What happens at Toastmasters Meetings???

As a guest, we'll introduce you to the group during the meeting...during Tabletopics or at the end of the meeting, we’ll give you the opportunity to say a few words about yourself and/or what brought you to Toastmasters. Let your comfort level determine how much you say.

A club officer usually opens the meeting, then turns the floor over to the "Toastmaster" for the day. The toastmaster serves as the master of ceremonies...introducing each new part of the meeting and each new speaker. You'll notice that we try to adhere to a rather formal method

of introductions. It becomes second nature quickly...if you choose to speak during the meeting, just do the best you can!

First, someone presents a "word of the day" that all members strive to use at some point during the course of the meeting.

There are typically 1-3 speeches. The length of the speech depends on which project in the manual that speaker is working on. Topics are at the whim of the speaker, so we get quite a variety! During the speech, another member of the club completes an evaluation. Later in the

meeting, the evaluators share a brief version of their critique with the club. This is the first time you’ll probably notice someone at the head of the table flashing colored cards to let the speaker know how much time they have left. The general idea: Green = ok, Yellow = time to wrap up, Red = stop now.

Next is “Tabletopics,” the part of the meeting where we practice our impromptu speaking skills. The Tabletopics Master for the week presents questions/statements/challenges (sometimes with a theme, sometimes not) to individual members. Whether easy or difficult, they tend to be creative and entertaining questions. Each person strives to respond for 1-2 minutes. The point is to talk for a reasonable amount of time (e.g., at least 1 minute) without having planned it out days in advance and without babbling. You always have the ability to "pass" or to morph an "impossible" question into one you can answer.

Finally, we move into the evaluation portion of the meeting. The meeting's "general evaluator" introduces the evaluation team and after all their reports, evaluates the meeting as a whole. 1) Speech evaluations 2) Grammarian report: The person who presented the word-of-the-day notes who succesfully used the word AND reports how much "unnecessary language" each speaker used throughout the meeting. Anyone who spoke in front of the group gets to know exactly how many "ums," "ahs," "so...," etc. they did. It can be rather depressing at first, but you'd be amazed at how quickly people eliminate such things from their speech once they become aware of them! 3) Timer report: Finally, the person who has been timing every segment of the meeting lets everyone know how well they stayed within their time constraints. The general evaluator will close with a critique of the overall meeting.

Before the meeting closes, the Toastmaster and/or officer will hand out awards for the week, bring up any club business that needs to be handled and begin setting the agenda for the following week. Guests who plan to return the next week are invited to complete some of the less-intimidating roles (e.g., word of the day), but, again, can always "pass."

If you want to join our club, click on the membership application and bring it to our next meeting. Click on our New Member Fees and Dues Schedule for an explanation of the fees.