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Halton Hills Toastmaster Meeting Roles & Responsibilities
Chair
● Before the meeting:
○ Review upcoming assignments and confirm each member's commitment if possible. Make any changes needed and try to find replacements before starting the meeting.
○ Confirm that the Secretary is available to take minutes, or assign someone to do it for them.
○ Check with the officers to see if they have anything to report in the business session.
● Never leave the lectern unattended. Always transfer control from behind the lectern. Shake hands and acknowledge the transfer of control. Sit near the front to make these frequent changes easier.
● You are responsible to control and keep the meeting on schedule. Shorten or eliminate appropriate elements as necessary to do so.
● Always lead the audience in applause at the appropriate times.
● After being introduced by the Sgt. at Arms, the first order of business is to review and amend any changes to the agenda. Also check if the CL Evaluator is doing an evaluation and for whom. Use the gavel to accept the agenda, as amended.
● Ask any gueststo please stand and introduce themselves, perhaps telling us why they decided to come to our meeting.
● On introducing the other contributors, remind each to explain the purpose of their role in the meeting for the benefit of guests and newer members.
● Introduce the Toast/Timer, who will stand in place to give a toast.
● Introduce the Word of the Week, who will momentarily assume the lectern for this role.
● Introduce the Table Topics Master, who will assume the lectern for the duration of this role.
● Open the business session with the gavel and govern the proceedings using parliamentary procedures.
○ Declare that the minutes were approved and will be distributed to the membership via Email.
○ Having confirmed earlier, ask for the officer reports in this order: President, VP Ed, VP Membership, VP PR, Secretary, Treasurer, Sgt. Arms, VP Technology.
○ Ask if there is any old business..... then if any new business.
○ Use the gavel to close the business session.
● Introduce the Thought or Joke, who will stands in place for this.
● Check that all items of the agenda have been addressed before proceeding to the break.
● Consider the timing for the second half of the meeting before announcing the time to reconvene. Recess for the break using the gavel.
Toast & Timer
● Before the meeting, check that the timing lights are working and can be seen from the front. If necessary, ask the Sgt. at Arms to fix any problems with the equipment.
● Time all aspects of the meeting including the general evaluation. Take notes to report on the timing of scheduled elements and where some aspects may have gone astray.
● Stand in place to present the toast, preferably on the theme of the meeting. Carefully phrase the toast so that only a few words are required from the membership. Target - two minutes
● Operate the timing lights per instructions from the lectern for showing the green, yellow, and red lights. If this was overlooked, raise your hand to ask for clarification.
● Stand in place to report on the timing of the meeting particularly noting any discrepancies. Target - 3 minutes
Word of the Week
● Your responsibility is to select a good word, for use throughout the meeting, towards improving our vocabulary. Try to choose one that works with the Theme of the meeting.
● Approach the lectern to introduce your word, giving us a bit of history if pertinent, its various definitions and a few examples of how it might be used.
● Remind the audience to also incorporate the last two Words of the Weekinto their comments. These are always printed in the agenda for easy reference.
● Print the word in large, bold, letters on bond paper and clip it to the holder at the front table for everyone to see. Target - 3 minutes
Table Topic Master
● Your responsibility is to provide us opportunities for the development of short, impromptu, speeches. You will be called by the Chair to assume control at the lectern.
● Be creative in choosing your topics to support impromptu speaking. If possible, try to incorporate the Theme of the meeting. Also suggest that we try to use the Words of the Week.
● Explain the process you want us to use and invite any guests to participate if they wish to. Remind everyone that we will vote for the best Table Topics speaker at the end of the session.
● Target - one minute for preparation, one minute to speak. Timing lights are 30, 45 and 60 seconds.
● When finished, remind the audience to vote for the best Table Topics speaker using the ballots provided. These are placed in the bowl to be passed around.
● Keep this session on schedule. If time is short, consider asking those with other roles in the meeting to refrain, or take other actions as necessary to meet the timing allowed.
● Thank everyone for participating and return control to the Chair. Never leave the lectern empty.
Thought or Joke of the Day
● Stand to present a short, tasteful, joke or thought of the day. Try to support the Theme of the meeting. Try to be original. Internet jokes are over used.
● Target - 3 minutes
Toastmaster
● Before the meeting (preferably several days), check with each speaker to be sure you understand their speech title, number, chosen manual, goals and speech objectives. Use this, with other information you have, to present an interesting introduction for each speaker. (Speakers have an obligation to provide you with such information well in advance. A form to help structure this is available on our web page.)
● After the break, the Sergeant at Arms will recall the meeting and introduce you for the second half.
● Never leave the lectern unattended. Always transfer control from behind the lectern. Shake hands and gracefully acknowledge the transfer of control. Sit near the front to make these frequent changes easier.
● You are responsible to control and keep this half of the meeting on schedule. Shorten or eliminate appropriate elements as necessary to do so. Clearly, you cannot make changes to the scheduled speeches and evaluations, but everything else is open.
● Always lead the audience in applause at the appropriate times.
● Introduce each speaker, outlining their background, speech title and objectives in an interesting way for the audience. Remind the audience that the objectives and timing for each speaker are printed on the agenda.
● Give the Timer the intervals for the lights for each speaker. They are not always the same, so be sure the timer clearly understands the timing lights for each speaker.
● After their speech, thank the speaker and provide a few positive comments about their presentation.
● Ask the audience to write helpful comments to the speaker on the forms provided. They should sign these as the speaker may later wish to discuss them. Comments are to be placed in a bowl passed around the room.
● Allow about a minute for the audience to make their comments before introducing the next speaker. You may use this time as you wish to fill the silence
● After the last speaker, remind the audience to vote for best speaker. This is based on how well they met their speech objectives rather than the popularity of the speech or speaker.
● Introduce each Evaluator and temporarily transfer control of the lectern.
● Following each evaluation, briefly assume the lectern, thank the Evaluator and introduce the next one.
● When the evaluations are finished, remind the audience to vote for best evaluator by placing ballots in the bowl to be passed around.
● Introduce the Grammarian, who will stand in place to give their report.
● Introduce the Quiz Master, who will stand in place to test our critical listening skills.
● Introduce the General Evaluator who will assume control the lectern. Remind the timer that the light intervals are normally 3, 4 and five minutes.
● Introduce the Timer, who will stand in place to make their report.
● Ask each guest if they would like to stand and offer a few comments or impressions on the meeting. Lead the applause after each guest speaks.
● Ask the President if they have any final comments or perhaps wish to present any awards.
● Finally, ask for comments from the audience 'for the good of Toastmasters'.
● Remind members to stay for awhile to help the Sgt. at Arms clean up. Adjourn the meeting with the gavel and lead a final round of applause.
Speakers
● You are an important part of the Toastmasters program and should carefully prepare, rehearse, and time your speech before presenting it. Try to have someone at home or your mentor listen to it and provide feedback.
● In the true spirit of learning, be sure that your speech addresses the specific objectives of each lesson outlined in the selected Toastmasters speech manual.
● Prepare a few notes for the Toastmaster to use in introducing your speech. Provide this information well in advance, preferably days rather than minutes. Consider emailing them the information. A convenient form for organizing this information is available on our web site.
● Recognize that the Toastmaster could be changed at the last minute, so always bring a copy of your speech introduction information to the meeting.
● Give your Evaluator your speech manual, opened to the appropriate page, before the meeting. Discuss any special issues you want them to watch for in evaluating your speech. To get the best possible evaluation, consider providing them with this information a day or two in advance.
● After the meeting, record your speech title and date in the Record of Assignments near the back of your speech manual. Ask the V.P. of Education (or President) to initial this entry, to confirm your accomplishment. This is a critical record towards attaining your Toastmaster goals and level awards.
Speech Evaluators
● Talk to the speaker before the meeting to understand their goals and objectives. Ask them for any special things or characteristics they would like you to watch for.
● Carefully complete the evaluation sheet in their speech manual.
● Present an oral evaluation of their speech, highlighting their performance and strengths while adding a few constructive suggestions for improvement. Try to use the Commend - Recommend - Commend, or sandwich, approach.
● Target - three minutes
Grammarian
● Note the use of filler words, without unduly identifying the contributors.
● Listen carefully in order to comment constructively on the use of language.
● Try to note exemplary uses of language, words and phrases. Do acknowledge these contributors.
● Report how often the Word and past words of the week were used. Remind the audience to be vigilant in trying to use these in every meeting.
● Target - two minutes
Quiz Master
● Your role is to test our critical listening skills.
● Ask five questions on a variety of things said throughout the meeting. Try to stump us by being critical and creative.
● Consider targeting individuals, to increase the pressure on everyone to pay attention.
● Target - two minutes
General Evaluator
● Your role is to provide an overall evaluation of the meeting. This should look toward improving, and celebrating, excellence. Also look for improvements to the process and procedure of our meetings.
● Comment on how well the Chair, Toastmaster, and Evaluators did and also on others who played important roles in the success or even, the undoing, of the meeting.
● DO NOT evaluate the speakers, as they have already been.
● Target - five minutes
Last modified on ... 8 Jun 10