"a toastmaster wears many hats"
Click below to download your own PDF copy of the meeting roles from the official Toastmasters guide book.
| all_roles_manual.pdf |
BELOW IS OUR VERY OWN, "UNOFFICIAL" MEETING ROLE DESCRIPTIONS
Toastmaster
The Toastmaster is the meeting host or MC (Master of Ceremonies). The Toastmaster chooses the meeting theme, creates the agenda, introduces participants, and keeps the meeting on schedule. This role provides an opportunity to practice leadership, time management, and impromptu speaking skills.
Download our PDF guide below to see how being a Toastmaster works!
Download our PDF guide below to see how being a Toastmaster works!
| toastmaster_role_overview.pdf |
speaker
Each meeting includes 1-2 prepared speeches. Members can sign up to give a prepared speech on any topic they choose. Before the meeting, the Toastmaster will ask for your speech title and goals. Your goal(s) could be anything you wish to work on. For example eye contact, vocal projection, engaging your audience, etc.
SPEECH evaluator
Each Speaker is assigned a Speech Evaluator before the meeting. After the speech, the Evaluator will give a 2-3 minute evaluation including what the Speaker did well and areas for improvement. This provides an opportunity for the Evaluator to practice delivering feedback, and an opportunity for attendees to learn from each speech.
Watch the video below for advice on how to give effective speech evaluations:
Watch the video below for advice on how to give effective speech evaluations:
general evaluator
At the end of the meeting, the General Evaluator gives a 2-3 minute evaluation on the meeting as a whole, including what went well and areas for improvement. This provides another opportunity to practice delivering feedback, and an opportunity for attendees to learn from each meeting.
grammarian
The Grammarian chooses a "word of the day" for attendees to try to use throughout the meeting. If someone uses the word of the day, we clap! The Grammarian keeps track of how many times the word of the day is used, as well as other colorful use of language throughout the meeting. This provides an opportunity to practice active listening, and for members to build their vocabulary.
ah counter aka "wizard of ahs"
"Ah...Um... So...." We all have out crutch words! The "Wizard of Ahs" keeps track of how many crutch words are used throughout the meeting. If you want, they will also use a clicker each time you use a crutch word. This provides another opportunity for active listening, as well as the opportunity for attendees to decrease their use of crutch words.
timer
The Timer helps each Speaker stay on time by timing and holding up cards for them. For example, the Evaluator speaks for 2-3 minutes, so the Timer will hold up cards to let them know when they have hit 2:00, 2:30, 3:00 and 3:30. This provides and opportunity to practice time management and multi-tasking.
table topics master
One of the most fun parts of club meetings is Table Topics! The Table Topics Master creates questions based on the theme chosen by the Toastmaster, and calls on audience members to come up and answer one of the questions. The goal for participants is to speak for 1-2 minutes when they answer a question. This creates an opportunity to practice impromptu speaking, and makes sure everyone gets a chance to speak.
