As
the Toastmaster, it is your responsibility to prepare and preside over
the entire educational portion of the meeting.
(That means basically everything except the presiding officers
welcome and closing, unless the presiding officer has a business
portion for the meeting as well a rare occasion.)
This
is a demanding and rewarding position.
Your first duty will be to select a theme for the meeting.
The introductions should tie into this theme, as well as the
inspiration, word of the day, and table topics if possible.
Prepare several very short talks pertinent to the theme.
You'll use some of this material to introduce the theme after
the President passes you control.
Later you'll use more as you bridge between sections of the
meeting (if time permits). The
attached guide outlines a typical meeting format.
You may work out a plan that varies from this its your meeting.
More or fewer speakers, longer speech timing requirements,
special events can all affect the schedule.
Just be sure the person preparing the meeting agenda correctly
prints what will happen.
Timing
is a critical factor. Some
people really cant stay past
1:00
.
It is your responsibility to keep the meeting on time according
to your published plan. The
President (or acting President) will open the meeting.
If this does not happen right at the scheduled
12:02
, you may
want to indicate to the President that it
is time. Then if
things are running behind when you receive control of the meeting, you
may need to shorten your bridging remarks or cut them out.
Also watch the timing of the Table Topics.
If you need to, ask the Topic-master to cut this session short.
You also have the prerogative to cut out the Educational
Moment.
Before
the meeting.
It is up to you to make sure that all positions are filled.
The General Evaluator will help with this.
Before the weekend, contact your Speakers, General Evaluator,
and Topic-master, to make sure they're all underway with their
preparation. Early in the
week of your meeting, contact them again if necessary, and also the
Inspirer, Grammarian, Ah Counter, Timer, and Educational Moment
presenter. These are all
people you will introduce during the meeting, some more elaborately
than others, so ask for the introductory information you'll need,
telling each person the meeting theme.
The General Evaluator should have contacted the Table Topics
Evaluator, the Speech Evaluators, and the Vote Counter.
If
a person is unable to attend the meeting but has not yet found a
substitute, request that they do so and let you know who the sub will
be. If they do not do
this, it is up to you to find someone to fill in.
It is possible to ask someone to take on more than one
position. If you must do
this, try to make the two jobs compatible, such as Ah Counter and
Grammarian, or Inspiration and Ah Counter.
Don't assign someone two of the bigger jobs Topic-master,
General Evaluator. . . Don't
combine Timer with anything else;
that job is harried enough.
What
makes a good introduction? well, something that ties with your theme.
For example, if your theme is Thanksgiving, you might ask each
person to prepare you with what their favorite memory of the holiday
is. In addition, find out
from the Speakers which manual speech each is doing, their speech
time, the title of the speech, and their goal.
Make sure the audience will read the first three on the printed
agenda. You can include
the goal in your intro.
And
don't forget to give the presiding officer your
introduction.
By
early Wednesday afternoon,
call the person responsible for printing the agenda.
Tell them the name of the person for each assignment, and the
Speakers speech numbers, timing, and titles.
The
day of the meeting,
try to arrive about 15 minutes early.
Watch to make sure all those with assignments show up.
If they aren't there, you will need to ask someone to step in
and help out. Be sure to
place a copy of the agenda on the lectern for your reference during
the meeting.
Guide to Meeting Transitions
|
12:02
|
Call
to Order
Inspiration
Introduction
of Guests
|
President
Inspirer
President
|
|
12:05
|
Introduction
of Toastmaster
Warmup
remarks, set theme
Word
of the Day
Explanation
of Ah Counter
Explanation
of Timing Rules
(This
is a good place to give a theme talk.)
|
President
Toastmaster
Grammarian
Ah
Counter
Timer
|
|
12:10
|
Introduction
of Topicmaster
Table
Topics
Thanks
Timers
Report
Vote
for Best Table Topics Speech
(Please tear off
the bottom tab and vote for your favorite Table Topics speech
today. Ballots
will be collected by [name the Vote Counter].
This would be a good place for a theme talk.
Remind everyone to be jotting down feedback for the
speakers on the brief evaluation forms, and pass these to them
after their speeches.)
|
Toastmaster
Topicmaster
Toastmaster
Timer
Toastmaster
|
|
12:20
|
Introduction
of Speakers
Speeches
Timers
Report
Vote
for Best Speaker
(If all speakers
were within time, Please tear off the bottom tab and vote for
your favorite speech today.
Ballots will be collected by [name the Vote Counter].
This would be a good place for a theme talk.)
|
Toastmaster
Speakers
Timer
Toastmaster
|
|
12:36
|
Introduction
of General Evaluator
Evaluation
Team Introduction
Evaluation
of Speeches
Grammarians
Report
Ah
Counters Report
General
Meeting Evaluation
|
Toastmaster
General
Evaluator
Speech
Evaluators
Grammarian
Ah
Counter
General
Evaluator
|
|
12:49
|
Return
to Toastmaster
Times
Report
Vote
for Best Evaluator
(If all
evaluators were within time, Please tear off the bottom tab
and vote for your favorite evaluator today.
Ballots will be collected by [name the Vote Counter].
Either before or after the Education Moment would be a
good place for a theme talk.)
Educational
Moment
Announcement
Awards
|
Toastmaster
Timer
Toastmaster
|
|
12:56
|
Return
Control to President
Announcements
Review
Assignments/Next Meeting
Adjournment
|
Toastmaster
President
President
President
|
Federal
Way Toastmasters Club# 2079 
