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Understanding club meeting roles
The success of a Toastmasters meeting depends on the programme participants. There are many roles to fill, and each job is designed to improve that member's public speaking and leadership skills. Programme participants must know and understand their duties so they can prepare for them. The typical roles are outlined below and most of them are linked to the Toastmasters International website where you will find further information (more information about the 'Toastmaster' and 'Word of the Day' roles can be found below):
§ Word of the Day
Toastmaster:
The Toastmaster is the meeting’s director and host. You won’t usually be assigned this role until you are thoroughly familiar with the club and its procedures.
Prepare for your role in advance. You’ll need to know who will fill the other meeting roles in order to prepare an up-to-date meeting agenda (an agenda template can be found on our downloads page). These roles are normally filled at the end of the previous meeting. If roles are still available, you can send a group email explaining what roles need to be filled and invite members to email you if they wish to put their name forward. Once you have got the agenda fully together, send it out by group email the day before the meeting. If you have access to a photocopier, maybe you can organise copies of the agenda to be placed on the seats before the meetings.
The Toastmaster is responsible for ensuring that the meeting runs smoothly and that everybody is aware of what they have to do. The role involves introducing each speaker. These introductions must be brief (between 30-60 seconds) and carefully planned. Of course, you want to avoid awkward interruptions or gaps in the flow of the meeting, so plan smooth transitions from one portion of the programme to another.Make sure your seat is in the front row so that there is no delay in returning to the staging area. Also it is important to thank each member for their contribution before introducing the next member. On meeting day, show up early. You’ll need time to make sure the staging area is set for a successful meeting. Check with each speaker as they arrive to see if they have made any last-minute changes to their speeches – such as changing the title. Check that everyone else scheduled on the agenda is present. Make any final adjustments to the agenda which are necessary [perhaps you have a late volunteer for an empty role or perhaps someone hasn't shown up and you need to put in a last-minute substitute].
When it’s time to start the programme, the club president will call the meeting to order. Sometimes he/she will make announcements, introduce guests or conduct other club business before introducing you. When you’re introduced, the president will wait until you arrive at the staging area before being seated. Your first task is to welcome everybody to the meeting and explain the agenda, pointing out any changes that have occurred since you emailed the group. Then begin the programme for the evening. Pay attention to time. You are responsible for beginning and ending the meeting on time. You may have to adjust the schedule during the meeting to accomplish this. You will lead the applause before and after each new speaker arrives on stage. At the conclusion of the programme, before introducing the general evaluator, request the timer’s report and call out the times for the prepared speakers, table topic speakers and speech evaluators. When the general evaluator has finished. Thank him/her and your final action will be to return control to the club president, who will ask guests for their opinions, organise the next meeting and adjourn the present one.
Serving as Toastmaster is an excellent way to practice many valuable skills as you strive to make the meeting one of the club’s best. Preparation is key to your success.
Word of the Day: We use a 'Word of the Day' to broaden the vocabulary of our members. The 'Word of the Day' should be rich in meaning. It should be just outside mainstream vocabulary and therefore not used that often. Examples used in various Toastmasters meetings at our club have been:
The 'Word of the Day is generally the first feature in the meeting so that members will have the opportunity to put it into use themselves. The presenter explains his/her choice of word and gives some example sentences using the word. Members are then encouraged to use it during the meeting.
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Meeting Roles |