A Toastmasters meeting will typically involve 18 - 20 people. Surprise!

There is more than just speaking. The format and roles are designed to keep people active and interested - there is no passive listening. There are three major opportunities to speak - Speaker, Evaluator and Table-topics.

A typical meeting has three Speakers. Each Speaker has an assigned Evaluator who gives a 2-3 minute evaluation.

In addition to speakers and evaluators, there are several other roles at each meeting. These include:

The Ah-counter. This person counts the number of ahs, ums, likes, you-knows for every speaker, evaluator, etc. If you don't think this is valuable, listen to KQED sometime and count the ahs.

The Table-topics Master. This person will call on members of the audience and ask them to extemporize on a particular topic. This is very frightening for many members, but remember, in this environment, its not life-threatening if you can't think of anything to say - a not uncommon experience. After several meetings, you get more comfortable with thinking and speaking on your feet. For many of us this is a skill well worth enhancing

The Timer - every speech, evaluation and table-topic has a minimum and maximum time.

The Word Master - provides a word and definition. Anyone who speaks should try to use this word. The Word Master listens to every speaker and reports those who used the word and those who did not. We fine the latter $0.25.

The Grammerian - reports any misuse of the language.

The Toastmaster - each meeting has an assigned toastmaster. This person provides introductions to each speech as well as conducting the overall meeting.

The General Evaluator - Introduces the evaluators and provides a general evaluation of the meeting.

Each Toastmaster's chapter operates under the general guidlines of Toastmasters International. However, each chapter has minor variations on the standard outline. A typical meeting at our club would proceed as follows:

• Opening and Invocation
• Joke of the day
• Introduction of any guests
• Introduction of the masters
• The speakers
• Table Topics
• The evaluators
• Vote for best Speaker, Evaluator, Table-topics speaker
• Masters reports
• Award of ribbons (more for fun than competitive)
• Guests comments (voluntary)
• Adjourn to work/coffee