Roles & Responsibilities

• A Speaker

  A major portion of each meeting is centered on three or more speakers. Their speeches are prepared based on manual project objectives and should last from five to seven minutes for projects in the basic Communication and Leadership Program manual and eight or more minutes, depending on the assignment, for projects in the Advanced Communication and Leadership Program manuals.

  Preparation is essential to success when you are the speaker.  For a cheat sheet click here.

• The General Evaluator

  The General Evaluator (GE) is just what the name implies–an evaluator of anything and everything that takes place throughout the meeting. The GE is responsible to the Toastmaster who will introduce you; at the conclusion of the evaluation segment of the meeting, you will return control to him or her. You are responsible for the evaluation team, which consists of the Speech Evaluators, Timer and Grammarian. For a cheat sheet click here.

• A Speech Evaluator

  After every prepared speech, the speaker receives an evaluation.  After you have presented a few speeches, you will be asked to serve as an evaluator and will evaluate one of the prepared speakers of the meeting.  In addition to your oral evaluation, you will give the speaker a written evaluation using the guide in the manual.  The evaluation you present can make the difference between a worthwhile or a wasted speech for your speaker.  The purpose of the evaluation is to help the speaker become less self-conscious and a better speaker.  This requires that you be fully aware of the speaker's skill level, habits, and mannerisms, as well as her or his progress to date.  If the speaker uses a technique or some gesture that receives a good response from the audience, tell the speaker so she or he will be encouraged to use it again.  For a cheat sheet click here.

• The Timer

  The Toastmaster of the Day will call on you to explain the timing rules.  One of the lessons to be practiced in speech training is that of expressing a thought within a specific time.  The timer is the member responsible for keeping track of time.  Each segment of the meeting is timed.  You should explain your duties and report to the Club clearly and precisely.  This exercise is an excellent opportunity in practicing communicating instructions - something that we do every day. For a cheat sheet click here.

• The Table Topics Master

  The Toastmasters program has a tradition - every member speaks at a meeting.  The table topics session is that portion of the meeting which insures this tradition.  The purpose of this period is to have members "think on their feet" and speak for a minute or so.  The topics master prepares an issues the topics' originality is desirable as much as possible.  Each speaker may be given an individual subject or a choice of subjects may be presented from which the members can draw at random.  For a cheat sheet click here.

• The Toastmaster of the Day (TMOD)

  The main duty of the TMOD is to act as a genial host and conduct the entire program, including introducing participants.  If the TMOD does not perform the duties well, an entire meeting can end in failure.  For obvious reasons this task is not usually assigned to a member until she or he is quite familiar with the Club and its procedures.  Program participants should be introduced in a way that excites the audience and motivates them to listen.  The TMOD creates an atmosphere of interest, expectation, and receptivity.  For a cheat sheet click here.

• The Grammarian

  Being Grammarian is truly an exercise in expanding your listening skills.  You have two basic responsibilities:  First, to introduce new words to members, and second, to comment on the use of English during the course of the meeting.  For a cheat sheet click here.