Kelowna AM Toastmasters
Weekly Club Duties:

Part of the learning process in Toastmasters is taking turns filling the various jobs required for the success of each meeting.  This provides experience, growth and builds confidence in members.

The following roles are the ones we take turns filling at Kelowna AM Toastmasters

Toast:  This is a mini speech with an opening, a body and a close. (Maximum 2 minutes., less is ok) Traditionally a person is toasted "to the Bride" for example.  However in Toastmasters we often toast to a thing, such as "spring" or an abstract such as "courage".  When introduced, stand behind your chair, address the meeting, Mr/Madame President, Fellow Toastmasters and Honored Guests.  Then proceed with your toast.  A toast is NOT applauded.

• Be simple, be yourself, be brief, be prepared, a simple toast is the most sincere. 
• A Toast can also be a poem, public prayer, proverb, bit of wit, sentiment to be shared, or refer to the occasion, reflect a theme.
• Please join with me and raise your glasses in a toast to ....
• Tribute Ladies and gentlemen, please rise and charge your glasses... and share a toast with me to....
• Please charge (or fill) your glasses and join with me in a toast to...

Humorist: This gives you a chance to PRACTICE and present a joke or something humorous.  Use gestures, body language and put lots of expression into your voice.  It feels good to make the audience laugh!  (you can find a huge supply of jokes on the internet)  Keep it brief and clean, 2 min. or a lot less.

Grammarian:  This job sharpens your listening skills!  The Grammarian's job is to supply the 'word of the day' and to listen closely for both exception language usage and incorrect grammar.  It's a challenge to use the word of the day throughout the meeting.  An adjective or an adverb is often a good choice.  The word doesn't always have to be complex or obscure.  Wouldn't it be amazing is everyone could use it during the meeting, even the beginners!  

• Have the word of the day with it's meaning and an example sentence. Be ready to post it prior to the meeting, or be ready to write it on the white board before the meeting begins.  Get tape if necessary to hold paper in place if it's being attached to the podium before the meeting.
• During the meeting record who used the word and listen closely for other great expressions and phrases or errors in word usage. Share these in your report at the end of the meeting.  People who used the "word of the day" are waiting to be acknowledged as are those with clever phrases.  We all benefit from expanding our vocabulary.
• word a day

Toastmaster:  This one has a page of it's own!

Speech Evaluators: Listen carefully and observe body language and eye contact, for advanced speakers listen for repetitive phrases use of props, notes, podium and audience response. Did the speaker meet his objective?

An Evaluator is assigned to each main speaker for the purpose of commenting constructively on the speaker's performance. Both Evaluator and Speaker alike should always keep in mind that the legitimate purpose of evaluation is improvement.  Improvement with the newer Toastmasters takes place one step at a time.  Your task is to comment on delivery only, not content.  Use the sandwich technique reinforcing what the speaker is doing correctly then giving a challenge or two and then another positive reinforcement.  

Your evaluation is only your opinion. Use phrases such as "In my opinion, it would have been more effective if you had."  or "A challenge I have for you is", "I felt ..."
You can accelerate growth or destroy confidence, tread carefully. Above all, be enthusiastic about the speech and leave the speaker eager to come back and present again. 

DO NOT USE  "You should." or  "It would have been better if"

Here is an example of how to present your evaluation to the club. Start with a warm and enthusiastic opening - the speaker should feel good about presenting the speech. 
Remind the audience of the objectives, in your own words. 
Commend the speaker on the objectives she or he achieved, and on other "good points" of the speech. This section should be addressed to the audience as a whole. Use phrases like, "Did you see the way (speaker's name) did (good points). We can all learn from this" and "I thought (speaker's name) used excellent (body language)." 
Make one or two specific recommendations on how the speech could have been improved. Where possible, demonstrate your recommendations. This section should be addressed directly to the speaker. 
Address the whole audience again with one or two more commendations, then conclude with a warm "thank you" to the speaker. 

At tip for making notes during a speech is the take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle.  On one side note good points and achievements on the other side note possible improvements.  When giving your evaluation, dwell on the positive, add a suggested improvement or two (not all of them) and them more positive things. 

[Tips 1] [ Tips2]

Table Topic Master:  It's your job to come up with approximately 6 questions that can be used as impromptu speech topics.  Try and word each question so that it is easy to repeat back. The first thing the participant does is repeat back the question.  
Rather than stress the 'stress' of table topics try to say positive things about learning impromptu speaking skills.  Get the members into a positive  thinking mode.  Many members find this the most difficult part of the meeting and many guests are terrified of this section.

Places to look for great ideas and tips [1] [2] [4] [5] [6] [7]

Table Topics Evaluator:

Your task is to encourage the members, while giving them positive suggestions for how they can improve. You are asked to give at least one positive point and one point for improvement for each speaker.

You can evaluate each topic on its merits, or concentrate on one aspect, such as:

• Sticking to the topic.
• Body language.
• Hand gestures.
• Eye contact.
• Opening and conclusion.
• Use of time.
• Humor and imagination
• Formal Opening (Mr. TM. etc.) and Positioning (standing behind chair)

Ah Counter:

Listen carefully and keep track of the Ah's, Um's and So's.  Use the Membership Roaster on the back of the Agenda to tally those little crutch words.  5 cents per 'ah', into the piggy bank, maximun 25 cents!  (Try telling people how much they owe.  Dale you owe the piggy 10cents for 2 ah's, Darlene, 15 cents and Mickey a whopping 25 cents!)

Timer:  Before the meeting: 

• ask the speakers for their speech times
• set up the lights and plug them in, test them out
• ask for help using the stop watch if you have not had this job before
• get a timers form from the file box
  During the meeting:
• Carefully time each person who speaks except for the President, Toastmaster, Table Topics Master and General Evaluator.
• Be prepared to time the break and let the Toastmaster know when the break is finished.
• Briefly state your report.  Each person is eager to know how long they have spoken and if they were inside their time allowance. 
• Toastmasters depends on accurate timing, your job is important.

General Evaluator:

• This important role evaluates every part of the meeting except the Speakers and Table Topic Speakers.
• You are there to offer ideas to others for improvement in the positions they were filling during the meeting as well as letting them know the things they did well.
• The General Evaluator turns the meeting back to the President.
• general evaluation tips