Getting the Most from the Program

Whatever your goals in life may be, your success depends on your ability to communicate.  Individuals who can verbalize their ideas so that they are heard, understood, and acted upon possess the primary qualities of leadership.  By joining a Toastmasters club, you’ve embarked on a program that will multiply your communication and leadership skills.

Over five million people have benefited from participating in Toastmasters.  You have the opportunity to gain those same benefits.  As a Toastmaster, you’ll learn to overcome the initial nervousness everyone feels when called upon to speak before a group or audience.  You will learn how to organize and present your ideas logically and convincingly.  You will improve your ability to listen to other people’s ideas and evaluate them.  You will develop self-confidence that will help you in every situation involving other people.

Learn by Doing

The key to getting the most our of the Toastmasters’ Communication and Leadership Program is your active participation.  People learn best by doing.  That’s how the Toastmasters program works, and that’s what makes it so effective in helping people like you become more successful.

The Toastmasters program is not a formal course in public speaking.  It is an ongoing series of experiences that will directly involve you in a variety of communication situations.  The principals you will learn are basic to any form of interpersonal communication, whether your audience consists of one person or one thousand.

Table Topics

In addition to presenting prepared speeches, you will participate in Table Topics, an impromptu speaking exercise that will develop your ability to “think on your feet” in situations such as interviews, seminars, business meetings and conversations.

Role Playing

You will also have the opportunity to play various roles at club meetings.  Each role has a specific educational purpose and will aid in your self-development.  Another benefit of attending club meetings is the opportunity to watch, do, and learn all at the same time.  The roles are easy to do, and you will be given help in doing them.

To help you better understand what happens at a Toastmasters program and some of the roles we play, here’s a basic job description of some of the key roles for each meeting.

Toastmaster

The Toastmaster is completely in charge of the weekly meeting.  It’s up to the Toastmaster to insure those on the schedule are aware of their duties well in advance of the meeting, to establish a meeting theme, to publish an agenda and bring copies to the meeting, to properly introduce meeting participants, and in general to see that the meeting runs smoothly.

Table Topics Master

The Table Topics Master prepares half-a-dozen open-ended questions on topics likely to stimulate a speaker’s imagination.  They should check with the Toastmaster about tying the Table Topics into the meeting theme if there is one.  To insure that all members get a chance to speak, the Table Topics Master takes care to call first on members without a formal duty on the day’s agenda.

General Evaluator

The General Evaluator insures that each speaker receives both an oral and written evaluation from another Toastmaster.  They introduce the Timer, Ah-Counter and Grammarian for reports.  They finish their duties by evaluating the meeting as a whole, giving their personal impression of what aspects of the meeting went well and what could be improved on.

Evaluator

The Evaluator delivers a 2-to-3-minute oral evaluation to the speaker, as well as a written evaluation in the speaker’s Toastmasters manual.  You are expected to provide honest, constructive feedback—from a personal perspective—about those things that you thought the speaker did well, and about those areas where you see room for improvement.  We stress providing feedback in a positive manner.

Timer

The Timer operates the stopwatch and the green/yellow/red timing flags to insure that the Speakers, Table Topics participants, and Evaluators are aware of their use of time.  If required, to keep the meeting running on schedule, the Timer is allowed to lead the applause for Toastmasters who run too far over their allotted time.

Ah Counter

The Ah-Counter marks down a record of the verbal “stutter-steps” that detract from a speaker’s presentation.  This includes things like “ahs,” “ums,” “ers,” repeated words (e.g., “and and,” throat clearing, lip smacking, and other unconscious but annoying habits of speakers).  They deliver a comprehensive report at the end of the meeting when called on by the general evaluator.

Grammarian

The Grammarian listens for praiseworthy and not-so-praiseworthy use of the English language by the Speakers, Evaluators, Table Topic participants, Toastmaster and General Evaluator.  With careful listening, they usually find plenty of examples of both.  In addition, the Grammarian chooses a Word of the Day and then watches for its use by meeting participants, noting its usage in their report.