AGENDA ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

WATER & FORMS
Arrive at 7pm to assist the Sgt. At Arms with putting out meeting materials for the meeting such as organizing water glasses for the meeting, hanging up the Canadian Flag, our Club Banner, distributing evaluation slips and voting slips as well as other general set-up duties.

GREETING GUESTS by Lisa
Before the meeting check your email, you may have been CC'ed on emails responding to potential guests arriving. To be prepared in making the guests feel welcomed, make a list of the names of the potential guests and greet them by name at the meeting.
Arrive at 7pm to assist the Sgt. At Arms with setting up the Guest sign-in area (guest book with pen, Trillium contact cards, clean-off guest name tents from previous meeting, lay out Trillium magazines, membership application forms handy, etc).

When a guest arrives greet them. eg Hi, my name is _______. What's your name? Are you visiting us tonight?

Make the Guest comfortable:

Invite them to sign our guest book.
Make up a guest name tent for them, visitor?s agenda, or give a copy of Toastmaster?s magazine (guests can keep the magazines)
Seat the guest and assign a Trillium member to introduce and chat with the guest.
Return to the door to meet the next visitor. Remember to move people away from the door.
Many guests visit our club; it is important that each guest is greeted promptly.
Ensure there are extra empty chairs near the door for late arriving guests; remain seated near the door throughout the meeting to assist latecomers.

GUESTS SHOULD BE INTRODUCED BY A CLUB MEMBER and not themselves.

Extra: Give list of guest names to the Chair at the beginning of the meeting to ensure all guests are introduced.

CHAIR by Praise
The main duty of the Chair is to ensure that the meeting runs according to plan. The Chair acts as a host for the evening, conducts the entire program, and introduces the various participants for each role.

At least 5 days before the meeting contact and confirm the attendance of each of the members that have been assigned a meeting role (except the speakers who are to be contacted by the Toastmaster and the speech evaluators and quizmaster who are to be contacted by the General Evaluator).

Remind each member to refer to the specific information for each role on the Trillium Website, for Members Section, as well as remind them that most of the roles have timing specifications that they should adhere to.

Advise the Table Topics Master that they are to finish up their session promptly at 8:20 pm to allow a 10 minute break between the first and second parts of the meeting.

Optional - Choose a theme for the evening and communicate this information to each of the members on the agenda. Make sure they try to adhere to this theme in each of their roles. Note that there may already be a theme designated to the meeting in alignment with the education strategy of the executive team.

At the meeting  - Arrive by 7 pm and check on last minute details.
 

Receive the lectern when called upon by the Sergeant-At-Arms.
Declare the meeting open, announce any program changes, assign a parliamentarian for the evening, and introduce the theme for the evening (optional).

REMIND EVERYONE TO TURN OFF CELL PHONES, PAGERS, ETC. 

The lecturn should never be unattended. When the Chair calls upon a member for their role do not leave the lecturn until the person arrives at the lecturn. Shake their hand and turn the lecturn over to them. When they have completed their role you are to meet them at the lecturn, shake their hand again, and resume control of the meeting as Chair from the lecturn.

The Chair is to lead the applause upon introducing each of the members and their roles.

Proceed through each section of the meeting in their assigned order on the agenda:
Invocation - Introduce the Invocator - ask Club Members to please stand for the Invocation.
1st Toast of the Evening - Ask Club Members to continue standing and then introduce the Toast-Timer.
Introduction of Guests - Ask members to introduce guests.  GUESTS SHOULD BE INTRODUCED BY A CLUB MEMBER and not themselves.  Welcome the guests and advise the guests they will be asked at the end of the meeting to give a couple of quick comments on their feedback of the meeting.
Philology - Introduce the Philologist.
Business Session ** - Conduct the Business Session according to Parliamentarian Rules.
Humour - Introduce the Humorist.
Lesson - Introduce the club member who will be giving the lesson for the evening.
Table Topics - Introduce the Table Topics Master. Confirm with the Table Topics Master before the meeting who will explain the Table Topics session, such as timing lights, etc.
After the Table Topics, receive the lectern back from the Table Topics Master and adjourn the meeting for a 10-minute break.

**Business Session. The Chair is responsible for conducting the Business Session. This role includes the objectives of how to conduct an orderly meeting session, how to keep the meeting session on schedule, and how to effectively conduct a meeting session using the Roberts Rules of Order. Do not hesitate to consult with a senior member should you have any questions regarding the Roberts Rule of Order. The following is a guideline of how you would conduct the Business Session:

Declare the Business Session open.
Ask the Secretary to read the minutes from the previous meeting. Immediately after the reading, ask if there are any errors or omissions. Declare the minutes adopted as read (if correct) or declare the minutes adopted as amended (if corrections have been made).
As for Club Officer Reports from the President, VP of Education, VP of Membership, VP of Public Relations, Treasurer, Sgt. At Arms, Secretary, and the Past President.
Ask for any unfinished business.
Ask for any new business.
Declare the Business Session closed.
(After the Break)

After the break, introduce and hand the lectern over to the Toastmaster. The Toastmaster will then take over the meeting, give the second toast of the evening and will conduct the meeting until the speeches and the evaluations are done for the evening.
After the speeches and the evaluations, receive the lectern when called upon by the General Evaluator. The General Evaluator will call upon the Quizmaster to test our listening skills and ask for the Grammarian's report.
Proceed through the rest of the meeting, the order of the following events may vary to allow time for the Sgt At Arms to calculate the votes for the Awards.
Awards - Invite the Toastmaster up to help hand out the awards for the evening (Best Table Topics, Best Evaluator, and Best Speaker).
Guests? Comments - Invite the guests to share their thoughts and comments on their experience at the meeting.
Schedule Update - Run through the schedule for the next meeting and make sure that all roles are assigned and understood.
Thought for the Day - Introduce the Presenter of the Thought.
Declare the meeting adjourned.
Extra: The flow and quality of the meeting depends mainly on how the Chair conducts the meeting. It is best to include short appropriate "fillers" to smooth out the transition between one speaker to the next and one section to the next. Be friendly, forthcoming, but firm. Enjoy the experience!

INVOCATION by Ken
The Invocation is a short comment, quotation or story . Since it is the first item on the meeting agenda, the Invocation sets the tone for the entire meeting; it is therefore best if the message is a positive, uplifting one. Some people like to use a prayer, but since Toastmasters are of many different faiths, it is more appropriate to use something non-religious.

Before the meeting: Prepare your Invocation, aiming for it to be less than one minute in length. Confirm with the meeting Chair that you will be present at the meeting with your Invocation ready to go.

At the meeting: Stand at your seat when called upon by the Chair and deliver your Invocation. When you have finished, remain standing and wait for the Chair to call for the Toast. (You may address the Chair afterwards if you wish, but this is not necessary.)

TOAST-TIMER by Amy
Before the meeting prepare to deliver a toast. It should be something appropiate for the day. (if you need assistance, see lesson on delivering a toast in the Memorable Lessons section). Print off a copy of the monthly schedule from the Calendar of Events webpage. This has timing rules at the bottom.
 

Arrive at the meeting by 7:15 pm. Collect the lightswitch box and electronic timer from the Trillium lectern or from Sgt. At Arms (this may already be done for you). Familiarize yourself with the lightswitch box and the electronic timer before the meeting and seat yourself so that you are clearly visible to all speakers.

Deliver the first Toast for the evening when called upon by the Chair. Time each part of the meeting according to the timing rules and record the time. A timing report may be requested by the General Evaluator or Chair.
Each Table Topics speaker must be timed.
For each prepared speech, confirm the timing with the Toastmaster. Be sure to record the timed length of each speech.
At the end of the meeting collect the lightswitch box and electronic timer and return to the storage suitcase.

PHILOLOGY / GRAMMARIAN by George F. & Bruce W.
The Philologist introduces the "Word of the Week", a word chosen by the philologist with the purpose of broadening the club members and guests? vocabulary.

Before the meeting choose a word and do the research for an appropriate presentation of the word. This may be a grammatical presentation or by definition. Be sure to provide examples of how the word may be used.

At the meeting:

Approach the lectern when called upon by the Chair (Philology is the fourth item on the agenda preceded by the Timer's Toast and Introduction of guests).
Display the ?Word of the Week? in front of the lectern for everyone to see. For a smooth presentation have it ready to be taped, so that you are not fumbling with the tape and taking away from your presentation.
Present the word of the week, explaining its meaning(s) according to the dictionary and/or thesaurus.
Give examples of how to use the word in different contexts and in sentences.
Encourage the audience to use the word throughout the meeting.
Note: Return the lectern to the Chair. Remember to wait for the Chair to arrive at the lectern. Do not leave the lectern unattended.

For the Grammarians Report, Throughout the meeting, listen to everyone’s word usage. Write down any awkward use or misuse of the language (incomplete sentences, sentences that change direction in midstream, incorrect grammar, malapropisms, etc.) with a note of who errored. Write down how many times the “Word of the Day” was used (or a derivative of it) and note those who used it correctly and incorrectly.

HUMOUR by Nhan
Everyone loves to laugh. And there's nothing like laughter to relax an audience. Humour could be a short funny story, a comment or humorous reflection upon life meant to entertain the audience. It is best kept under 1 minute. Avoid potentially controversial subjects such as religion, politics, ethnic background and sex.

For a joke, practice delivering it with the right timing, body language, facial expression, and pause for the effect. There are many web sites with clean jokes and humorous materials, just enter the word humor in any Web search engine

For anecdotes from one's own experiences, choose the one that is universalized so that others can relate to them.

LESSON by Paul S.
The Lesson, also called the Speaking Lesson, is a four and a half minute speech on any aspect of communication. It has no formal objectives as do manual speeches. Its informal objectives are:
to deliver information, opinions or ideas about communicating with other people,
to become conscious of the process by which communication is carried out, and
to take up an opportunity to present a very concise, informative speech.
Your choice of topic is wide-ranging. You may speak on broad topics such as how to choose a speech topic, .the relationship among voice, eye contact and body language or the kinds of effects you can create by inflecting your voice in appropriate ways. You may instead discuss more narrowly-focused aspects of communication such as how to conduct an interview, techniques for using electronic teleprompters as speaking aids or how to design high quality overheads and PowerPoint slides.

Regardless of other considerations, the Lesson is a speech. Therefore, it must be organized as a speech, with an opening, body and conclusion. Use that organization to do what the name "lesson" implies. Teach us something.
Note: Return the lectern to the Chair. Remember to wait for the Chair to arrive at the lectern. Do not leave the lectern unattended.

TABLE TOPICS MASTER by Ameer
The Table Topics Master (TTM) facilitates the impromptu speaking session of the meeting and allows both members (not otherwise scheduled as program participants) and willing visitors to have an opportunity to present one-minute impromptu talks.

Before the meeting the TTM prepares the Table Topics to be delivered to about 15-20 people. There are a variety of strategies to deliver the topic to the participant. For example, the TTM may have slips in a bin and ask the participant to remove a slip, read from it and speak, or the TTM may announce the topic from a list and ask the participant to speak on it. These are just two examples, the TTM can be as creative as their imagination can concoct, using common sense.

At the meeting:
Take up position at the lectern when called upon by the Chair.
Address the Chair, members, guests and introduce self and the responsibilities of the TTM role.
Explain the purpose of the Table Topics session for the benefit of the guests and announce that guests may be asked to speak but are not required to participate.
Inform the audience the time lines allowed for the impromptu speaking i.e. thinking time, the time for the green, amber and red light and the termination time of the buzzer. The TTM should also inform the Timer and the audience when timing begins. i.e from the instant the allowed thinking time is over or the instant the participant starts talking which ever occurs first.
Deliver the Table Topic first, then call up a randomly selected member who is not on the agenda to speak on the topic from a pre-selected list of topics known only to the TTM. Repeat.
When the Chair signals you usually just before 8:20 pm (this may be discussed prior to the meeting), ask the membership to vote for the person who delivered the BEST TABLE TOPIC.
Return the lectern to the Chair. Remember to wait for the Chair to arrive at the lectern. Do not leave the lectern unattended.

TOASTMASTER by Sheree
The main duty of the Toastmaster is to chair the Prepared Speeches portion of the meeting and introduce each speaker delivering a Prepared Speech as well as to give the 2nd toast of the evening.

Before the meeting contact and confirm each scheduled speaker, title of speech and the speech project number. This is ideally done on the weekend to allow time to find speaker replacements if necessary. Also, don't forget to write your Toast. Like the 1st Toast of the day, it should be something appropiate to the day.
When contacting each of the speakers for that meeting, be sure to ask the speaker how they would like to be introduced and find out enough information to introduce the speaker. Be prepared to introduce the speech project they are working on. You will need to inquire and/or research the speech objectives. This information will aid the audience in understanding the objectives so that they can give appropriate feedback and comments to the speaker.

Before the meeting also prepare to deliver the second Toast of the evening.

At the meeting:

Arrive by 7:15, check on last minute details.
Receive the lectern when called upon by the Chair and deliver the 2nd Toast for the evening. Ask the club members to stand for the 2nd toast of the evening.

REMIND EVERYONE TO TURN OFF CELL PHONES, PAGERS, ETC.    They may have used their cell phones during the break and might forget to turn them off when they return to the meeting room.

Explain the purpose of the Prepared Speech session for the benefit of the guests.
Introduce each speaker, including the speech objectives and the required time length of the speech. Finish introducing each speaker in the following format: Speech Title, Speaker's Name, Speaker's Name, Speech Title and hand over the lectern.
When the speaker has finished their speech, receive the lectern from the speaker and ask the membership to fill out an evaluation form to provide feedback to the speaker. Allot at least one minute for members to fill out the evaluation form.
Repeat for each scheduled speaker.
After the final speaker has finished, ask the membership to vote for the speaker who had BEST MET THEIR SPEECH OBJECTIVES.
Introduce the General Evaluator and hand over the lectern.
Remember to wait for the General Evaluator to arrive at the lectern. Do not leave the lectern unattended.

GENERAL EVALUATOR by George N.
The main duty of the General Evaluator is to provide constructive feedback regarding the strengths and weaknesses of the club, the handling of all club roles during the meeting, and how the quality of the club meetings can be improved. The General Evaluator may also evaluate the Evaluators.

At least 5 days before the meeting contact the Toastmaster and confirm the speakers to determine the speech evaluators required based on the number of speakers and their speech projects.   At least 5 days before the meeting contact the evaluators and confirm their attendance.  You must make sure that at least the name of the speaker and the speech number is communicated to the evaluator before the meeting. Also contact the Quizmaster to confirm his/her attendance and understanding of that role.

At the meeting:
Arrive by 7 pm and take care of last minute changes.
Receive the lectern when introduced by the Toastmaster.
Introduce the evaluators, including the name of the speaker that they will evaluate, and the speech number.
Hand the lectern over to the Evaluator. Remember to wait for the Evaluator to arrive at the lectern. Do not leave the lectern unattended.
After the Evaluator has spoken, receive the lectern from the Evaluator.
Repeat #3 downwards until all the evaluators have spoken.
Ask the club to select the Best Evaluator of the night.
Give your constructive evaluation for the first part of the meeting.
Give your constructive evaluation for the second part of the meeting.
Call upon the Quizmaster to ask 4 - 6 questions from the meeting to test our listening skills.
After the evaluation return the lectern to the Chair. Remember to wait for the Chair to arrive at the lectern. Do not leave the lectern unattended.

EVALUATOR by Vuong
The main duty of the Evaluator is to provide constructive feedback to the assigned speaker's speech based on the assigned objectives of the assignment.

Before the meeting touch base with your assigned speaker. Find out if there are areas that the speaker would like you to focus on or be aware of.

At the meeting, receive your speaker's Toastmasters C & L manual to record your evaluation. Keep in mind the assigned objectives to the project and evaluate accordingly. (if you need assistance, see lesson on evaluating in the Memorable Lessons section). Return the manual to the speaker and provide supporting words and encouragement.
Return the lectern to the General Evaluator. Remember to wait for the General Evaluator to arrive at the lectern. Do not leave the lectern unattended.

QUIZMASTER by Myriam
The role of the Quizmaster is to remind us of an important Toastmasters skill --LISTENING-- the Quizmaster presents a short quiz with questions related to the meeting.

At the meeting:

Based on information presented throughout the meeting (i.e. member's speeches, lesson, table topics, guest introductions, etc.) prepare a quiz made up of several short-answer questions (three to ten).
Upon call from the Chair, present each question to members and guests.
The number of questions presented will depend on time available and it is up to the discretion of the Chair.

THOUGHT by Tony
The Presenter of the Thought gives a brief inspiring, thought-provoking message to end the meeting. 

The "Thought" may be serious or humorous - limited to 30-60 seconds. It can address any topic to serve to stimulate positive thought, self development and harmony.