Structure of Meetings

Table Topic Master
Word Watcher
Table Topics Participant

Speaker

General Evaluator
Evaluator
Table Topics Evaluator

Invocation & Pledge

Our meetings begin with a moment of non-denominational prayer and/or reflection. We then recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag.

Opener

This person gives a short talk that is designed to “set the tone” for the meeting. The talk usually lasts approximately 2-3 minutes and corresponds to the theme of the meeting.

Toastmaster of Evening

This person is responsible for running the meeting, making sure it progresses smoothly, and keeping the meeting running on schedule. It is the Toastmaster’s responsibility to introduce the Table Topics Master and the General Evaluator. It is also up to the Toastmaster to talk with the speakers prior to the meeting and find out what they will be speaking about and for how long. He/She also introduces the speakers as they are called upon to speak.

Educational Speaker

The Educational Speaker gives a talk at the beginning of the meeting on a subject of educational interest to the club. We do not have an educational talk at every meeting, but we try to have several educational talks presented during each Toastmaster year.

Timer

The timer keeps track of how long the Table Topics Participants, Speakers, and Evaluators speak. This person turns on lights at various times during the talks- green when the person is nearing the end of their allotted speaking time, yellow when they are closer to the end, and red when it is time to wrap up the talk. The speaker has 30 seconds to end their talk after the red light appears.

Table Topics Portion

Table Topics is the impromptu speaking portion of the meeting. This part of the meeting helps individuals learn to think on their feet and formulate a suitable answer to a surprise question.

Table Topic Master

This person is responsible for running Table Topics. The Table Topics Master calls upon club members (not guests) in the audience to speak on a subject of the Table Topic Master’s choosing. The Table Topics participants have no advance warning of the topics about which they are asked to speak. It is up to the Table Topics Master to try and keep the topics related to the theme of the evening.

Word Watcher

The Word Watcher’s job is to help broaden our vocabulary. He/She chooses two words and announces them, as well as their definitions, to the club at the start of the Table Topics portion of the meeting. The Table Topics participants are required to use at least one of the words in their impromptu talk.

Table Topics Participant

This person is called upon to give an impromptu 1-2 minute talk on a subject of the Table Topic Master’s choosing. There are usually about 4 table topics participants at any given meeting, and they are all required to use at least one of the words that the Word Watcher introduces.

Speaking Portion

This is the portion of the meeting during which individuals who have prepared speeches in advance deliver them to the audience.

Speaker

The assigned speakers of the evening are the individuals who have prepared a speech in advance for presentation to the club. There are usually 3 prepared speeches at each meeting.

Evaluation Portion

This is the portion of the meeting during which club members evaluate the prepared speeches.

General Evaluator

This person runs the evaluation portion of the meeting. Before the meeting, he/she assigns evaluators to critique the prepared speeches of the evening. During the evaluation portion, this individual calls upon each evaluator to evaluate his or her assigned speaker. The General Evaluator is also responsible for completing an evaluation of the meeting as a whole at the end of the meeting.

Evaluator

This person’s job is to effectively evaluate a prepared speaker’s speech. He/she is to point out things the speaker did well, as well as point out ways the speaker could have improved his/her speech.

Table Topics Evaluator

This person’s assignment is to evaluate the Table Topics portion of the meeting. The Table Topics Evaluator comments on the Table Topics session as a whole, as well as critiquing each participant’s talk. He/She may also comment on the Word Watcher’s role in the meeting.

Business Portion

During the business portion, official club business is conducted using Parliamentary Procedure (Robert’s Rules of Order). It begins with accepting the previous meeting’s minutes, and amending them if necessary. Officer reports are then given. Following the officer reports, active committees are asked to report on their status. This is followed by Announcements. We then conduct Unfinished and New Business.

Grammarian, Parliamentarian, & AH Counter

The Grammarian is responsible for taking note of grammatical errors and pointing them out at the end of the meeting so the club members can correct their errors in the future. It is the Parliamentarian’s duty to make sure the club members adhere to Robert’s Rules of Order (Parliamentary Procedure) during the business portion of the meeting and to correct errors as they occur during the business session. The AH Counter is responsible for counting the number of vocal pauses uttered throughout the meeting, and noting who is saying them. He/She reports the totals at the end of the meeting. Vocal pauses include Ahs, Ums, or any other “filler” word that is unnecessary. [In our club, the club members often act collectively as Grammarians and Parliamentarians.] We assign a specific member of the club to serve as AH Counter.

Closer

This person wraps up the meeting with a brief (approximately 2-3 minute) talk. This person’s talk should adhere to the theme of the meeting, and ideally should give us something to think about after the meeting ends.