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“I now hand
control of the meeting back to our Toastmaster.”
That oddly formal sentence is followed by applause as the
Toastmaster of the meeting returns to the lectern, where s/he shakes
hands with the preceding speaker.
Why all the fuss?
Why do we give control of the meeting to another member
either formally, as above, or more briefly with a phrase like,
Mister Chief Evaluator,” or more informally with, “Let’s
welcome…”? Why is
someone standing at the lectern at all times?
For a meeting to
flow smoothly, there must be a focal point in the room. In our meetings that focal point is the lectern.
Control of the meeting always returns to the person there.
(A special case is when someone giving a speech moves around
the room during the speech to enhance their effectiveness.)
Formally signaling a return of control also helps the meeting
facilitator and the audience know that you are done speaking.
The
best argument I’ve seen for doing this was at a meeting of another
club I attended where this was not done.
The flow of the meeting was often interrupted by seemingly
disorganized activity around the room and a lack of any consistent
focal point. So, it's important that there is always someone
standing at the lectern, even when someone is addressing the
audience from elsewhere in the room.
Speaking of which,
what if you are not at the lectern, how do you address the audience
and then return control?
Let’s say you are
about to respond to a Table Topic, or you are about to give the
Grammarian’s report, you would address whoever is standing at the
lectern first. Next,
you address the Toastmasters present, and then you address the
guests and continue on your way.
Pretty
simple, right?! That's what everyone says once it becomes
second nature.
Caren M. Borowski, ATM |
