A crisp script for the role of Timer from a Toastmaster

Any activity that goes on a little too long becomes hard to tolerate, no matter how pleasurable it is. Watching a good movie or playing a sport you love isn’t fun anymore if three hours later you are still at it.

Similarly, our speeches can turn people off if they extend beyond a certain time limit. That is why every session in Toastmasters has a pre-defined time limit and as the timer today, my role is to alert the speakers about these time limits.   

For the prepared speech section, the time allotted is 5 to 7 minutes. At 5 minutes I will flash the green card, at 6 the yellow and at 7 the red card.

For the Table Topic session the time allotted is 1 to 2 minutes. At 1 minute, I will flash the green card, at 1.5 the yellow and at 2 the red card.

And for speech evaluations, the time limit is 2 to 3 minutes. At 2 minutes, I will flash the green card, at 2.5 the yellow and at 3 minutes the red card.

There is a grace period of 30 seconds after the red card is flashed each time to wrap up your speech.

I will come back with my report in the last session when called upon by the General Evaluator.