MEETING ROLES
Toastmasters learn by practicing. During club meetings, members of VETC will participate in many roles, and each is a learning experience. Roles and responsibilities will vary from club to club; below are those at VETC. If you have any questions or comments, please email the VP of Education.
Click the Calendar to sign up for a speech or role.
Members who sign up at the Wednesday meetings will be given priority.
VP of Education will confirm your slot based on current needs and on your progress.
TOASTMASTER
The Toastmaster is the meeting’s director and host. You won’t usually be assigned this role until you are thoroughly familiar with VETC and its procedures. Serving as Toastmaster is an excellent way to practice many valuable skills as you strive to make your meeting one of VETC’s best. Preparation is the key to your success. As the Toastmaster, you’ll introduce each speaker. Remember to keep the introductions short and sweet. You want to avoid awkward interruptions or gaps in meeting flow so plan some remarks you can use to make smooth transitions from one portion of the program to another. On meeting day, show up early (an hour before the meeting starts). You’ll need time to make sure the stage is set for a successful meeting. Begin the meeting with a welcome and introductions of functionaries and guests. Exchange handshakes with those arriving and leaving the stage to show when control passes from the Toastmaster to the speaker and vice versa. You will lead the applause before and after every speaker. You are responsible for beginning and ending the meeting on time. You may have to adjust the schedule during the meeting to accomplish this by taking time from the Table Topics section. Make sure each meeting segment adheres to the agenda.
SERGEANT AT ARMS
As the Sergeant At Arms you get the chance to practice and improve your skills in planning, preparation and organization, time management, motivation and team building. You arrive early and help set up the chairs, the projector, timer laptop, forms and member tags. You are in charge of laying out the snacks and beverages before the break so that everyone can access them quickly.
You open the meeting on time and energetically introduce roles as needed, including the Toastmaster. Throughout the meeting you ensure that the ‘hot seat’ is occupied by the next speaker so that time is not wasted transitioning from one speaker to the next. You sit and control the room from the back. You call the meeting to order at the end of the break and re-introduce the Toastmaster. You distribute and tabulate the ballots for the ‘Best Table Topic’ contest and announce the winner with appropriate fanfare.
TIMER
VETC has a grueling agenda that can only be completed on time with the help of the Timer. The Timer operates a laptop computer that displays green, yellow and red to let each speaker know their elapsed time. The Timer also records the times of each speaker. The Timer will report all of the times during the reports section of the agenda.
GRAMMARIAN
As the Grammarian you announce the ‘word of the day’ and watch for good or bad grammar and vocabulary usage. You report on usage of your ‘word of the day’ and provide examples of good and bad grammar during the reports section of the agenda.
AH COUNTER
As the Ah Counter you count, record and ‘ding’(call bell) ineffective filler words that speakers use such as um, er, y’know, ah, anyway, like and so. This role helps both you and VETC’s members purge these ineffective words from their vocabularies.
HUMOURIST
As a humorist, your role is to help everyone relax by telling a humor story or a joke not longer than 2-3 minutes(a personal story is always a plus) and discourage the reading of jokes. Whatever the form of humour, it must not be offensive, sexist, racist or sexual.
GREETER
VETC likes to welcome each and every single guest that visits the club, therefore one of the registerred members will alsways stand at the door greeting newcomers. The greeter is respinsible, not only of making each guest feel welcome with a professinal, yet warm greeting, but also to ask a couple simple questions to help us learn a little bit about each guest.
Once the meeting begins, the Toastmaster will ask the Greeter to introduce those new guests that are visiting the club. It is a good idea that, if you are the greeter, to make a few notes to help you remember names and some of the info that was shared with you by each guest.
VIDEOGRAPHER
The videographer records those prepared speeches whose speakers want them recorded. At the end of each meeting these speakers can review their performance to gain the considerable benefits of self-evaluation.
TABLE TOPIC MASTER
The Table Topics Master challenges each VETC member with an unknown topic, and the speaker responds with a two minute impromptu speech. This trains speakers to quickly organize and express their thoughts in an improvized setting. This role provides the Table Topics Master with an opportunity to practice planning, organization, and time management skills. Select subjects and questions that allow speakers to offer opinions. Don’t make the questions too long or complicated and that they don’t require specialized knowledge. Phrase questions so the speakers clearly understand what you want them to talk about. Your job is to give others a chance to speak, so keep your own comments short. When the Toastmaster introduces you, assume control of the meeting, briefly state the purpose of table topics, mention any theme and specify the time allowed. Fill the ‘hot seat’ so there is minimum time lost between speakers. Watch your time. You may need to adjust the number of questions so your segment ends on time. The Toastmaster will let you know when to end.
GENERAL EVALUATOR
As the General Evaluator you get the chance to practice and improve your skills in critical thinking, planning, preparation and organization, time management, motivation and team building. There are two ways to give a general evaluation. The first is to evaluate every role which has not yet been evaluated: the Toastmaster, Sergeant At Arms, Humorist, Speech Evaluators and Table Topics Master. Phrase your evaluation so it is constructive, encouraging and motivates incumbents to implement the suggestions. The second way is to evaluate the overall tone of the meeting: what was done well and what could be improved? Was the meeting upbeat?
Being General Evaluator is a big responsibility and it is integral to the success of every VETC member. People join VETC because they want to learn something. If the learning environment isn’t focused and fun, VETC members won’t learn what they joined to learn. Your observations and suggestions help ensure that VETC is meeting the goals and needs of its members.
EVALUATOR
Evaluate to motivate! Speaking skills are improved with the help of evaluations. Everyone is asked to participate by providing an evaluation. Designated Speech evaluators will provide both verbal and written evaluations for speakers using the Communicator workbook provided. The objective is to give the speaker practical and positive feedback. One of the techniques used is the sandwich method: first give a sincere praise, then ‘growth points’ (suggestions for improvement), and end with something positive the speaker did. Each evaluator has to study the speech objectives as well as the evaluation guide in the manual. By actively listening, providing reinforcement for their strengths and gently offering useful advice, you will motivate speakers to work hard and improve. When you suggest ways to improve, you’ve open the door to enhancing or strengthening everyone’s speaking abilities. Record your impressions in the speaker’s CC manual, along with your answers to the evaluation questions.
Be as objective as possible. Remember that good evaluations may give new inspiration to discouraged members and poor evaluations may dishearten members who tried their best. Always provide specific methods for improving and present them in a positive manner. Begin and end your evaluation with a note of encouragement or praise. Commend a successful speech and describe specifically how it was successful. Don’t allow the speaker to remain unaware of a valuable asset such as a smile or a sense of humor. Likewise, don’t permit the speaker to remain ignorant of a serious fault: if it is personal, write it but don’t mention it aloud. Give the speaker deserved praise and tactful suggestions in the manner you would like to receive them. After the meeting, return the CC manual to the speaker. Add another word of encouragement and answer any questions the member may have.
By giving feedback, you are personally contributing to your fellow VETC member’s improvement. Preparing and presenting evaluations is also an opportunity for you to practice your listening, critical thinking, feedback and motivation skills. And when the time comes to receive feedback, you’ll have a better understanding of the process.