Meeting roles: Tips and Reminders part 3

Table Topics Each week a member will bring a set of questions to the meeting, and ask for volunteers to come up and answer a question, on the spot. This exercise develops impromptu speaking skills, and is open to both members and visitors.

So much fun. Be creative with the way you do this role. In visiting a recent club the Table Topics master had a list of questions and had the members roll dice for the number of the question they would use.  They also threw in another option for "extra credit". That was they listed a few different accents they could use and it was awesome. One lady used the southern accent and it was awesome! Another member used the Rocky Balboa accent. SO much fun!

  Evaluators Constructive evaluation is central to the Toastmasters philosophy. Each time you give a prepared speech, an evaluator will point out strengths as well as suggest improvements. Receiving - and giving - such feedback is a great learning experience.

 This is a very important roll. Sometimes difficult when you have such good speaker. It is important to give positive feedback for sure but honestly we are here to try and help each other improve! SO be looking for things to suggest they can do better and some suggestions to take the speech just over the top in quality 

Quizmaster In Pioneer Toastmasters, we believe that listening is as important as speaking. The quizmaster will test how we’ve listened throughout the meeting by quizzing us on what was said during the course of the evening.

 Not totally unique to our club but not every club has this. It's important to listen as well as to speak. 

Meetings Roles Tips and Reminders Part 2.

Prepared Speakers: 

 The prepared speaking role,  Some might say,  the whole reason for the rest of the meeting.  This role of course has the most preparation involved as you have to write a speech and prepare to deliver it.  

 What a great opportunity and it is being offered to you courtesy of Pioneer Toastmasters.  All of the meeting roles depends on everyone of us to prepare and execute these roles so that we can have a good meeting. This, like most everything in our club, is based on team work.   

  I would offer this role is also perhaps the most cancelled out on role!   People get to that day and realize or feel I am not ready!  Sometimes that is legitimate they have not prepared.   Some times it is just an insecurity and a feeling that everything is not perfect so they are not ready.   I suppose we could talk at length about this but my challenge for all of us is to take these slots and treat them with respect!   Prepare and be ready for your speaking roles.    

 One last note:  Be ready even when it is not your turn to speak so you can jump in and fill that role. We use the term  “hip pocket speech.”  This in general is a good idea just for occasions like that where we could use another speaker also you might visit a struggling club and offer to speak!   It is all about getting that time in front of an audience and practicing speaking to get better at it. Also you might have something to say as well that someone needs to hear!   Don’t be selfish and not share that thing that someone needs to hear! 

 I can’t wait to hear you all speak and what you have to say! 

Meeting Roles: Tips and reminders

Meeting Roles

Many of us have been in Toastmasters long enough we are at minimum familiar with the the roles during a toastmaster meeting. Some of you are new and may not be. I would like to go over some things regarding  The Toastmaster, The IOG (Inspiration Outspiration and Grammarian) and the  Timer Word of the Day and Jokester today and continue this in the coming weeks until I cover all of the roles. 

Toastmaster: The Master of ceremonies for our meeting. I would challenge all of us to prepare for this role with enthusiasm and creativity.  As many of us have become seasoned toastmasters we probably just show up and jump into this role as we have the experience and basically know what to do. But a little preparation will make it even better. Perhaps some thoughts when opening about the theme of the meeting.  Before the meeting during the week ensure the speakers have entered their speech information on the free toast host website.  Ensure the role are filled and best case try to get members without a role to take the open slots before the meeting day.   Basically preparing for success for the weeks meeting. 

IOG (Inspiration Outspiration and Grammarian)

 I think this is a very fun role. Choose some of your favorite inspirational quotes and share them at the beginning and end of our meeting. This is often done with the theme of the meeting in mind.  The grammarian part of this role is where you will record the filler words  and grammatical errors and note the good usage of the language as well.   We have gotten away from using the clicker but I think we should get back to using it.  I believe it is very valuable to all of us to be notified of our filler words via the clicking sound while we are speaking. 

Timer Word of the Day and Jokester

  Timer is very important role in Toastmasters. I would challenge us all to be very attentive when conducting this role.  This role is important that it be done correctly. This is especially true during speech contests. Practice timing the way you would want to be timed if you were competing in a speech contest!  We all would want it to be very accurate. Word of the of course Day is an opportunity to introduce new words or one relating to the theme. The joke of course is an opportunity to add some levity to our meeting and is always welcome. By the way I think our club has especially proven that the joke does not have to be that good to still get a laugh. :) 

  I will continue next week talking about meeting Roles during the educational moment. 

Happy New Year Pioneer Toastmasters!

 Happy New Year Fellow Pioneer Toastmasters!  We started our new fiscal year as of July 1st. I trust that you as well as I will have a great Toastmasters year!  

   I wanted to talk about  scheduling.  As everyone knows it takes all of us to make our club and club meetings successful!  I am serving again this year as VP of Education.  Last year as many may recall and for the new people,  how I did the scheduling was I tried to keep the agendas filled in 3 to 4 weeks out. Meaning those roles have names assigned. I want for everyone to have enough notice to know they are speaking for example several weeks out so as to have plenty of time to prepare and yet not so far out that it is hard to plan for it as you don’t know for sure your plans that far out.   It is a balance.   

  I also try to have agendas with Themes assigned 7 to 8 weeks out so if you should want to schedule your self for a role or speech you have that option to do that. 

 So what I would ask is go into our website (Free toast host) ideally weekly but for sure every few weeks and review what is coming up for you and plan accordingly to fulfill you roles.  If you know. you are going to be absent any given week go in there and mark yourself as not attending that week. What that does is let me know you won’t be there and out also will not allow me to schedule you as it removes your name from the list! 

  In conclusion what I would love to see in our club is a culture of taking on these roles when assigned either by yourself or by me and taking responsibility for them.   For example if somthing changes and you can’t make a meeting, ask your fellow toastmasters to help you put and take it for that week.  

 So we talked about scheduling = 3 to 4 weeks out,  Open agendas where you can assign yourself 7 to 8 weeks out. When you know you are going to be absent marking the agenda as such.  Taking responsibility for your roles.   I look forward to an amazing year here in Pioneer Toastmasters!