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Boulder Speakeasy II
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Guide to Filling Roles During the Meeting |
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Toastmaster: Select a theme that you would like to discuss. By Wednesday of the previous week, send out an email informing participants of the meeting theme, reminding them of their role, and ask them to respond with their intention to attend the meeting. If you do not hear back assume that the member will not attend and find a replacement (this is particularly important for roles that require advance preparation like Table Topics, Grammarian, and Joke/Poem).
Request that speakers provide you with information regarding their speech and ask them to bring an introduction to the meeting. Scheduling hints: Schedule least experienced speakers before more experienced. Assign least experienced evaluators to more experienced speakers and most experienced evaluators for beginning speakers.
Prepare an agenda showing roles (ask your mentor for an existing agenda and insert changes). Arrive at the meeting at least 15 minutes early and check that participants are at the meeting. During the meeting, sprinkle in interesting facts about your topic between meeting roles. If you have three speeches or a long speech scheduled, limit the time spent on the theme so that the meeting finishes no later than 8:30 pm. Remember that when you bring someone to the lectern, lead the applause with "please welcome Bill" or something equivalent. Finally, have fun!
Speaker: Speeches are outlined in the Communication and Leadership Program manual. It is best to present the speeches in numerical order, as they build on the skills learned in previous ones. Read the goals and objectives for the speech you are going to deliver. Prepare your speech and practice it, keeping in mind the time limit for the speech and the goals and objectives. When preparing your speech, keep in mind the layout of the room and if you are using visual aids, where you are going to set them up and how you will present them during your speech. If you have a mentor, speak with him or her when you feel you could use some guidance, encouragement, direction, etc. Your mentor is there to help you.
For the night of your speech, have a short, written introduction prepared to give to the Toastmaster prior to the start of the evening's meeting. The Toastmaster will introduce you to the group with this introduction. Speak with the person evaluating your speech before the meeting and let him/her know what your goals are for your speech. Do a quick check of the layout of the room and set up any visual aids you brought.
When you complete your speech, do not thank the audience, but instead, look at the Toastmaster and make an acknowledgement to him/her such as, "Mr. Toastmaster", and wait for him/her to return to the lectern. Shake the Toastmasters hand and return to your seat. Bring your manual with you to the meeting and after the meeting have the vice president education initial the completion record in the back of the manual.
Table Topics: Look for an email from the Toastmaster informing you of the theme. Then prepare open ended questions based on the theme. Try to come up with questions that everybody can respond to such as what is you opinion of ... rather than questions that ask for facts. If you have trouble finding relevant questions that fit the theme, you can widen the topic as necessary. It's better to have good questions than feeling obligated to having to stick specifically to the theme.
When you arrive at the meeting, get a meeting agenda from the Toastmaster so that you know who will have major roles that night. Also, identify guests and explain Table Topics to them and ask if they would like to participate. Select your Table Topic participants based on the following priorities: 1) Members that do not have roles, 2) Guests that would like to participate, 3) Time permitting - Members with roles that are not eligible for an award (Grammarian, Timer/Vote Counter, Joke/Poem, Chief Evaluator). Finally, when you are introduced, give an introduction in which you explain the importance of Table Topics (prepares us for impromptu speaking situations we might encounter at work and also gives all members a chance to speak). Remember to lead that applause when you bring up a participant.
Joke/Poem: Select a joke or poem that fits the theme provided by the Toastmaster. Please keep the jokes clean and avoid politically controversial material. Try to keep your presentation between two and three minutes in length.
Grammarian: Select a word of the day that fits the meeting theme. Try to pick an adjective as those can be most easily incorporated by members during the meeting. Ideally, the word should challenge the members and add to our vocabulary, so avoid commonly used words. When you arrive at the meeting, find the Grammarian form and use a meeting agenda to fill in the names of members who have roles that night. When you are introduced, tape a copy of the word of the day on the lectern and read from a second copy. As the meeting progresses, count fillers (ah's and um's), track incorrect grammar, note exceptional usage, and count usages of the word of the day. When you present your report at the conclusion of the meeting, try to stay under three minutes.
Timer/Vote Counter: When you are timer/vote counter, find a timer form when you arrive at the meeting. Use a meeting agenda to fill in the names of speakers and evaluators. Be sure to find the allotted speech times for all speakers (they are not all five to seven minutes). When you give your introductory remarks, be sure to give summary of acceptable times for Table Topics particularly if guests may participate. Then summarize speech times and evaluation times. When you present the timer's report for Table Topic times, include a short summary what each participant talked about. When you present the awards at the end of the meeting, just name the winner in each category; avoid making comments about the number of votes any participant received.
Chief Evaluator: When you arrive at the meeting, make sure your evaluation team is present or identify members that can fill in as necessary. Use the Chief Evaluator form as a guide to generating your comments. Remember to be tactful if you make suggestions for improvement to any member. Try to give the speech evaluators individual feedback.
Speech Evaluator: If you have not evaluated a speech before, talk to your mentor or an experienced member for guidance and suggestions. Meet with the speaker before the meeting starts to find out what speech is being given and what the specific objectives are. Also ask the speaker if he or she has any personal objectives. When you are introduced before the speech, describe the speech, its objectives and the speaker's personal objectives. During the speech, note positive points and points that you think could make the speech better. Use the speech evaluation form if it helps you organize your comments. During your evaluation, talk about how the speech in relation to its objectives. List the positive points and then offer suggestions that you think could improve the speech. Make sure your suggestions are presented in a positive way ["I think the message of Bill's speech could have been even stronger if he had ...."]. Remember, our goal is to improve, so suggestions are a very important of an evaluation. |
Toastmaster
Speaker
Table Topics
Presenter Joke/Poem
Presenter Grammarian
Timer/Vote Counter
Chief Evaluator Speech Evaluator
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