Here is a step by step guide on performing your role as the “Toastmaster of the Day” (TMOD) in your next club meeting.
Before the meeting – A lot goes into preparing for the role of a TMOD.
a) Identify a theme for the meeting. This theme will provide content called as the “filler material” to be used by the TMOD to propel the meeting. For ex – if “oceans of the world” is your theme, you may prepare filler material to include contents like facts on oceans, marine animals inhabiting them, countries on their shores etc.
b) A TMOD theme is also like a speech. Hence design your filler material such that it has an opening, a body and a conclusion on which you can wrap the meeting.
c) Talk with the VP Education and get the agenda in advance. This will help you in knowing the number of speakers, their names and speech titles, role players etc.
d) As the TMOD, you have to introduce the General Evaluator, Prepared Speakers and Table Topic Master. So prepare a small introduction for them in advance. Pro tip – People playing these roles are your club members and hence the audience already know basic details about them. It would therefore be good to get creative in introducing them. You can find more on this here.
On the day of the meeting – Here is the small idea on the flow of the session and duty of the TMOD during the same.
a) When invited by the President, take the stage and introduce your theme. Here, you have approximately three minutes to talk about your theme. Think of this like the opening. So if your theme is “oceans of the world”, you can concisely describe how the oceans were formed and names of the oceans here. After this, give a short description about the three parts of a TM meeting and then invite the General Evaluator. Here is a sample.
“Let me explain how a Toastmaster’s session is conducted. Any Toastmaster’s meeting is divided into three parts. The first part consists of prepared speeches where members prepare in advance for a 5 to 7 minute speech, get it mentored and deliver the same. The second part is the fun filled Table Topic session where anyone from the audience can come up and give a 1 to 2 minute speech on a topic given by the Table Topic Master. And the third part is the most important evaluation section where our GE or General Evaluator for the day will give a report on the entire meeting today. Having said that, let me invite on the stage our GE for the day – TM Name. Can we have a big round of applause everyone please?
Remember – This is for demonstration only. In club meetings, you have to introduce the GE as mentioned earlier.
b) Once the General evaluator is done explaining his role, you are back on the stage. It is time to start the first session of the meeting – the Prepared Speech session. You may creatively insert a couple of lines on your theme here (for example – provide details on two of the oceans here) but your role largely is restricted to introducing the speaker, their evaluators and their speech title. Here is a sample
“Our first speaker for the day is someone … (insert their introduction here.) She is TM Name. But before I invite her on stage, I would like to invite her speech evaluator TM Name to read out her speech objectives. A big round of applause for TM Name.
Once the evaluator is done explaining the objectives, you can invite the speaker.
Please help me welcome “TM Name, speech title, speech title, TM Name.” (remember – this is the order in which you introduce every speaker”
c) When the Prepared Speech session is over, you have two minutes to further speak on your theme. At this point, you may continue from where you left to dive deep into the body of your theme. (For example – provide details on three more oceans here.) At this point, you can introduce the Table Topic Master with the introduction you have prepared for him.
D) Once the Table Topic Session is over, you can further speak on your theme for 2 minutes to dive deeper into the theme. (For example – importance of oceans in our lives). At this point, you may hand over the stage to the General Evaluator again to present his report.
e) Once the evaluation is over, you are back on the stage to conclude your theme. This is where you may talk about the call to action or moral message of your theme. (For example – how are humans polluting the oceans and the outcome of the same.) You can allot two minutes here or till the time the awards are ready.
Once the awards are ready, you can invite on stage the President to give away the awards.
Some important points on the role of TMOD
1) Remember that applause and shaking hands are very vital in Toastmasters. Every time you invite a Prepared Speaker or a role player (GE or TTM) you should lead the applause and shake their hands before departing the stage.
2) As the TMOD, it is also your responsibility to ensure the meeting runs on time. Hence, if you find the meeting is delayed due to any reason, you may cut short or adjust your filler material to put it back on track.
3) Preparing a brief introduction in advance for every Prepared Speaker and role player to add charm to your session.
4) Choose a theme that is positive and has depth to last the entire session.
5) You can make your session more interactive by including conversations with your audience. For example – you may ask someone to share their experience on the theme or play a small quiz, or just take a poll with a show of hands. (Example – how many of you have seen the Pacific Ocean) This increases audience engagement.
Note – There may be minor variations in the conduct of the role based on club preferences.
RELATED: For more ideas on TMOD themes, you may look here.
My Meeting Roles 