Marpole Community Toastmasters
Meeting Role Summary
The roles have different complexity level. To be specific:
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Beginner roles Complexity Level:
Recommended taking immediately after you become a member.
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Intermediate roles Complexity Level:
Recommended taking after attending 2 to 3 meetings.
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Advanced roles Complexity Level:
Recommended taking after attending 4 to 6 meetings.
*Note: These are recommendations for new members to refer to when they are not sure which roles to start from. They are NOT "rules" to abide by. Any new member can sign up any role whenever they feel ready.
Beginner Roles
Recommended taking immediately after you become a member.
MEETING OPENER
1 min before the meeting starts, call the floor to order and quickly introduces the chair to the stage.
-Introduce the general rules of Toastmaster meetings. For example, set phones in silent mode, mute the microphone when not speaking (online meetings), etc..
JOKESTER/INSPIRATOR/RANTER
Gives a short speech to kickstart the meeting.
-Decides either they‘d be jokester, inspirator or ranter, and informs the Chair beforehand.
-Usually tea & treat masters take this role in the 1st week of a month to share stories behind the refreshments.
TIMER
Ensures the meeting run on time.
-Records the times of all speakers throughout the meeting.
-Reports the times towards the end of the meeting.
-A timer report sheet and checklist for Timer can be downloaded from here. Please read it at least one day ahead of your first-time taking this role.
BALLOT COUNTER
(not applicable to online meetings)
Collects and counts the ballot for Best Speaker, Best Evaluators and Best Table Topic Speakers
-Instructs members and guests on how to use the ballot sheets.
-Passes the voting results to the Club President secretly
-Keep the voting result details confidential
*For online meetings, the chair conducts a poll to collect votes. DO NOT share the results with members since the detailed voting results will be revealed.
GRAMMARIAN
Helps all club members improve their verbal skills in terms of grammar, vocabulary, and language conciseness.
-Selects Word of the Day (WOD) based on the meeting theme, inform the members and lead to tapping on the table when it is used.
-Note down any grammatically noteworthy usage, clichés, poor or incorrect word usage, grammar mistakes and/or pronunciation.
-Counts members’ filler words and phrases (“ahh”, “um”, “you know”, etc.) and repetition.
-Presents a report on each participant’s results.
-A note-taking form and checklist for Grammarian can be downloaded from here. Please read it at least one day ahead of your first-time taking this role.
Intermediate Roles
Recommended taking after attending 2 to 3 meetings.
TEA & TREAT MASTERS
(not applicable to online meetings)
Prepare refreshments and drinks for all members and guests of meetings.
-Arrive 30 – 40 mins early.
-Usually 2 members work in a pair and commit for a month.
-Keep the receipts and request for reimbursement from the club treasurer at the end of the month. The budget is $15 for each meeting.
-Give a 2 min speech on the story behind the refreshments they prepare at the “Jokester/Inspirator/Ranter/Tea&Treat Master” spot, usually in the first week of the month.
GREETER
(not applicable to online meetings)
Greets members and guests.
-Arrives 30 – 40 mins early.
-Sets up the greeting table and brings out the greeting materials (guestbook, pens, name tags, etc.).
-Dispenses name tags for members and makes name tags for guests.
-Asks guests to leave their names and email addresses on the guestbook.
-Introduces guests to at least one member, who would sit beside the guest and help them.
SPEAKER
Delivers (usually 5 to 7 mins each) speeches based on the project requirements from Pathway Program on Toastmaster International website.
-If the project requires a longer than 5 – 7 minutes’ speech, inform the chair the week before.
-Has no restriction on the subject matter (as long as not offensive).
-Makes sure to finish the “self-assessment” within the Pathway project after the meeting (otherwise the project won’t be recorded as completed).
EVALUATOR
Recommended using Sandwich Technique (positive/improvement/positive & encouragement), to provide constructive and helpful praise, comments and suggestions to the speaker, if it’s first time taking this role.
-Evaluation skill guides can be found in the Level 1 Project 2 of your Pathway Program. You can also access the evaluation technique resources on our shared drive here.
TABLE TOPICS MASTER
Conducts the table topic session (impromptu speeches) for members who have no roles, and willing guests.
-Pre-prepares interesting questions.
-Remember to keep the table topic questions’ tone positive and appropriate. The questions should be something we can ask the person sitting beside us on a bus - a question anyone could answer, even if they don’t know you.
-A checklist and knowledge-base link can be found here.
TABLE TOPICS EVALUATOR
Evaluates table topic speakers. DON’T evaluate the table topic master.
-A evaluation form and checklist for Table Topic Evaluator can be downloaded from here. Please read it at least one day ahead of your first-time taking this role.
-For more information, you can also check our evaluation technique resources on our shared drive here.
Advanced Roles
Recommended taking after attending 4 to 6 meetings.
CHAIR
Plans, organizes, and hosts the meeting.
-A comprehensive preparation guide for the Chair can be accessed from here (text version) and here (graphic version). Please read them at least one week ahead of your first-time chairing.
GENERAL EVALUATOR
Reviews the meeting in general and those who had not been evaluated (Chairs, evaluators, grammarians, timers, etc..)
-An evaluation form and checklist for General Evaluator can be downloaded from here. Please read it at least one day ahead of your first-time taking this role.
-For more information, you can also check our evaluation technique resources on our shared drive here.