| The toastmaster will call on the timer and ah-counter near the beginning of the meeting to have them explain their roles in about a minute. This is great for any newcomers, but can be repetitious for long standing members. When I was filling those roles, I decided to spice up my parts. The ah-counter or grammarian keeps track of verbal crutches like "um", "ah", and "er", if there any meaningless additions like "you know", and any deviations from good grammar. This is how I explained it, set to music, one meeting. It was the first time that I have ever heard more than polite applause for this speech. The timer's job is to time the speeches, evaluations, and table topics, and to signal when the minimum, median, and maximum times are reached. Towards the end of the meeting he will report on those times. Even though I had tried a variation of this gambit previously, this rendition still surprised them. |