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Our meetings
A Typical Toastmasters Meeting
There is no such thing as a "typical" Toastmasters agenda. In fact, there are as many variations to meetings as there are Clubs. At Manuka Club, we run efficient meetings, and generally pack almost as much into our one-hour format as many clubs fit into two hours.
Manuka meetings include two prepared speeches and evaluations, a round of table topics & evaluations, some words from the Club President, a soapbox or a tonic, timer's report, and enough activity to allow everyone the chance to practice their skills.
But, we enjoy lots of variety in our meetings, so we also hold frequent educational sessions on leadership and communication, have occasional theme-meetings, debates, semi-annual contests, business sessions and round-table discussions from time-to-time to keep our skills honed. At Manuka, we believe that variety is the spice of life, and we don't like members to become bored with the same old thing.
Meeting Roles and Responsibilities Toastmaster:
Acts as the Master-of-Ceremonies and maintains flow of the meeting. Introduces each speaker and item on the agenda. May also provide a theme for the meeting, or introduce a 'word of the day'.
Featured Speaker(s):
Most meetings include two featured speakers. These speakers present a prepared speech based on the Toastmaster Communication & Leadership or Advanced manuals
Table Topics Master:
Table Topics is the Toastmasters term for 'impromptu speaking'. The TT Master handles this portion of the meeting, by providing a brief introduction of the session, providing a topic, and asking members to stand and speak.
Speech Evaluators:
Just about everything in a Toastmasters meeting is evaluated formally, to aid in the ongoing learning and development of members. Evaluations are designed to provide compliments about what speakers do well, and to offer some recommendations on ways to improve - they should NOT be either a 'whitewash' or a 'scathing critique'. For prepared speeches, the evaluator will also provide a written evaluation in the manual.
General Evaluator:
Provides an overall evaluation of the meeting, and evaluates any roles not already evaluated.
Soapbox:
As the name implies, a member gets up on their 'soapbox' and speaks with passion about a topic of interest.
Tonic:
A light-hearted, warm 'n' fuzzy item (ie, poem, joke, funny story) scheduled at the end of the meeting, to leave everyone feeling good and on a 'high'.
Um-Ah Counter:
Records the use of "ums", "ahs", "errs", and other fillers.
Timer:
Keeps time during the meeting, using a stopwatch and a set of green/yellow/red timing lights.