Toastmasters begins with the club meeting. This is where every new Toastmaster starts to establish their speaking and leadership skills within the Toastmasters program. While many people decide to move on and compete in speech competitions (which can go all the way to the National level) or even become officers at the club, Division, or District level, the Toastmasters meeting is the foundation for the program.
In a typical Toastmasters meeting, there are several roles to be fulfilled in order to run a successful meeting. In addition to attending and participating in meetings, members are expected to fulfill these meeting roles (though they may not need to have one of these defined roles at every meeting). Below is a brief description of each of the roles in a Toastmasters meeting. Click the checkmark to see tips for fulfilling that role.
The Toastmaster of the Evening plans the entire meeting with the assistance of other members assigned to meeting roles. He/she opens the meeting, introduces those who are speaking and those who are fulfilling other roles, and closes the meeting at the end.
The Inspirational Opener is called to speak at the opening of the meeting to start the meeting off on a good or thoughtful note. He/she can share a poem, story, or even a funny story.
These
speeches are based on projects in the Toastmasters Speech Manuals.
The first manual is the Communication and Leadership
Program; there are
10 speech projects in this manual and after having completed them all, the
member is awarded the CTM designation (Competent Toastmaster).
After this award, there are many different Advanced Toastmasters manuals
to choose from.
Table Topics is fun! A member of the club is assigned the role of Table Topics Master and he/she prepares a few topics or questions before the meeting. During this event, members and guests (with permission) can be called upon to speak for 1-2 minutes to the topic or question posed by the Table Topics Master without any preparation. This gives people experience in the “impromptu speech” - often referred to as thinking on your feet.
The
General Evaluator of the meeting takes the time to speak about the meeting
overall. This is also the time when
the Grammarian of the meeting and the Timer give their reports on all speakers.
An evaluation is a 2-3 minute feedback presentation on a speech given during the meeting. There is always one Evaluator assigned to each Speaker. The Speaker and the Evaluator work together to determine what the speaker’s goals are for that particular speech. The Evaluator does much more than say “Here’s what you did wrong…” A good Evaluator should motivate the Speaker by saying “Here’s what you did well, and here’s why…” and “Here are some suggestions for further improvement.
Every good speaker needs to make good use of the time that they have been allotted and to make sure he/she does not keep going and going and going until the audience gets bored. In the real world, especially business meetings, you are expected to be brief and clear and to keep to the agenda. It is common for clubs to use a set of timing lights or cards to let the speaker know where they stand in terms of time during their speech. For example, in a 5-7 speech, a green light would show at 5 minutes, a yellow light at 6 minutes and a red light at 7 minutes. This lets the speaker know when they need to start wrapping up their speech, but it gives enough warning to begin this process without mangling their speech. In clubs where awards are given at the end of the meeting for Best Speaker, Best Table Topics, and/or Best Evaluator, the Vote Counter simply tallies peoples ballots throughout the evening.
* In some clubs, Timer and Vote Counter can be separate roles.
The Grammarian/Uh Counter listens for good/bad grammar made throughout the evening by anyone who speaks during the meeting. This can be a very tough role because it forces the person to become a very thorough listener. As Uh Counter, this person is also listening for "vocal ticks" such as Uh, Um, etc.
* In some clubs, Grammarian and Uh Counter can be separate roles.