Meeting Roles

Preparation prior to the meeting

• Send an e-mail to all members of the club reminding the scheduled participants of the meeting. 

  • Ask participants to confirm their attendance or find their own substitute

  • Ask speakers for speech title, time, and objectives. If the speakers have not given this information to you by the Tuesday before the meeting, request it from them again. 

  • Optionally, obtain introductory material from each participant. Remember, the Toastmaster does not introduce the evaluators; that is the role of the General Evaluator.

  • For online meetings, make sure to include the meeting link and password in the email. 

Before the meeting begins

• For online meetings: 

  • Login using the Mayo Hi-Nooners Zoom account (Request login info from our club officers). You may need monitor the waiting area to let participants into the meeting.

  • Share your screen with the meeting agenda slides.

• For in-person meetings: 

• • Arrive early and write the meeting schedule (on white board)  

  • Assist the speakers with equipment, props or questions.

• If someone with a role is missing, ask if someone present will fulfill that role.  

• If guests are present, remind the Grammarian, Timer, Humor/Inspiration Master, Table Topics Master and General Evaluator to explain their roles in their introductory comments.

During the meeting

• Greet the audience and ask if any of the officers present have any announcements to make.  When they are finished, continue with the meeting.

• Introduce the Grammarian

  • Greet the Grammarian by initiating the applause, shake hands with him or her and be seated.

  • When the Grammarian finishes, initiate the applause, return to the front of the room and shake hands with him or her.

• Introduce the Timer

  • Greet the Timer by initiating the applause and shaking hands.

  • When the Timer finishes, initiate the applause, return to the front of the room and shake hands with him or her.

• Introduce the speaker by name, speech title, objectives and the expected duration of the speech. 

  • Initiate the applause and shake hands with the speaker

  • At the end of the speech, initiate the applause, return to the front of the room and shake hands with the speaker.

  • Ask the timer to provide one minute of silence for the audience to write a brief evaluation for the speaker.  (Make sure everyone has an evaluation slip to complete.)

  • Repeat these steps for the second and third speakers.

• After the final speech, if there are any guests present, ask them to introduce themselves with their name, where they work, and how they found out about Toastmasters. These introductions are recommended at this point in the meeting as some may get to the meeting late and miss the first part of the meeting.

• Introduce the Table Topics master

  • Greet the Table Topics master by initiating the applause and shaking hands.

  • Let them know how many questions he or she should ask. 

  • When the Table Topics master finishes, initiate the applause, return to the front of the room and shake hands. 

• Introduce General Evaluator

  • Greet the General Evaluator by initiating the applause and shaking hands.

  • The General Evaluator will introduce all speech evaluators, the grammarian and timer.  S/he will then give an evaluation of the entire meeting.

  • When the General Evaluator finishes, initiate applause, return to the front of the room, and shake hands.

• Close the meeting. 

After the meeting

• It is recommended that first time Toastmasters meet briefly with their mentor or a club officer for feedback on their performance.

Preparation prior to the meeting

• Ask the Toastmaster for times of all speeches.

• Prepare a brief explanation of your role.

Before the meeting begins

• Set up, check and familiarize yourself with the timing materials.  Make a list of participants to be timed, including the Table Topics participants.

• For in-person meetings:

  • Retrieve attendance sheet and track attendance for the meeting.  If VP-Membership is not present, ask guests to sign roster.

  • Attach the video camera to the tripod with a horizontal profile.  Turn the camera on.

During the meeting

• When introduced by the Toastmaster, explain your role and review the timing criteria below.  In-person: Turn the floor back to the Toastmaster with a handshake.

• Timing rules:

  • Speaker times:

    • Green card/light for two minutes remaining

    • Yellow card/light for one minute remaining

    • Red card/light for end of time requested

    • Sound alarm for one minute over end of time

    • Sound alarm twice for two minutes over

  • Evaluators:

    • Green card/light – 2 minutes attained

    • Yellow card/light – 2 ½ minutes attained

    • Red card/light – 3 minutes attained

  • Table Topics:

    • Green card/light for 1minutes attained

    • Yellow card/light for 1 ½ minutes attained

    • Red card/light for 2 minutes attained

• Time the humor/inspiration master, speakers, evaluators, and table topics participants, (In-person: holding up appropriate colored cards at appropriate times. Use timing lights as well.) (Online: Post to the chat, or if participant can see you, hold up your card.) Record final times on timer sheet. 

• When introduced by the General Evaluator, report the timing criteria for each presentation and the time attained, e.g. Speaker #1 asked for 5-7 minutes and spoke for 6 minutes 45 seconds.    

End of Meeting: 

• In-person: Return timing material and attendance sheet to the blue bag.  Hand the camera to the Public Affairs officer or delegate in his/her absence. 

Preparation prior to the meeting

• Find an appropriate Word of the Day. The word should not be difficult to use in a sentence, but should also not be a common one. The goal is to expand the vocabulary of all participants. 

• Send the Word and definitions examples to Toastmaster so that they may include it in the content for the master slides. 

• Prepare your remarks about what your role entails: to

  • offer the word of the day to expand our vocabularies, and

  • listen for speech connectors (ah, um),  unnecessary filler words (you know, and), poor grammar ((incomplete sentences, subject and verb that don’t agree), eloquent or picturesque speech and rhetorical devices (triads, alliteration, metaphors, similes) 

Before the meeting begins

• In-Person: Arrive early to write the Word of the Day and its definition on the board. Provide a sample sentence using the Word of the Day.

• When the Toastmaster introduces you, present the Word of the Day and its definition.  Use the word in a sentence and encourage fellow Toastmasters to use it during the meeting. 

• Explain what you will be listening for: speech connectors, poor grammar, picturesque speech, rhetorical devices.

• Turn the floor back to the Toastmaster with a handshake and be seated.

During the meeting

• Listen for and take note of the use of the Word of the Day

• Listen for and note examples of picturesque or eloquent speech, speech connectors, unnecessary filler words, and/or use of poor grammar.

• When introduced by the General Evaluator, shake hands and deliver your report that includes:

  • Use of speech connectors or unnecessary filler words.

  • Use of poor grammar.  Where possible, offer the correct usage.

  • Note especially eloquent or picturesque speech

  • Note use of the Word of the Day.

  • If any of the above were mentioned by a speech evaluator, do not repeat.

• Return the floor back over to the General Evaluator with a handshake and be seated.

Preparation prior to the meeting

• Review your Pathways and prepare a speech that will fulfill the requirements and objectives of the project you choose. Follow the recommended time limits in the Pathways.

• Contact the Toastmaster to inform him/her of your speech title, desired speaking time, which Pathways you are speaking from, which project from that Pathways, and the objectives of your speech.

• Practice your speech several times before the meeting to make sure it fits within the time requirements and you are comfortable with your content and delivery.

• If you need to use the computer or other equipment during your speech, practice using this before the meeting. Come early to make sure computer/equipment is ready when you are called on to give your speech.

Before the meeting begins

• Meet with your evaluator and give them your speech evaluation form, title and desired speaking time. If the speech requires any special instructions, be sure the evaluator understands this information. Talk to your evaluator about anything you’d like them to pay particular attention to during your speech.

• Give your desired speaking time to the Timer.

During the meeting

• When the Toastmaster introduces you, greet the Toastmaster and start your speech typically by saying: Toastmaster, fellow Toastmasters, and guests ...

• In-person: At the end of your speech, do not say “thank you”. Simply say “Toastmaster” to the Toastmaster and wait until he or she comes to the front of the room.  Shake hands and be seated.

Preparation prior to the meeting

• Prepare a minimum of three questions to randomly ask your fellow Toastmasters. These questions should allow your speakers to expound on an idea, give their opinions, use their imagination, etc. Prepare questions that are short and don’t involve a lengthy explanation. For ideas, review recent Toastmaster magazines, newspapers and other publications for additional ideas.

• Prepare a brief explanation of your role. E.g. Table Topics helps us to think on our feet which we are often called to do at work as well as in the community.

During the meeting

• When the Toastmaster calls on you, come up to the front of the room and greet them with a handshake.

• Explain your role to the audience.

• State your question to the audience then call on a fellow Toastmaster to come up front to answer the question.  Call on someone who does not have a role in the meeting to allow more people to speak. 

• Greet the member with a handshake and repeat the question.

• Be seated until the member has completed answering the question,  and transferred the floor to you with a handshake

• Continue to ask as many questions as the Toastmaster indicates time will allow.

• Return the meeting to the Toastmaster with a  handshake.

NOTE:  If there is a new member whom you wish to have speak on a Table Topic, choose a simpler question, e.g. “What does your job entail?” or “Why did you choose to work at ___________?”

Preparation prior to the meeting

• Meet the speaker you will evaluate and find out if there is anything else they would like you to listen for or observe. Familiarize yourself with the speech in the Pathways and the objectives for evaluation.

During the meeting

• Listen carefully to the speech. Try to hold off on recording any notes until the speech is over to give your full attention to the speaker. After the speech is done, record your personal impressions of the speech in the manual along with answers to the evaluation questions. Be as objective as possible. Remember: good evaluations may give new life to discouraged members and poor evaluations may dishearten members who tried their best. Always leave the speaker with specific methods for improving!

• Except for a very few specific speech assignments, the evaluation should focus almost exclusively on the delivery of the presentation. The evaluator should not review the content: the audience heard the speech and the speaker is also aware of the speech content.

• When introduced, shake hands with the General Evaluator and deliver your verbal evaluation. Begin and end your evaluation with a note of encouragement or praise. After you finish, turn the floor back to the General Evaluator with a handshake and be seated.

After the meeting

• Return any materials given to you by the speaker.  Add a verbal word of encouragement to the speaker, possibly something that you didn’t mention during the oral evaluation.

Notes:  If there is a criticism that you feel is too personal or critical to give in your oral evaluation (personal appearance, improper grammar usage) this can be noted in the comments of the written evaluation or given face to face.  It is always better to get the speaker the information in a way that does not cause embarrassment.

Preparation prior to the meeting

• Prepare a brief talk on the purpose and benefits of evaluation for the benefit of any guests present.  Emphasize that evaluation should be a positive experience and be constructive designed to help people overcome weak habits and encourage good ones.

During the meeting

• Take notes on everything that happens during the meeting, e.g.

  • did the meeting start on time?

  • was everyone present that was scheduled for a role?

  • were there any unnecessary distractions, e.g. someone wasn’t prepared with the AV equipment?

  • quality of evaluations

  • overall participation and performance of duties

  • anything that seems remarkable to you

• When the Toastmaster introduces you after the Table Topics portion of the meeting, explain your role.

• Introduce the first evaluator, initiate the applause and shake their hands; after they are done, initiate the applause and shake their hands

• Introduce the second and third evaluators in the same way as the first.

• After the evaluations, ask the Grammarian for their report.  Initiate the applause and shake their hands.  After they are finished, initiate the applause and shake their hands.

• Ask the Timer for their report.  Initiate the applause and shake their hands.  After they are done, initiate the applause and shake their hands.

• You will then evaluate the meeting in general, relying on the notes you took as the meeting progressed.  Remember your evaluation should be similar to the speech evaluations in that it should be positive with both praise for what went well and suggestions for improvement. 

• After you finish, you will turn the meeting back to the Toastmaster with a handshake and be seated.