Toastmasters meetings are generally held every two weeks and are usually not complicated once you get used to the timing lights in the back and the different roles members of the group play.

As the average club has 20 - 30 members, there are a lot of roles for people to take in order to involve everyone. And, since meeting assignments vary from meeting to meeting, everyone gets practice doing everything over the course of several meetings.

One meeting, you'll be assigned to give a speech; the next, you might be timer; the next, you might be the Toastmaster of the Evening, running the whole show. It gives you the opportunity to improve not only as a speaker but also in a lot of other areas like organizing, leadership and management.

The following descriptions explain the essential parts and roles of a typical Toastmasters meeting.

Parts of a meeting

Table Topics

During the table topics the Table Topics Master (every time another member) is posing questions to one overall topic and the members should deliver an impromptu speech between 1 - 2 minutes

• Allows opportunity for impromptu speeches by members
• Helps to develop thinking on your feet

Prepared Speeches

• Are assigned from communication manuals to provide goals for developing specific skills
• Are presented by members, and are from either the basic competent communicator manual (usually 5 to 7 minutes ) or from an advanced communicator manual
• There is no restriction on subject matter
• Other members provide oral and written evaluations of each speech

Evaluations

• Are timely feedbacks for prepared speeches given by way of constructive and helpful praise, comments and suggestions
• Follow a prescribed technique to encourage speakers 

Meeting roles

Chairman (President)

• Directs, produces and presents the evening’s program
• Chairs the business session
• Introduces the guests and hands over to the toastmaster of the evening

Toastmaster of the Evening

• Guides and coordinates the entire meeting and acts as the host
• Introduces participants, including table topics master, speaker and general evaluator

Table Topics Master

• Prepares questions around a central theme or topic
• Asks members individual questions related to the chosen topic

Speaker

• Prepares a speech based on project objectives in the Competent Communication and Advanced Communication manuals

General Evaluator

• Reviews the meeting in general
• Coordinates the team of evaluators (speech evaluators, grammarian, timer, ah-counter and ballot counter)
• Invites the evaluation team to explain their task at the beginning of the meeting and give their report in the evaluation session.

Evaluator

• Evaluates one of the prepared speakers of the meeting
• Gives a verbal and written evaluation using the guide in the manual

Grammarian

• Presents a short report at the end of the meeting on members’ use of the Word of the Day, and other grammatically noteworthy usage such as clichés, poor or incorrect word usage and/or pronunciation
• Selects and announces a word of the day at the beginning of the meeting

Timer

• Records the times of all events throughout the meeting and reports it during the evaluation session
• The timer gives signals to the speakers in form of green, yellow and red light.

Ah-Counter

• Counts the usage of crutch, or filler, words, such as “ah,” “uh,” and “you know”
• In our club 0,10 € are collected for every "ah" limited by 1 €. The during the year collected amount is used for financing social events (f.e. christmas party).

Video Master

• Our prepared speeches are recorded on a DVD, which you can take home to see for yourself how your speaking skills have improved. A fee of 2€ is collected. DVDs are reusable, so if the speakers bring their DVD back, the video master can use this one again.

Ballot Counter

• Counts ballots and announces winners

Joke Master/Thought of the day

• Presents a joke or alternatively a thought of the day at the beginning of a meeting

Terms

Icebreaker

• The first prepared speech as a new member

Word of the day

• During each meeting a new word is announced and described and should be used as often as possible in order to enhance our members’ vocabulary

Ballot

• Is used for written feedback during meeting and the choice of best speakers, evaluators and table topic speakers

Piggy box

• During our meetings filling words are counted and at the end also our piggy box is fed and gets 10 cents per filler word (maximum: € 1 per member)

Toastmaster

• Original meaning: Within a banquet (s)he announces a toast by standing up and holding a glass as well as introduces other speaker(s).