Typical Meeting
Many people have not heard about Toastmasters! It is one of the Best hidden gems in life which has helped millions of people in over 140 countries, and has been around since 1924!
Members learn through taking on roles at the club meetings. The more roles a member takes on, the more they learn!
At our clubs, when you come in, you are greeted by our friendly Greeter. As you walk in, you will see members happily or nervously preparing for their role in the meeting. Happily or nervously, it’s all part of the fun learning experience.
When it is time, the Sergeant At Arms opens the meeting and welcomes everyone and introduces the Chairperson (in the Gavel Club) or the Toastmaster of the Day (in the Toastmasters Club) to start the meeting.
The Chairperson/Toastmaster prepares for the meeting ahead of time by choosing a meeting theme, communicates with role takers and club members, prepares an agenda, prepares introductions, and conducts the meeting.
List of the meeting roles in our club:
Greeter - Member practices welcoming and making members feel welcomed.
Sergeant-at-arms - Is a Club Officer. Member practices organization and preparation skills through setting up, opening the meeting, and taking down the room.
Chairperson/Toastmaster - Member practices time management, leading/directing a meeting, introducing role takers, maneuvering unexpected situations, etc.
Humourist - Member learns a joke and shares it in the meeting. The member learns about humour and how to deliver it.
Tip Master- Member learns a tip on public speaking and shares it in the meeting.
Grammarian - Member practices listening skills by listening for crutch words and good use of the English language, and presents a report at the end.
Time Keeper - Member practice time management skills by tracking the time used by speakers and role takers, and presents a report at the end.
Speaker - Member practices presenting prepared speeches from their speech manual.
Speech Evaluator - Member practices listening and evaluating speeches, deliver impromptu feedback in a constructive way that encourages the member.
Table Topics Leader - Member practices leading the impromptu speaking portion of the meeting. Prepares impromptu questions for members to answer on the spot.
Table Topics Speaker- Member practices answering Table Topics questions presented by the Table Topics Leader, in a way that has an introduction, body, and conclusion.
Quizmaster - Member listens throughout the meeting and composes 3-5 questions to test how well members listened during the meeting.
Team Leader - Member prepares a team building activity, presents it to everyone, and challenges teams to play.
Club Counselor/Head Coach (Adult) - Presents a general evaluation of how the meeting went.
Role Evaluator (Adult) - Volunteer parent helps to complete evaluations in the CC (Competent Communicator) or CL (Competent Leadership) manuals.
The Best Table Topic Award is given to the best impromptu speaker at each meeting.
This sounds like a lot, but it is not. Everyone is taking on a role in the meeting (depending on experience level), and when everyone pulls the meeting together, everyone is having fun and learning lots!
List of club officer roles
The club officer roles (aka Club Executives) is where the member's leadership skills will be shaped and be put to the test (or vice versa). The club executives will be challenged with real life organizational challenges; maintaining a happy membership, maintaining membership growth, ensuring members are learning, promoting public relations outside the club, maintain and work within a financial budget, maintain operations, etc. Each club officer has their own roles and responsibilities, but must work together in order to meet the club's goals/objectives. Each officer is selected by the Club Nominating Committee and is elected by the membership.
There are 7 club officer roles:
