Typical Meeting

Editor's Notes:

The order of portions of the meeting change from club to club; this order as well as all the major and minor roles listed here are those used by our club, the Empire Statesmen Toastmasters.
Business Meeting often only takes 5-15 minutes. Table Topics and prepared speeches (and their evaluations) take much longer.
Actors change: In each meeting, different members assume different roles.

(by Sam Mehta, DTM, ESTM member and 2006-2007 District 65 Governor)

Toastmaster meeting can be anywhere from one hour to as much as two hours long, depending on the type of club and membership needs. A Toastmasters meeting is primarily divided into three major segments.

The first segment, generally referred to as the "business meeting," addresses the ongoing needs of the club and its members. This also serves as an opportunity to practice the use of parliamentary procedures and Roberts Rule of Law. Motions are initiated, discussed, voted upon, and implemented.

The second segment of the meeting is the practice of Table Topics, where members are called upon to give 2 to 3 minutes of impromptu speech, generally on a given topic or subject. In real world, we are constantly called upon to "think-on-your-feet" in order to instantly respond to issues that come up in our personal and professional lives. This quick, "thinking-on-the-feet" program builds confidence in the organization of thought and sharpens the ability to speak without any preparation. Table Topics provides an excellent opportunity to practice and develop the "quick thinking process."

The third segment of the meeting is the delivery of prepared speeches (generally 5 to 7 minutes) from the Toastmasters manual. These are immediately evaluated by fellow Toastmasters per comprehensive guidelines provided in the speech manual. The speech evaluation or "constructive feed-back" mechanism becomes an integral part of further development of speech acumen and thought progress.

The major meeting roles undertaken by Toastmasters in a typical club meeting are:

Toastmaster (hosts the meeting)
Table Topic Master (comes up with the subjects for table topics)
Speakers (give prepared speeches as well as impromptu speeches)
Evaluators (evaluate the prepared speeches)
General Evaluator (evaluates the overall meeting)
Grammarian (keeps track of grammar mistakes and good use of vocabulary and sentences)
Ah Counter (tracks the use of crutch words or pause fillers such as "Ah," "um," "err," "you know," "you see," etc.)
Ballot Counter (keeps track of votes for best prepared speech, table topics speech and evaluator)
Timer (times the speeches to ensure speaker discipline, organization, and focus)

Other minor or optional meeting roles, depending on an individual club's needs, include:

Invocator (gives a non-denominational line or phrase at the beginning of a program)
Toast Maker (gives a toast at a dinner club meeting)
Word Master (provides a unique word to increase the vocabulary)
Joke Master (provides a joke for light humor and entertainment)
Video Operator (videotapes those members who want to see and hear their speeches in the privacy of their home)