. New business
4. Invite guest remarks
5 Adjourn the meeting
DUTIES OF THE TOASTMASTER OF THE DAY
The Toastmaster of the Day is in charge of the educational
portion of the meeting. Advance planning and detailed follow-up
are essential to the successful completion of this responsibility.
The key points in this assignment are given below.
A. Before the meeting
1. Telephone all speakers at least one week prior to the meeting.
Arrange for substitute speakers as necessary by consulting with
the VP of Education.
2. Telephone ALL members at least 3 to 4 days prior
to the meeting to confirm meeting assignments. Arrange for substitutes
as required. Obtain speech title, biographical information for
introduction and desired time from each speaker.
B. At the meeting
18. Receive voting results from BC and announce awards for best
TT, best speaker, best evaluator.
DUTIES OF THE PREPARED SPEAKER
In addition to the obvious responsibility to prepare a speech
and deliver it, the speaker has the responsibility to notify other
program participants about his/her speech. The duties are:
1. Prior to the beginning of the meeting tell the Toastmaster
and the timer your project number, speech title and time of speech.
A good way to do this is to prepare 2 index cards at home. On
each card put your name, the number, title and time. On the card
for the Toastmaster add information for your introduction, such
as subject matter pertinent to the speech, your interests, your
accomplishments.
2. Be on time, with your notes ready and with your manual ready
for your evaluator.
3. Be prompt in your approach to the lectern when you are introduced.
Remember to acknowledge the Toastmaster ("Mr Toastmaster",
"Madam Toastmaster") , the members and the guests.
4. When you complete your speech, do not thank the audience, they
will thank you with their applause. Do not leave the lectern until
the Toastmaster has returned to shake your hand .
DUTIES OF THE TOPICMASTER
The Topicmaster has charge of the impromptu portion of the educational
session. The main responsibility is to use interesting topics
to present to those members who are not otherwise participating
in the program so that they have the opportunity to practice thinking
and speaking on their feet. With this practice, the toastmaster
learns how to present his/her thoughts in a clear, organized manner
with a minimum of preparation. The duties are:
A. Before the meeting:
Select a list of topics well in advance of the meeting. Some ways
to do this are:
a. Prepared questions. Prepare a list of questions of variety
and interest on topics such as current events. Keep the questions
on the light side, short and simple, rather than ones requiring
deep thought. Try not to embarrass the speaker.
b. Controversial discussion. Announce a controversial subject.
Ask the first participant to speak in favor, the next speaker
to speak against and so on.
c. Chain topics. Ask a question of the first participant. Then
that participant asks a question of the next participant. Before beginning, state how many participants will be in the session.
B. At the meeting:
1. Accept control of the meeting from the Toastmaster. Explain
the purpose of the session.
DUTIES OF THE MASTER EVALUATOR
The Master Evaluator is the most important teacher of the meeting.
His/her responsibilities include the coordination of speaker evaluations
and giving the summary evaluation of the entire meeting. The specific
duties are:
A. Before the meeting
1. Assign each evaluator such that he/she has completed the manual
assignment to be given by the speaker.
2. Inform each evaluator of his/her assignment at least two days
prior to the meeting. Provide the evaluator with the speech project
number and the speech title. Remind each evaluator to complete
the written section in the speaker's manual and to use the oral evaluation
guide in the manual.
B. At the meeting
DUTIES OF THE EVALUATOR
As the evaluator of a prepared speaker you have the responsibility
of helping the speaker grow and improve. In addition, you will
improve your listening and observation skills while you are listening
to and watching the speaker. Your duties are:
A. Before the meeting:
If possible, consult in advance with the person whose speech you
will evaluate. Discuss the project objectives and review the speaker's
special needs and goals.
B. At the meeting:
Although each written evaluation calls for answers to specific
questions, the oral evaluation should be more general in nature.
In addition to determining if the speaker met the objective of
the project, the evaluator should listen for the "opening",
the "body" and the "conclusion" in the speech
content. Also listen for "vocal variety" that was used
to emphasize points . Vocal variety means a change in volume,
pitch and speed of delivery to avoid the monotone delivery. The
evaluator should watch for expressions, use of gestures and body
movement and evaluate how appropriate they were in the delivery.
A technique that Toastmasters clubs have used successfully in
the Evaluation Contest is the "OSCAR" approach. OSCAR
is an acronym for Objective, Structure (speech outline), Creativity,
Assets (speaker's strong points) and Revisions (improvements needed).
When this arrangement is used to provide compliments on strengths
and suggestions for improvement it has produced contest winners.
DUTIES OF THE TIMEKEEPER
The timekeeper records the time on all speaking roles. The duties
are:
1. Check out the light indicator box and the stopwatch to make
sure they work.
a. Table Topics - Green light at 1 minute
b. Speeches - Green light at 2 minutes before requested time
c. Evaluations - Green light at 2 minutes
d. Contest speeches - Green light at 5 minutes
- Amber light at 6 minutes
- Red light at 7 minutes
DUTIES OF THE GRAMMARIAN
The grammarian keeps track of language usage, both good and bad.
During the evaluation session, the grammarian reports to the club
when called upon by the Master Evaluator. An innovative grammarian
will compliment individual toastmasters on use of unusual and
unique words or phrases as well as suggest improvement to those
who committed grammatical errors.
The grammarian will also assume the duties of the ah counter and/or
the wordmaster if there are not enough members in attendance
to have these duties performed separately.
DUTIES OF THE AH COUNTER
The Ah Counter will keep track of sounds which are not words.
When called upon by the Master Evaluator, the Ah Counter will
report the results.
DUTIES OF THE WORDMASTER
The Wordmaster will present and display a word of the day to be
used by the members during the course of the meeting. He/she will
define the word and explain the proper usage of it.
DUTIES OF THE BALLOT COUNTER
A combination tear-off ballot sheet is used by the club for members
and guests to vote on the best speakers in the table topics, prepared
speaking and evaluation portions of the meeting. The sheet also
has sections for members to write comments which they can give
to the prepared speakers. Duties of the ballot counter are:
1. Ensure that ballots have been distributed to each member and
guest prior to the meeting.
2. Obtain the awards from the Sgt-at-arms prior to the start of
the meeting.
3. Explain the ballot counting procedure. Emphasize that everyone
is a winner in Toastmasters. The balloting is not a measure of
progress but simply a means to engender competition at each individual
meeting.
Ballot for best Table Topics speaker is filled out after the Table
Topics Session.
Ballot for best prepared speaker is filled out after the prepared
speaking portion. The best prepared speaker ballot should include
a 1st place and a 2nd place. The ballot counter will determine
the best prepared speaker by assigning 2 points to each 1st place
and 1 point to each 2nd place. The best speaker is the one that
gets the most points.
Ballot for best evaluator is filled out after the evaluation session
is complete.
4. Count the ballots as mentioned above.
5. Provide the Toastmaster with a list of the results as soon
as all ballots have been tallied.
This web page contains a typical list of duties for each participant
at a Toastmasters Club meeting. It will provide the organization
necessary for a successful meeting. The key to retaining enthusiastic
and satisfied members is a well controlled meeting agenda where
each member understands his/her part in it.
1. Call to order Sgt-at-Arms
2. Invocation by member or Sgt-at-Arms
3. Pledge of allegiance by member or Sgt-at-Arms
4. Introduction of guests by Sgt-at-Arms
5. Introductory remarks by club President
6. Word of the day by Wordmaster
7. Humorous interlude by the Jokemaster
1. Introduction of Toastmaster of the Day by club President
2. Toastmaster responsibilities
a. Introduce Timekeeper who explains timekeeping duties
b. Introduce Ballot Counter who explains BC duties
c. Introduce Grammarian who explains Grammarian duties
d. Introduce Ah Counter who explains AC duties
e. Introduce Topicmaster who conducts Table Topics session
f. Introduce Timekeeper to give the TT speakers times
g. Request members to vote on best TT speaker
h. Introduce Master Evaluator who explains purpose of evaluations
i. Introduce each prepared speaker
j. Introduce Timekeeper to give prepared speakers' actual times
k. Request members to vote on best prepared speaker
l. Turn control of the meeting to the Master Evaluator
a. Introduce each speech evaluator for each prepared speaker
b. Introduce Grammarian who critiques members on their use of
grammar
c. Introduce Ah Counter who relates members' use of non-word sounds
d. Evaluate the overall meeting
e. Introduce Timekeeper to give the times of all evaluation tasks
f. Request members to vote on best performance of an evaluation
task
g. Return control of the meeting to the Toastmaster
a. Introduce the Pungent Preceptor to quiz members on speech content
b. Announce awards for best TT, best speaker, best evaluator
c. Thank all participants in the educational session
d. Return control of the meeting to the club President
1. Reports
a. Secretary reads minutes of the last meeting
b. Treasurer reports on club finances
c. VP of Public Relations reports on activities of PR committee
d. VP of Membership reports on Membership committee activities
e. VP of Education reports on Ed. committee activities
f. President reports on general club activities
1. Provide the timekeeper with a list of speakers' times.
2. Accept control of the meeting from the President at the beginning
of the Educational session. Your introductory remarks should be
brief but lively to set the proper tone.
3. Introduce Timekeeper who explains timekeeping duties.
4. Introduce Ballot Counter who explains BC duties. Explain the
voting procedure.
5. Introduce Grammarian who explains Grammarian duties.
6. Introduce Ah Counter who explains AC duties.
7. Introduce Topicmaster who conducts the Table Topics session.
8. Introduce Timekeeper to give the TT speakers times.
9. Request members to vote on best TT speaker.
10. Introduce Master Evaluator who explains purpose of evaluations
11. Introduce each prepared speaker. Vary the introductory
remarks to keep them fresh and interesting. State the speaker's name, give the title, repeat
the title, then repeat the speaker's name.
12. Shake hands with each speaker as he/she approaches the lectern.
Do not leave the lectern unattended while the speaker is moving
toward the lecturn.
13. After the last speaker, introduce Timekeeper to give prepared
speakers' actual times.
14. Request members to vote on best speaker and pass ballots to
the Ballot Counter.
15. Turn control of the meeting to the Master Evaluator.
16. After the Evaluation Session, receive control of the meeting
from the ME.
17. Introduce the Pungent Preceptor to quiz members on speech
content.
19. Thank all participants in the educational session.
20. Return control of the meeting to the club President.
2. Remind the members that the response to each topic should be
approximately one and one-half minutes long.
3. Present table topics to those members who do not have a speaking
role in the educational session. Ask the question first, then
call on a member to answer. This improves listening skills since
members are not sure who will be called on and will want to be
ready to respond if necessary.
4. Refrain from lengthy introductions of speakers and from comments
on what they say.
1. Explain the purpose of evaluation when asked to do so by the
Toastmaster.
2. Accept control of the meeting from the Toastmaster.
3. Introduce each evaluator in the same order as the speakers
appeared.
4. Introduce Grammarian who critiques members on their use of
grammar.
5. Introduce Ah Counter who relates members' use of non-word sounds.
6. Evaluate the overall meeting.
7. Introduce Timekeeper to give the times of all evaluation tasks,
including the evaluators, the grammarian, the Ah Counter and the
overall evaluation by the Master Evaluator.
8. Request members to vote on best performance of an evaluation
task.
9. Return control of the meeting to the Toastmaster.
1. Before the speech, obtain the speaker's manual and review the
section titled "Your Evaluation" for the speaker's project.
2. During the speech, pay close attention, using your eyes as
well as your ears. Make written notes as necessary.
3. After the speech, complete the evaluation section for the speaker's
project.
4. When called upon by the Master Evaluator, present a brief oral
evaluation about 2 minutes long. Describe the strong points of
the speech and make the overall tone of your evaluation positive
and rewarding. Strive to make the speaker feel good, but avoid
the well intentioned "whitewash". Provide a specific
suggestion for overcoming each detected weakness. At all costs,
do not attempt to "pick the speech apart".
2. Obtain the requested time for each prepared speaker.
3. When called upon by the Toastmaster, explain the timekeeping
system.
Time will begin with the first word uttered.
- Amber light at 1-1/2 minutes
- Red light at 2 minutes
- Amber light at 1 minute before requested time
- Red light at requested time
- Amber light at 2-1/2 minutes
- Red light at 3 minutes