Toastmaster of the Day (TMOD)

Timer

Grammarian

Ah-Counter

Audio, Video, and Body Language (AVBL) Monitor

Table Topics Master (TTM)

General Evaluator (GE)

Table Topics Evaluator

Evaluator

Toastmaster of the Day (TMOD)

The Toastmaster of the Day (TMOD) is the host of the meeting. The TMOD decides on the meeting theme for the day. They are in charge of introducing the meeting’s theme, facilitators, and speakers, requesting the best Speaker + Facilitator of the day polls from the Zoom Master (aka. the Buddies meeting room Host), and transitioning the meeting throughout each of its sections. The following are resources on how to prepare to be a TMOD for a Buddies meeting. Thank you for your interest!

Note: if it’s a Speech-A-Thon, the TMOD is also responsible for presenting each of the prepared speakers for the meeting (given that there are no verbal evaluations during Speech-A-Thons).

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Timer

The Timer is the meeting’s timekeeper. They time the prepared speakers, the table topics speakers, the evaluators, and the overall meeting sections to make sure the meeting runs within the established time. The following are resources on how to prepare to be a timer for a Buddies meeting. Thank you for your interest!

Most prepared speeches will be from 5-7 minutes. You will show GREEN at 5 minutes, YELLOW, at 6 minutes, and RED at 7 minutes. When you show RED, speakers will have a 30-second grace period to wrap up their speech. Ice Breaker speeches will be 4-6 minutes (GREEN at 4 min, YELLOW at 5 min, RED at 6 min with the 30-second grace period). When a speech is not 5-7 nor 4-6 minutes, the guideline is to see the timing range and choose the lesser number as the green, the higher number as the red, and the in-between of that range as the yellow. In example, if the speech is 10-12 minutes, you will show GREEN at 10 minutes, YELLOW at 11 minutes, and RED at 12 minutes.

Table Topics speeches, also known as impromptu speeches, will be 1-2 minutes. GREEN is at 1 minute, YELLOW is at 1:30 minutes, and RED is at 2 minutes. When you show RED, speakers will have a 30-second grace period to wrap up their speech.

Evaluation speeches are 2-3 minute speeches. GREEN is at 2 minutes, YELLOW is at 2:30 minutes, and RED is at 3 minutes. When you show RED, speakers will have a 30-second grace period to wrap up their speech.

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How upload/change your background in Zoom:

Timer Backgrounds:

Grammarian

The Grammarian helps speakers keep note of the use of their vocabulary, enunciation, and key phrases that were said during the meeting. The Grammarian also has the duty of choosing the word of the day (WoD). The word of the day tends to be associated with the meeting theme (the theme is chosen by the TMOD) but it’s more of a guideline than a requirement. During their explanation of the Grammarian role, at the beginning of the meeting, the Grammarian will let the members know what the word of the day is and provide a definition + example use of the word in a sentence to facilitate the members expanding vocabulary. At the end of the meeting, the Grammarian will report back with a list of grammar improvements that can be made as a whole by members, key phrases used during the meeting, and the number of times the WoD was used.

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Ah-Counter

The Ah-Counter is the facilitator that helps members become aware of their filler words, crutch words, repetitions, false starts, and other quirks that get in the way of us delivering smoother speeches. The Ah-Counter will keep track of this for the prepared speakers, the table topic speakers, and the evaluators. It’s up to the Ah-Counter’s discretion if they also want to and can do it for the other meeting facilitators. At the end of the meeting, the Ah-Counter will provide their report to the membership with the counts. An example template of the report is found in this section. You can use and edit it to your style. If the Ah-Counter would like to include false starts in their report, here’s a brief description and example of a false start:

A false start is when someone says a word, pauses/stumbles upon it, and then repeats the word before moving on in the sentence. For example: “When I was… When I was a child, I used to….”

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How to share my screen for when I report out:

Ah-Counter Report Template:

Audio, Video, and Body Language (AVBL) Monitor

The Audio, Video, and Body Language (AVBL) Monitor is the meeting’s lookout for best practices during online meetings. They monitor the participants’ body language on camera, lighting, and audio quality, among other aspects that affect the way they are perceived during the meeting. They will then provide feedback on how to better the way participants are perceived during online meetings. The following are resources on how to prepare to be an AVBL Monitor for a Buddies meeting. Thank you for your interest!

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Table Topics Master (TTM)

The Table Topics Master (TTM) is the main facilitator for the 2nd part of our meeting: the Table Topics section (aka. the impromptu speaking section). The Table Topics section is the only section of the meeting that is open to all (members + guests) so remember to invite guests to participate! The main role of the Table Topic Master is to provide an unexpected prompt to the speaker so that they can work on thinking on their feet. The delivery of this role can be done in many different ways, for example:

• PowerPoint presentation with questions/quotes
• PowerPoint presentation with images
• Verbal list of questions
• A random word generator to build a story
• The alphabet game where the person has to start the story with the letter of the alphabet chosen by the TTM and then the next speaker continues the story starting it out with the next letter in the alphabet
• etc etc

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General Evaluator (GE)

The General Evaluator (GE) is the main facilitator for the 3rd (and final) part of our meeting: the Evaluation section. In this section, the GE will:

1. Call upon each Evaluator to present their evaluation
2. Call upon the Zoom Host to post the Best Evaluator Poll
3. Call upon the Table Topics Evaluator (if any) to provide their TT Evaluation
4. Call upon the Zoom Host to post the Best Table Topics Speaker Poll (if it hasn’t been done so already)
5. Call upon the meeting facilitators (Timer + Ah-Counter + Grammarian + Audio, Video, Body Language [AVBL] Monitor) to present their reports
6. Present the General Evaluator’s report (using the General Evaluators Checklist provided by TMI)
7. Pass the virtual lectern back over to the TMOD.

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The General Evaluator Checklist as provided by Toastmasters International:

Table Topics Evaluator

The Table Topics Evaluator is the person that provides feedback to help us improve our impromptu speaking skills. The feedback can be generalized for the meeting in terms of tips on how to structure an impromptu speech, how to best think of a quick answer, etc. The feedback can also be specific to each person who participated in the table topics section. It’s up to the Table Topics Evaluator to provide feedback in the way that is most comfortable to them when communicating.

Evaluator

The evaluator is who provides feedback to a specific prepared speaker. You can choose who you would like to evaluate before the meeting or volunteer for the role when asked by a club officer/the prepared speaker. You will provide a 2-3 minute speech during the evaluation section of the meeting where you’ll provide constructive feedback to the prepared speaker in a respectful manner. The most common method for evaluation is the sandwich method but the evaluator may practice and develop their own style as long as they follow the Buddies (we support each other) and Toastmasters International (Integrity, Respect, Service, and Excellence) guidelines. The evaluator will also fill out a written pdf evaluation sheet (it’s a fill-in sheet) and send it to the speaker directly or to the club VPE via email/Slack.

A helpful resource for evaluating with the sandwich method is as follows: