SO WHAT TAKES PLACE
DURING A MEETING?
A TYPICAL MEETING
The Poquoson meetings consist of five parts:
- Invocation, Flag Salute, and Club Business
- Programmed Speeches
- Table Topics
- Evaluations
- Awards, Closing Notes and Assignments, and Adjornment.
A typical meeting will run as follows:
Invocation, Flag Salute, and Club Business (10 min)
- The preciding officer Calls the Meeting to Order
- The Invocation and Flag Salute (2 min)
- Guests are Introduced (3 min)
- Club Business (2 min)
- Word of the Day Announced (2 min)
- Toastmaster of the Meeting (TM) Introduced by the Preciding Officer (1 min)
Programmed Speeches (20 min)
- TM introduces Speaker #1 (1 min)
- Speaker #1 (5-7 min)
- TM introduces Speaker #2 (1 min)
- Speaker #2 (5-7 min)
- Timer's Report (1 min)
Table Topics (20 min)
- TM introduces the Table Topic Master (TTM) (1 min)
- TTM describes the theme of the Table Topics (1 min)
- Members are called at random, each speaker get 1-2 min (15-17 min)
- Timer's Report (1 min)
Evaluations (20 min)
- TM introduces Master Evaluator (ME) (1 min)
- ME introduces Evaluator #1 (1 min)
- Evaluator #1 (2-3 min)
- ME introduces Evaluator #2 (1 min)
- Evaluator #2 (2-3 min)
- Ah-watcher/Grammarian Report (1 min)
- Word of the Day Report (1 min)
- Timer's Report (1 min)
- ME's Evaluation of the Meeting (3-4 min)
Awards, Closing Notes and Assignments, and Adjornment (10 min)
- TM introduces the Joke Master (1 min)
- Joke Master (1 min)
- TM returns control to Preciding Officer (1 min)
- If awards, the Vote Counter Announces the Best/Better Speaker, Best Table Topics Speaker, and Best Evaluator (2 min)
- Assignments for the next meeting (4 min)
- Final notes and adjornment. (1 min)
We start each meeting with an invocation and flag salute. The preciding officer will open with any club news. All guests are introduced. The "Word of the Day" (WOD) is an educational moment and a challenge. The WOD teaches use a new word, and the challenge is to use the WOD at least once during the meeting. The preciding officer, normally the club presdent, will introduce the Toastmaster of the Meeting.
The Toastmaster of the Meeting is the Master of Ceremony. Their job is to introduce the Programmed Speakers, the Table Topics Master, the Master Evaluator, and the Joke Master. They are responisble for keeping the meeting to the agenda.
The Programmed Speaker(s) do projects from the Toastmaster Manuals. Normally, their time is 5-7 minutes, unless the speech dictates otherwise.
The Timer is one of the Master Evaluator's helpers. They are responsible for timing and signalling to all speakers. When the speaker has reached the minimum time, a green card or light will be shown. A yellow card/light at the intermediate time; red at the latest time. A speaker receives a 30-second "grace period" after the red card/light. If they continue past their time, they are disqualified for that particular speaking award.
The Table Topics Master (TTM) is responsible for the impromptu section of the meeting. The TTM will call members at random, usually those who are not speakers or evaluators. However, if the group is small, the TTM make call on everyone. The TTM poses questions based on a theme or "at random." Some Table Topic sample questions include:
- "Why does a golf course have 18 holes instead of 15 or 20?"
- "Why is the color of most dogs' noses black?"
- "Just how much wood COULD a woodchuck chuck?"
- "If you were asked to speak at your high school, what would you tell the students?"
The Master Evaluator (ME) is responsible for the evalution section of the meeting. Their helpers include the Evaluators, the Timer, and the Ah-Watcher/Grammarian. After all the evalutors have report, the ME will give the "State of the Meeting" Report. This reports helps the TM in future meetings. Also, it helps the club challenge itself to improve at the next meeting.
The Evaluator rates the Programmed Speaker's presentation. We encourage the "sandwich" method of evaluation. Start with the strengths of the presentation. Challenge the speaker with items for improvement. Finish on a positive note.
The Ah-Watcher/Grammarian keep tabs of useless words or "fillers" such as, "err," "and," "umm," and "you know." They also look for pregnant pauses--long breaks between words and the dropping of the letter "g" on "-ing" words. Those truly gifted or cursed will remind you of improper grammar you, such as dangling partidiples, double negatives, and improper Subject-Verb usage.
The Joke Master helps to keep the mood light with a CLEAN joke. Usually, the Joke Master tells the joke during the counting of the votes at the end of the meeting.
The Vote Counter counts the votes. I prefer that they also are the ones who announce the winners, as part of their comunication practice at the meeting.
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