If you are unable to fill your assigned role for a meeting, it is your responsibility to find a substitute and give his/her name to the Toastmaster. The first person to ask to be your substitute is the Stand-By (if there is one). If the Stand-By has already taken someone else's place, or there is no Stand-By, call other members.
| Abbreviation | Functionary |
|---|---|
| AH | Ah Counter |
| EV | Evaluator |
| GR | Grammarian |
| JM | Joke Master |
| ME | Master Evaluator |
| PO | Presiding Officer |
| SA | Sergeant at Arms |
| SB | Stand-By |
| SP | Speaker |
| TD | Thought for the Day |
| TK | Time Keeper |
| TM | Toastmaster |
| TT | Table Topics Master |
| VC | Vote Counter |
| WM | Word Master |
The Ah Counter (called the Wizard of Ahs in some clubs) keeps track of how many filler words (such as "ah," "um," "er," and "you know") each person uses during the meeting and, at the Toastmaster's request, gives a report. Members pay five cents per filler word, up to a total of 25 cents. Guests pay nothing.
Before the meeting, the Evaluator asks the Speaker which speech s/he will be giving and familiarizes himself/herself with the goals of that speech. If the speech is not a manual speech, the Evaluator asks the Speaker what his or her goals for that speech are.
At the beginning of the meeting, the Evaluator gets the Speaker's manual (if the speech is a manual speech) so that the Evaluator can fill out the evaluation form in the manual.
During and after the speech, the Evaluator fills out the evaluation form in the manual and prepares a short evaluation speech (not longer than 2 minutes 15 seconds). The evaluation speech should mention both strengths and ways to improve.
When introduced by the Master Evaluator, the Evaluator goes to the front of the room, shakes the Master Evaluator's hand, and delivers the short evaluation speech. If the Time Keeper rings the bell, the Evaluator stops speaking, whether s/he is finished or not.
When the Evaluator is finished, s/he reintroduces the Master Evaluator with a sentence such as, "I will now return control to our Master Evaluator, Jane Doe," and begins clapping. When the Master Evaluator returns to the front of the room, the Evaluator shakes his or her hand and returns to his or her seat.
During the meeting, the Grammarian keeps track of each person's grammatical errors and especially good uses of English and, at the Toastmaster's or Master Evaluator's request, gives a report.
At the Toastmaster's request, the Joke Master gets the meeting off to a lighthearted start by telling a joke -- preferably one that fits the theme of the meeting.
Before the meeting, the Master Evaluator prepares an introduction for each Evaluator. The Evaluators usually provide theme-related input for their introductions, but if they don't, the Master Evaluator improvises.
During the meeting, the Master Evaluator introduces each Evaluator before he or she evaluates a speech. After each evaluation, the Evaluator returns control to the Master Evaluator. After the last Evaluator returns control to the Master Evaluator, the Master Evaluator requests whatever reports the agenda calls for and returns control to the Toastmaster.
Later, at the Toastmaster's request, the Master Evaluator comments on how the meeting went overall. For example:
When the Master Evaluator is finished commenting on the meeting, s/he reintroduces the Toastmaster with a sentence such as, "I will now return control to our Toastmaster, John Doe," and begins clapping. When the Toastmaster returns to the front of the room, the Master Evaluator shakes his or her hand and returns to his or her seat.
Before the meeting, the Presiding Officer prepares an introduction for the Toastmaster. The Toastmaster usually provides theme-related input for the introduction, but if s/he doesn't, the Presiding Officer improvises.
At noon, the Presiding Officer:
At the end of the meeting, the Toastmaster returns control to the Presiding Officer, who then:
Before the meeting, the Sergeant at Arms of the meeting (not to be confused with the officer of the same name):
During the meeting, if the video camera is set up, the Sergeant at Arms videotapes the speech (and evaluation, if requested) of each Speaker who brought a videotape.
After the meeting, the Sergeant at Arms cleans up the meeting room before the meeting, which includes:
At least a day before the meeting, the Speaker tells the Toastmaster and his/her Evaluator which speech s/he is giving (for example, speech 2 in the basic manual) and its title. If the speech is from an advanced manual that the Evaluator does not have, the Speaker faxes the appropriate pages to the Evaluator. If the speech is a nonmanual speech, the Speaker tells the Toastmaster and Evaluator its purpose and length.
Before the meeting, the Speaker:
When introduced by the Toastmaster, the Speaker goes to the front of the room, shakes the Toastmaster's hand, and delivers his/her speech. If the Time Keeper rings the bell, the Speaker stops speaking, whether s/he is finished or not.
When the Speaker is finished, s/he returns control to the Toastmaster simply by saying "Mr./Madame Toastmaster," shakes the Toastmaster's hand, and returns to his or her seat.
After the meeting, the Speaker:
The Stand-By is the first person who will be asked to substitute for anyone who cannot fill his/her role at a meeting; therefore, the Stand-By should be prepared to fill any role, including Speaker. If the Stand-By is not given enough time to prepare a speech for the meeting, s/he may deliver an extemporaneous speech.
Before the meeting, the Table Topics Master prepares several questions in keeping with the theme of the meeting; for example, if the theme is Sports, a question might be, "What was your most thrilling moment at a sporting event?" The number of questions needed depends on the number of Speakers at the meeting -- the Table Topics Master usually has time to ask three to five questions.
When introduced by the Toastmaster, the Table Topics Master:
The Table Topics Master may ask for volunteers. S/he may also invite guests to participate, but should never pressure them.
Table Topics Master should give new members relatively easy questions and experienced members more challenging ones.
If the Time Keeper rings the bell during a Table Topics speech, the speaker stops speaking, whether s/he is finished or not.
When Table Topics time is up (according to the agenda or the Toastmaster), the Table Topics Master reintroduces the Toastmaster with a sentence such as, "I will now return control to our Toastmaster, John Doe," and begins clapping. When the Toastmaster returns to the front of the room, the Table Topics Master shakes his or her hand and returns to his or her seat.
Before the meeting, the person in charge of the Thought for the Day finds a short quotation with which to end the meeting -- something for the audience to take away with them. If possible, the thought fits the theme of the meeting.
At the end of the meeting, the Toastmaster asks for the Thought for the Day and the person who brought it delivers it.
During the meeting, the Time Keeper uses a stopwatch to time the Speakers, Evaluators, and Table Topics Speakers, turning on lights and ringing the bell at the appropriate times (see the following table).
At the request of the Toastmaster or Master Evaluator, the Time Keeper reports the length of each speech, evaluation, and Table Topics response.
| Light | Bell* | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Green | Yellow | Red | |||
| Speech | Tall Tale (or any 3-5 min. speech) |
3:00 | 4:00 | 5:00 | 5:30 |
| Ice Breaker (or any 4-6 min. speech) |
4:00 | 5:00 | 6:00 | 6:30 | |
| International (or any 5-7 min. speech) |
5:00 | 6:00 | 7:00 | 7:30 | |
| Any 8-10 min. speech | 8:00 | 9:00 | 10:00 | 10:30 | |
| Evaluation | 2:00 | 2:30 | 3:00 | 3:30 | |
| Table Topics | 0:45 | 1:00 | 1:15 | 1:30 | |
* If you are Timekeeper at a contest, do not ring the bell.
As soon as possible after the last meeting, the Toastmaster sends the club a "Theme & Roles" email message telling them the theme of the next meeting and the role assignments and asking participants to confirm their roles. At this time, s/he also asks the Speakers, Master Evaluator, and Table Topics Master for material to use in their introductions, and asks the Evaluators to provide the same to the Master Evaluator.
The Toastmaster can find the role assignments for his or her meeting in the schedule. S/he can see the themes of previous meetings in alphabetical order or by date, to avoid repeating a recent one.
The Toastmaster contacts those who have not confirmed their roles and reminds them that they must find substitutes. If the Toastmaster cannot reach these people, s/he must find substitutes for them (but this should not happen)!
The day of the meeting, t he Toastmaster creates an agenda (using the schedule and the agenda template), prints copies of it, brings them to the meeting, and distributes one to each participant.
After the Presiding Officer introduces him/her, the Toastmaster:
After the first Speaker finishes, the Toastmaster:
After the last Speaker finishes, the Toastmaster:
When the Table Topics Master returns control to the Toastmaster:
When the Master Evaluator returns control to the Toastmaster:
Send the names of the guests and the ribbon winners to Pat Ryall.
At the end of the meeting, when requested by the Toastmaster, the Vote Counter collects ballots and tallies the votes for Better/Best Speaker, Better/Best Evaluator, and Better/Best Table Topics Speaker. Candidates who exceed their time limits are not eligible for ribbons (the Time Keeper will announce who is eligible). In the case of a tie, two (or more) ribbons are awarded.
When called by the Toastmaster, the Vote Counter goes to the front of the room and announces the winners of the ribbons one at a time -- Table Topics first, then Evaluator, and then Speaker. As each winner is announced, s/he goes to the front of the room, shakes the Vote Counter's hand, and takes the ribbon.
When the Vote Counter is finished awarding the ribbons, s/he returns control to the Presiding Officer.
Before the meeting, the Word Master selects the Word of the Day -- one that fits the theme of the meeting. The Word of the Day is intended to help build members' vocabulary, so it should not be too common; on the other hand, it should not be so obscure that it can't be used in fairly ordinary speech. Verbs, adjectives, and adverbs are usually easier to use than nouns.
Immediately before the meeting starts, the Word Master writes the Word of the Day and its definition on the whiteboard.
At the Toastmaster's request, the Word Master: