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P. 10
Quarter Note
Preparing To Be The Toastmaster
David Freedman
Sometimes it’s possible to become are assigned to each speaker, preferably
overconfident when you’re the Toastmaster. the week before the meeting starts so that
the Evaluator has the speaker’s Pathways
The day before one of my meetings, I looked information. If the speech is outside of the
at our agenda and noted that every position Pathways program, the Evaluator will need to
was filled. Greatly encouraged, I went to the know this as well.
meeting next day thinking everything was
under control – until the meeting started. It Another duty I emphasize a lot in the
was then that I realized I hadn’t noticed at Toastmasters role is “being the mother
least one person was missing who would hen.” Simply put, you are responsible for
be taking on one of the meeting roles. communicating with people and letting
Furthermore, another member who was them know about the meeting. If meeting
giving a speech was specifically focusing on roles need to be filled, you can contact them
Table Topics and how well she reacted to through the website email page located at
each person’s speech after they had answered the top of the agenda or the private member
a question. I have no problem juggling things directory if they’ve added that information
around during our meetings, but these were to your site. If your club is new and does not
errors that could have been easily avoided. I yet have a website, then making sure that
resolved to pay more attention to our agenda you have the contact information for your
from now on, and in the process came up club members plus guests who wish to join or
with several points to help both new and come back at a later date is invaluable. Being
veteran members alike navigate potential the mother hen also means checking the
pitfalls in running a meeting. day before to make sure that the agenda is
complete. If not, keep calling your members
To begin with, always check your agenda. to ensure that they arrive on time prepared
Make sure that every role is filled and for their portion of the meeting. If for some
remember that you are the leader of the reason they can’t make it and are able to
group for the duration of the meeting. If inform you of this well in advance, it makes it
you have speakers, make sure that their easier for you to assign roles to other people
speech information is filled in, including their who will be at the meeting. Try to be sure
Pathway, the introduction to their speech, not to double up on roles if at all possible as
and speech title unless they’re giving a having one person responsible for two roles
contest speech. In that case, the Toastmaster can be stressful, particularly if they are still
will introduce the member with their name, new to Toastmasters.
speech title, then speech title and name. In
addition, make sure the speech Evaluators Finally, be prepared for the unexpected, and
10 Voices!
