Tips on Meeting Roles

At each meeting of Canning Vale Toastmasters, the following roles are assigned to a member:

Sergeant-at-Arms

  • Prepare room for meeting – (set up tables and chairs, display banner, materials, lectern, lights etc)
  • Open the meeting with enthusiasm by introducing yourself. Then explain emergencies procedures, whereabouts of bathroom facilities, mobile phones off and introduce the Toastmaster of the night.
  • Arrange adequate supplies of materials (Name Badges, tea and coffee etc).

Toastmaster

The Toastmaster is the host for the day, responsible for ensuring that the meeting runs smoothly and to time. The role of Toastmaster for a meeting is a major role and requires preparation.

Before the Meeting

The Vice-President Education will provide the Toastmaster with an agenda.

Consider each of the following:

  • If you are going to have a “Theme” for the meeting, set the theme with the VPE at least 1 week prior to your role as Toastmaster. Then the VPE can advise all members when they distribute the agenda.

Here’s a helpful checklist for the Toastmaster:

  • Arrive early at the meeting to settle your nerves.
  • Check off each member who has a role as they arrive and make last minute adjustments to program.
  • Introduce yourself to any guests and welcome them by name at the start of the meeting.
  • Explain roles of all activities for the benefit of visitors and new members.
  • Introduce all participants with enthusiasm.
  • Remember to call for the evaluators to read the purpose statement of all speeches before the speaker is introduced.
  • Introductions of speeches should be; Name, Title, Title, Name.
  • Set the tone of the meeting, and keep proceedings on time.
  • Undertake the link between the various roles with appropriate transitions.
  • Lead applause and shake hands at the beginning and end of each role.

Grammarian & Highlights

  • Look for any incorrect use of grammar during the meeting and explain the correct use.
  • Look for good use of grammar and highlight those to help others to improve.
  • Review the meeting by selecting notable phrases or expressions or even activities.
  • Use some of these as questions, to ensure the members are also improving their listening skills.
  • Select one such phrase, expression or activity and nominate that as your personal highlight or phrase of the night. Announce that at the end of your presentation.

Inspiration

The Inspiration is the first scheduled speaking role of the meeting. It is intended to get the meeting started on a high note. The Inspiration is a two minute speech. It can be about any topic at all that you would like to use.

Some past topics have included:

  • Response to a current event (eg: one member gave an impassioned criticism of election advertising)
  • Your favourite TV show (eg: why is the Simpsons so good?)
  • An introduction to one of your hobbies (eg: one member is into genealogy and spoke about his family tree)
  • What’s the best thing about Canning Vale?
  • Tell us about a book you’ve read recently.
  • Why did you join Toastmasters?

Basically, it can be anything at all. The content of the Inspiration speech does not have to be inspiring. Some members think it is a pep talk or a sales job, however it is just a way to kick the meeting off to a bright start.

The trick with these small roles is to remember that less is best. It’s only 2 minutes and you need to focus on what point you are trying to make to your audience.

Table Topics Master

“Table Topics” is a definitive Toastmasters experience. The Table Topics Master (TTM) prepares a number of questions. The TTM asks the question, repeats the question and then names one of the members in the room to answer the question. This is a chance for the respondent to practice their impromptu speaking skills. They need to stand up and reply to the question, speaking for 60 to 90 seconds.

The Table Topic Master should:

Before the meeting;

  • Prepare 6 to 8 Questions in ADVANCE, List them and prepare, so that you do not have to read the questions out.
  • Check who present are NOT rostered on the Agenda – the aim is to give a speaking opportunity to any attendees who do not have a role
  • Explain the TTM process to any Visitors and ask them if they would like to participate – DO NOT pressure them

Once you are introduced;

  • Make your intro and length of question as short as possible – this time is for the respondents, NOT for the TTM
  • Ask question, repeat the question, THEN call out the person’s name – you must maintain as much suspense and surprise as possible
  • Move away from the centre stage to give the respondents the focus
  • Watch the Time Keeper for signal of completed time
  • Give a general conclusion before handing back to the Toastmaster

The choice of the topics is up to you. You may want to choose a theme and have all the questions fit inside that theme somehow. An example, if you had “holidays”, then some questions might be:

  1. Where are you planning to go on your next holiday?
  2. What was your most memorable holiday?
  3. Where would you go in WA for a two week vacation?
  4. What is the worst holiday you have ever experienced?

Remember that the aim is to give people a chance to get up and speak. You shouldn’t set out to really stump participants, particularly newer members or guests.

Tonic

    • The Tonic is a speaking opportunity with a more light hearted and humorous focus to fill in between Table Topics and the evaluation of them. It is to give the evaluator some time to get their notes in order and is only a 1 minute speaking slot.
    • Be careful to choose material that is in keeping to a broad audience (No Smut, and be careful of Sexist, Religious or Racist material)
    • It could be a joke, an observation or a call to action for your audience
    • Prepare – Stand Up and Deliver
    • Hand back to the Toastmaster

    The trick with these small roles is to remember that less is best. It’s only 1 minute and you need to focus on what point you are trying to make to your audience.

Evaluator

After each speaking opportunity, the speaker is evaluated. Another member will give a brief response, providing feedback on the way the speech was delivered. In Toastmasters, we use a “CRCS” method for evaluations. That is:

  • Commend
  • Recommend
  • Commend
  • Summary

The Evaluator should commend the speaker, point out 2 or 3 things that they did well. Then they should provide recommendations (no more than 2), something the speaker can improve on in the future. Finally, they should finish on a positive note, with a commendation. Even a good speaker needs to improve further, feedback and tips are needed. However, the recommendations should not be a list of things the speaker did wrong. Give specific tips on how to improve. Commendations and recommendations should be addressed to the audience as a whole. For example, “Jack told us a wonderful story, with terrific imagery”. Quote an example of this from the speech. An example of a recommendation might be, “Jack, I thought you had a very fast speaking speed. I suggest you concentrate on consciously pausing after each sentence?” Also, give a why you think this hinders the presentation. You might say; “I think this indicates to your audience that you are nervous and slowing down your rate of speech would make it easier for them to understand your points.”

Remember that we want the speaker to be given enough feedback to improve but also motivated to keep coming back.

Some tips for the Evaluator:

  • Our objective is twofold: to help the speaker improve, but most importantly to encourage the speaker to keep speaking in the future.
  • You are offering your own point of view only. Don’t try to represent your view as that of all participants.
  • A recommendation should not just point out what was done wrong, but also suggest tips on how to improve. For instance, you might say “You had lots of umms. Try slowing down and if you feel an umm coming on, pause instead”.
  • Before the meeting, talk to the speaker on the Purposes, Evaluation Guidelines, and anything they might want you to specifically watch out for.
  • Evaluate the Speech – not the person or the opinions expressed in the speech.
  • Always remember to finish on a positive. We want the speaker to come back and keep trying to get better.

Timer

The timer assists the Toastmaster by letting speakers know when their allotted time is up. The timer provides feedback to all speakers comparing their actual time with their allotted time. Lessons from a First Time Timer:

  • If this is your first time as a timer, ensure that you arrive ten minutes early. Bring a note pad and a couple of working pens.
  • You will need the timing box and a stopwatch, which are supplied by the club.
  • The timing box has a control knob for the lights and a red button:
    1. The knob control the lights. Turn this to turn on the coloured globes, green, orange and red.
    2. The times when each colour should be triggered are on the right hand side of the agenda. Red indicates time is up.
    3. The red button triggers a loud buzzer. This should be used when the speaker has exceeded their time by 30 seconds for most roles and 15 seconds for the Tonic.
  • You can record the actual times elapsed on the agenda next to the speakers names.
  • After each speaker, make sure you turn all the lights off.
  • You need to record the individual times for each of the table topics as well as the total time elapsed. You may want to use your own watch for the total time elapsed and the stop watch for the individuals. You have two minutes to present the timing report. This doesn’t leave much time for elaboration, so be prepared and ready to start as soon as you are introduced.