Meetings

The role of the Presiding Officer is FIXED. The Presiding Officer is an officer that is positioned to work with a specific grade for the entirety of the year. They are the general guide for the meeting and official club mentor for that grade. 

The role of the Sergeant At Arms is FIXED. The Sergeant At Arms of the DPS Nacharam Gavel Club calls every meeting to order and adjourns each meeting at the end of session. For online meetings, they set up meeting links and for offline meetings they are in charge of the meeting venue and materials needed for the meeting.

The Toastmaster of the Day (TMOD) is the meeting’s director and host. As TMOD, you acquire a meeting agenda from your Presiding Officer and ensure smooth transitions between speakers during the club meetings. The TMOD has to explain the theme of the day, introduce the participants, keep an engaging conversation with the audience and make sure that everything happens according to the planned agenda.

The Table Topics Speaker delivers an impromptu speech on a topic assigned by the TTM during the Table Topics segment of the meeting. Your response should express your thoughts clearly and succinctly, lasting one to two minutes. Taking on this role improves spontaneity and confidence.

The General Evaluator evaluates everything that takes place during the club meeting. In addition, the General Evaluator conducts the evaluation segment of the meeting and is responsible for the evaluation team: the speech evaluators, Ah Counter, Grammarian and Timer. During the meeting, as General Evaluator, you take notes and report on all club proceedings.

The Table Topics Master (TTM) delivers the Table Topics segment of the meeting. As TTM, you select topics in advance of the meeting that allow speakers to offer opinions and give members who are not assigned a speaking role the opportunity to speak during the meeting by assigning impromptu talks on non-specialized themes or topics.

The Prepared Speaker composes, rehearses and presents a speech during the club meeting. Every speaker is a role model, and club members learn from one another’s speeches.

The Timer is responsible for monitoring time for each meeting segment and each speaker. As Timer, you acquire the timing/signaling equipment from the SAA, listen carefully to each participant and signal them accordingly.

Evaluation is the heart of the Toastmasters educational program. As Speech Evaluator, you observe the speeches, provide objective verbal and written evaluations for speakers. When giving any evaluation, offer praise as well as constructive criticism.

The Ah-Counter notes any overused words or filler sounds used as a crutch by anyone who speaks during the meeting. Words may be inappropriate interjections, such as and, well, but, so, and you know. Sounds may be ah, um or er.

The Grammarian plays an important role in helping all club members improve their grammar and vocabulary. As Grammarian, you introduce the Word of the Day to meeting participants, monitor language and grammar usage.

Listener complies a set of questions based on what is being spoken in the meeting and then asks these questions at the end as an incentive for active listening. The member who answers most of the questions right is declared by the Listener as the Listener of the Day.

Vote Counter plays an important role in collecting/counting the votes for prepared speeches, evaluations or any other club specific awards and declaring the winners at the end of the meeting.