The Toastmaster is the Master of Ceremonies for the evening, ensuring that each role is effectively executed and managing the meeting to a timely conclusion ( meeting agenda ). The Toastmaster's supporting staff for the evening are the Table Topics Master, General Evaluator, Grammarian, Ah Counter, and Timer.
Table Topics Master:
Prepares a series of topics for extemporaneous speeches by members, generally around a theme. Participants speak on a previously unknown topic for 1-to-2-minutes. Guests are encouraged to participate in table topics, but are more than welcome to get up and just introduce themselves to the club. Or if a guest truly prefers, they do not have to participate at all.
Prepared Speaker:
One of the most important roles of the meeting, the prepared speakers serve as the core of the meeting. Speeches are usually 5 to 7 minutes, but more advanced speeches can go as long as 10 to 15 minutes.
Speech Evaluator:
Helps us improve our public speaking by providing verbal feedback for each of the prepared speakers. Observes a prepared speech, analyzes content and delivery for areas of strength and opportunities for improvement, and presents a 2-to-3-minute evaluation.
Grammarian:
Helps us expand vocabulary and awareness of language usage. Presents a "word of the day" which we try to use in any speaking role. Observes language usage throughout the night and reports on errors members make in grammar, pronunciation or word usage.
"Ahh" Counter:
Helps us eliminate those distracting, unprofessional "ahhs," "errs," and "umms." Counts verbal crutches of any type throughout the night and reports totals for each member at the end of the meeting.
Timer:
Helps us learn to create and deliver speeches that meet a time specification. Records the time duration of all table topics, prepared speeches and evaluations, and reports if the presentation was within the allotted time.
General Evaluator:
Helps us learn to conduct more professional meetings, and improve our evaluations. Leads the evaluation portion of the meeting and evaluates the quality of the overall meeting, the evaluations and other major roles.
Humorist:
Starts the meeting by putting all participants in a pleasant frame of mind with an appropriate humorous joke or story.
How does the Timer operate?
The Timer will present green, yellow and red cards to indicate the passage of time during a speech as shown below. Green indicates that the target time has been reached, while red indicates that the speaker is out of time.
For prepared speeches:
Green = 5:00 min, Yellow = 6:00 min, Red = 7:00 min
