The Communications and Leadership Program manual includes guidelines for all duties in the section,
‘About your Club’. Please refer to that section too as you prepare for a role. And remember, that
EVERYTIME YOU DO A ROLE, YOU MAY BE ABLE TO GET CREDIT TOWARDS YOUR
COMPETENT LEADERSHIP AWARD.
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Dress Code: No blue jeans or cut-off T-shirts
Parking: The parking lot adjacent to the Centre for Peace is available for all Racquenteurs to park in.
Meeting Time: Meetings start at 7:00 pm sharp. If you cannot make it on time, please enter quietly and find a chair near the back of the room.
Electronic Devices: Are to be turned off before entering the meeting.
Meeting Schedule: If you are scheduled for a role and cannot attend, it is your responsibility to find a replacement well before the meeting and to notify the Toastmaster of the change. You do not need to inform the VP of Education, as his/her responsibility for the meeting ends with the distribution of the agenda.
Each of the roles emphasizes a different aspect of public speaking. For example, the Chair exercises firmness and control; the Toastmaster relies on good organization, timing and flow; the Topics Master uses humour, bridging and leading questions; and Evaluators practice careful listening skills to give structured feedback in a short time period.
1. Each Racquenteur may be called upon to introduce a guest.
2. Ask guests about themselves and why they are interested in Toastmasters.
3. Invite guests to the lounge after the meeting so they can meet the group in a more relaxed setting.
1. Arrive as close to 6:45 as possible so as to be there ahead of any guests.
2. Stand by the entrance and welcome everybody, particularly guests.
3. Make sure guests get nametags.
4. Introduce each guest to another member and ask that member to introduce the guest at the meeting.

1. Arrange the room before the meeting.
2. Welcome guests and members.
3. Have guests sign the guest book and allocate a Racquenteur to introduce them.
4. Start the meeting punctually.
5. Remind guests and members to turn off cellular phones and pagers.
6. Ask the Toastmaster for any agenda changes.
7. Introduce the President.
8. At the end of the meeting, collect and count the ballots, and give the results to the Toastmaster.
9. After the meeting, distribute the evaluation slips.
1. Welcome everyone.
2. Ask for guest introductions. (Guests to be introduced by friend, Greeter, Sgt. at Arms or designate.)
3. Introduce the meeting’s Toastmaster. (Approximately 1 minute.)
4. If a new member’s application is to be voted on: conduct the vote during the business meeting and officially welcome the new member with a few words, a hand-shake and a CC/CL manual to use until their New Member’s kit arrives.
At the end of meeting:
5. Announce/present the awards for best Table Topic, Speaker and Evaluator.
6. Ask for “first time” guest comments. Previous guests need not comment.
7. Ask for announcements.
8. Ask for the following week’s theme.
9. Declare the meeting adjourned. (Invite members and guests to lounge.)
The public speaking role of the Toastmaster is to:
Set the mood for the evening by providing energy and enthusiasm.
Ensure the smooth unfolding of the meeting’s program.
Ensure the meeting stays on time. Work with the timer to ensure each section and speaker is within the allocated time limits.
1. During the week preceding the meeting, confirm member participation; refer to the footnotes on the back page of the weekly agenda.
2. Arrange for any requests for special setups for a speaker. (Can enlist help of Sgt. at Arms.)
3. Before the meeting, review the agenda (paying particular attention to the number and length of the speeches) and set the break time to allow sufficient time for the second half of the meeting.
Communicate the scheduled break time to the Timer.
4. When asked by Sgt. at Arms, announce program changes.
5. Once the President has handed over to the Toastmaster, briefly introduce the theme and build enthusiasm for the evening. (Note: There is normally approximately 8 minutes for points 4 through
9. Keep your eye on the timer to ensure you do not run over time and throw the meeting off

schedule. On the other hand, be prepared to fill in if parts of the meeting do not take as long as expected.)
6. Introduce member giving the Toast.
7. Introduce the Joke Master.
8. Introduce the Grammarian/Ah Counter for the Word of the Day. (Liaise with the Grammarian/Ah
Counter about displaying the Word of the Day)
9. Introduce the Reviewer
10. Ask for member introductions.
11. Introduce Timer, Hark Master and General Evaluator, and briefly explain their duties, or have them explain their own duties.
12. Introduce Chairman. (Approximately 1 minute.)
After the business meeting ask the audience if there are any questions or concerns about the business meeting. Field any questions by answering them yourself or by directing the questions to the Chairman, the Parliamentarian, and/or a senior member as appropriate.
13. Introduce the Table Topics Master. (Approximately 1 minute.)
14. Introduce the Table Topics Evaluator (Approximately 1 minute)
15. Confirm agenda timing with timekeeper and adjust break accordingly to keep meeting on schedule.
16. Call for break and remind speakers and evaluators to connect.
17. Call meeting back to order and introduce formal speaking program. Outline Toastmaster education program. Explain qualifications for CC, CL, ACs, ALs, and D.T.M. Describe the basic and advanced manuals. Keep explanations clear and simple.
18. Introduce each speaker by giving the: speech number, title and objectives. Advise the timer of the speech length. Introduce the speech evaluator to describe the project objectives and the speaker’s personal objectives. When introducing the speaker to the group, put the speaker at ease by giving him\her a good introduction.
19. Allow time to fill in evaluation forms. (Approximately 45 seconds)
20. After the last speaker, ask members to vote for the best speaker if there are at least 3 non ice- breaker speakers. (Tear the ballots.)
21. Introduce the General Evaluator. (Approximately 1 minute.)
The public speaking role of the Chair is to:
● Present an organized business meeting.
● Practice controlling a meeting by ensuring members are recognized and that they follow procedures for speaking, making motions and voting.
● Provide clear, prompt decisions and action that inspire confidence.
1. Prior to the meeting, check with V.P. of Membership to see if there will be any new member applications to vote on or induction sessions at the meeting.
2. Call the business meeting to order.
3. Announce the appointed Parliamentarian.*
4. Advise guests of their rights. (Guests are invited to participate in all aspects of the meeting, except those dealing with money or bylaws.)
5. Call for the Secretary to read the minutes of the last meeting.
6. Ask if there are any changes or amendments to the minutes.
7. If not, adopt them as read.
8. Call for any officer reports. Check before the meeting to establish if there are any reports from the
President, V.P. of Education, V.P. of Membership, V.P. of Public Relations, the Treasurer,

Secretary or Sgt. at Arms.
9. Call for special committee reports, if there are any.
10. Call for unfinished business.
11. Call for new business (If there is a voting-in session it will be the first order of new business.)
12. Call for frivolous business (time permitting.) The objective of frivolous business is to maintain the protocol of the formal business meeting (i.e. motions, seconding, speaking to the motion, debating, amending motions, voting etc) but with content that is light and frivolous.
13. Adjourn meeting.
14. Return control to the Toastmaster.
* Overview of Parliamentarian role: https://thetoastmaster.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/role-of-theparliamentarian.pdf
The public speaking role of the Topic Master (aka Table Topics Master) is to:
Learn to ask questions. (These should be light, generic, and fun, not designed to stump the speaker).
Practice bridging. (After the speaker is seated, comment on an aspect of the speech and link it to your next question).
Deliver a clear summary. (Recap each speaker's name and their talk's highlight in one short sentence.)
There is flexibility in how each person wants to run the Table Topics portion of the evening. The most common way is to ask the question and then call on a member to answer the question, but you can be creative in how you want to handle this. For example, you can call a member’s name first and then ask them the question. Watch how other members handle this role to get an idea of how creative you can be.
1. Prior to the meeting find out what the theme of the meeting will be from the Toastmaster and prepare a list of questions in keeping with the theme.
2. Greet members and guests. Speak for just 20-30 seconds to introduce the theme and the nature of the questions you will be asking, or relate a short personal incident.
3. Give a brief explanation of the value of Table Topics: To think ‘on your feet’ and to apply the same principles and skills that we learn in formal speeches.
4. Remind speakers of the time limit (1.5 minutes).
5. Check the agenda and direct the first questions to club members who do not have roles.
Then go on to those with minor roles (Ah Counter, Timer, Grammarian, etc.); then the first time guests (if they wish to participate). It is not necessary to include guests who have participated in
Table Topics before. If time permits, returning guests can be invited to participate.
6. Bridge speakers and topics.
7.
After the last speaker, review all speakers’ names and topics briefly and ask members to vote for the best Table Topics speaker.
8. Introduce the Table Topics Evaluator, if there is one.

1. During Table Topics, make note of items for feedback, highlights, suggestions and things that worked well.
2. Evaluate any aspects of the presentation, giving positive feedback and identifying areas for improvement.
3. Be careful not to just repeat what the Table Topics Speaker said. Rather, focus on aspects of the presentation that merit comment.
4. Evaluation needs to be completed in 3 minutes. You needn't evaluate each speaker - you may choose to do only the "highlights".
5. Return control to the Toastmaster.
The public speaking role of the General Evaluator is to:
Practice introducing evaluators.
Call for reports.
Provide clear and specific examples of how the evening unfolded.
Evaluate all of the meeting’s contributors, except those already evaluated (i.e. formal speakers and possibly Table Topics).
1. During the week preceding the meeting, confirm participation of the evaluation team; refer to the footnotes on the weekly agenda. Call the Toastmaster to confirm attendance.
2. Arrive early so that you can observe all aspects of the meeting.
3. Call on individual Evaluators for formal speech evaluations (Evaluators come to lectern.)
4. After all formal speech evaluations are heard, ask members to vote for the Best Evaluator, if there are more than two Evaluators.
5. Remind the assembly to provide feedback for the Toastmaster of the meeting.
6. (At this time the Sergeant at Arms will collect the ballots/ feedback forms)
7. Call for reports from the Timer, Grammarian and Ah Counter.
8. Establish the time remaining for your general evaluation, to keep the meeting on time.
9. Give evaluation paying particular attention to:
10. Program preparation, greeting of guests and the opening of the meeting.
11. The Toastmaster role
12. The Chair
13. The Table Topics Master
14. Evaluators, but do not re-evaluate the speakers.
15. Overall feeling of the meeting.
16. If time permits call for the Hark Master report.
17. Return control to the President.
The role of the evaluator is to:
● Quickly prepare and present a short (3 minute) speech evaluating a prepared speech
● Provide additional written and private verbal feedback
● Both the presentation and the written evaluation are designed to help a prepared speaker become less self-conscious and develop their speaking skills.

● Leave the speaker with specific methods for improving.
Before the meeting
● Establish which manual the speaker will be presenting from and review the goals of the speech as well as the project objectives to learn what the speaker hopes to achieve and demonstrate.
● Prepare a list of what you’ll be watching/listening for and include space for “strengths” and
● “improvement suggestions.”
During the presentation
● Jot down, in the prepared categories, notes you feel are relevant. Bear in mind that your evaluation is based on the impact the speech had on you. How did you feel? What did you think?
● What did you want to do? Let the speaker know what his presentation did to/for you.
● Bear in mind that a newer Toastmaster needs to hear more praise and will in the future try to repeat what you pointed out you liked.
After the presentation, prepare your evaluation
● Craft an introduction that ties you and/or the audience directly to the speaker’s speech. Loosely decide on a conclusion that ties back to the introduction.
● Pick speech delivery points from your notes that will flow well with your intro and conclusion.
Here’s another format:
1. State what you liked.
2. Workable area: Remind them that they’re on an evolutionary path and there are a few pebbles in the way – but don’t give more than three points for improvement.
3. End with a positive one-sentence summation.
During your evaluation:
● For the body of your evaluation, you could make it easy-to-follow by using numbers to guide the audience through your points.
● Remember to highlight what you see as the presenter’s strengths, as well as provide the speaker with a useful suggestion or two that they can work into their next speech. Your evaluation needs to be encouraging but useful.
● Be specific. Saying, “That was so good!” isn’t as useful to the speaker as identifying what you thought was good.
After your evaluation:
Return the manual to the speaker and add a verbal word of encouragement – something that wasn’t mentioned in the oral evaluation.
1. Introduce the word of the day. Give the meaning and use the word in a sentence to illustrate correct usage and pronunciation.
2. Have the Toastmaster display a large visual of the word of the day – at Racquenteurs, the word of the day is printed on a piece of 8.5 x 11 paper and taped to the podium. Please make sure to use a large and clear font so everyone can read it.
3. Encourage the members to use the Word of the Day a certain number of times whenever they are speaking throughout the meeting. A light tap on the table will recognize that effort.

4. Tally the number of times and by whom the word of the day was used correctly.
5. In addition, Record all unnatural pauses such as ah, er, um etc.
6. When called on by the General Evaluator, tally each speaker’s unnatural pauses and charge 10 cents per infraction, to a maximum of $1.00/person.
3. Also, levy a 50-cent fine on all members not wearing their Toastmasters International official name tag.
4. Also, give a one-minute report on language usage; report on usage of filler words, incorrect grammar, etc. and point out both the strengths and the learning opportunities.
1. The Timer is responsible for signaling the start of the meeting to the Sergeant at Arms and to monitor the timings of each section to ensure the meeting finishes on time. The Timer is expected to provide the President, Toastmaster and General Evaluator with visual clues (lights, hand signals) to either speed up proceedings or to fill in extra time.
2. Either before the meeting or during the break, ask each Speaker for the time parameters of his or her speech.
3.
Review the evening’s agenda to become familiar with it. Keep a regular watch handy for monitoring the timing of the meeting against the Agenda.
4. Keep track of time during the meeting, specifically timing Table Topics speakers, formal speakers, evaluators and the General Evaluator.
5. Watch the time for the first half, using the lights to signal the President for guest introductions, the
Toastmaster for member introductions, the Table Topics Master for Table Topics, the Chair for the business meeting.
6. Notify the Toastmaster one minute before the end of the break.
7. Help the General Evaluator keep within time limits by signaling green, amber, red for the various reports and green, amber, red for the GE’s report.
8. For Table Topics, bear in mind that the Table Topics Master needs one minute to recap the speakers. Plan on 2 minutes per speaker for question, response, etc.
9. When called upon by the General Evaluator give a one-minute report on Table Topics Speakers,
Formal Speakers and Evaluators.
10. Notify the Toastmaster at the end of the 45 seconds for written feedback to a speaker.
11. Be aware of role timings and use the lights to signal when time is up.
For example:
Table Topics: show green light at 1 minute, show amber light at 1:15 and show red light at 1:30. After 1:45, timer should start clapping to bring speaker to a close.
Prepared speeches: (most are 5-7 mins) show green light at 5 minute mark, amber light at 6 minute mark and red light at 7 minute mark. After 7:30, timer should start clapping to bring speaker to a close.
Evaluators: have 3 minutes to provide their evaluations. Show green light at 1-minute mark, amber light at 2minute mark and red at 3-minute mark.
If the Toast or Joke has exceeded one minute, show the amber and then the red light.
In the case of a Speech, be sure that you are aware of the correct upper limit before terminating the speech. (If unsure, consult a more senior member.)
12. Return the timing equipment to the Sergeant at Arms at the end of the meeting.
Discuss with the Toastmaster before the meeting what specific timing help they would like and coordinate whose watch will be the official time for the meeting.

1. The preamble to the toast should be integrated with the theme, if possible.
2. Ask the assembly to stand, raise their glasses and “Join me in a toast to _ .”
3. Be careful to pace the instructions to stand and raise glasses so that everyone is with you at the time of the actual toast.
4. The toast – the words that follow “to” – should be fewer than five e.g. "to health and happiness".
5. 1 minute maximum.
1. The Joke Master has one minute to deliver a mini speech, using all the techniques of public speaking.
2. As with speeches, jokes can be on any topic, but should be appropriate to a general audience, and should be sensitive to our cultural, age, ethnic, sexual, and religious mix.
1. The Reviewer provides a 1 to 1 ½ minute review of a Toastmaster magazine article.
2. Give a brief summary of the content and why you think it is interesting and relevant to members. The idea is to interest your listeners in learning more by reading the article.
3. Cite the date of the magazine so that members can read it later if they wish.
1. Record notable use of grammar or language from a mixture of the meeting’s speakers.
2. On average, make note of 6-8 compelling items to quiz the members on.
3. When called on by the General Evaluator, test the group’s listening skills, ask “Who said…?”