Toastmasters Tallinn

HOST OF THE MEETING

By dr. Van Thai Nguyen

In Toastmasters Tallinn, the Host of the Meeting is a Toastmaster, a Topicsmaster, and a fraction of a Grammarian. The Host comes up with the theme of the meeting and sets the tone for the meeting. Behind the scene, they assign supporting roles for the meeting. On stage, they coordinate and conduct the entire meeting. They introduce participants and unveil the Word of the Day. They also lead the Table Topics section.

Serving as a Host is an excellent way to practice planning, preparation, organization, time management, facilitation, motivation, and team-building skills as you strive to make the meeting one of the club’s best.

Below is a guideline that help you navigate organizing the meeting.

Happy hosting!

Checklist
manual

Before meeting

  • Send to the Vice President of Public Relations (VPPR) 1–2 weeks before the meeting
    • The Theme of the Meeting.
    • Facebook cover photo (1920 x 1005 px). Do not include Speakers’ names because they might withdraw at the last minute.
    • Word of the Day.
  • Contact the Vice President of Education (VPE)
    • To get a list of Speakers and Club Meeting Roles (Evaluators, Timer, Ah-Counter, General Evaluator; Grammarian (optional)*.
      *Sometimes, you can merge the roles, e.g. Ah-counter + Grammarian.
    • If supporting roles are not filled, ask members directly or send a text in our group chat to recruit members for the roles.
  • Decide if you want to lead the Table Topics section or recruit a member as a Topicsmaster.
    Make sure the Table Topics session aligns with the meeting theme.
  • The weekend before the meeting
    • Confirm with speakers for their participation.
    • Ask for speech titles and evaluation objectives (speech goals) from speakers.
    • Assign Evaluators to each speaker. Make sure that evaluators receive the goals of speakers.

At the meeting

  • Arrive early to the meeting (at least 15 minutes earlier) to arrange the seats, lighting, technical equipment (e.g. laptop, TV), ballot sheet-clipboard-pen, Toastmasters lectern (if needed); Covid-testing (if needed, or any disease testing that might require in the future).
  • Ensure any ribbons which will be awarded that evening are on the lectern.
    • Best Speaker, Best Evaluator, Best Table Topics Speaker ribbons.
    • If there are new members, give them the Welcome to Toastmasters ribbon.
    • If there is an Ice Breaker Speech, give them the Ice Breaker ribbon.
  • Ensure all members with roles are present, if not, find substitutes.
  • Personally greet guests, especially the ones arriving alone and not knowing anyone. If you are busy, ask other members to greet guests. Make sure guests feel welcome.
  • The meeting starts at 18:00.
    Banging the gavel on the lectern to begin (optional).

During meeting

Introduce yourself and the meeting’s outline

  • Housekeeping – Phones are off & bathroom location.
  • Introduction of Toastmasters International and Toastmaster Tallinn. Try to be original, e.g. do not just talk about how Toastmasters began with Ralph Smedley.
  • Introduce the Theme of the Meeting.
  • Introduce Word of the Day (WOD)
    • Explain how to practice active listening by snapping the fingers when WOD is used.
    • If there’s a Grammarian, the Grammarian introduces WOD.
  • Introduce the handshake (or fist bump) rule used in that meeting and the importance of it.
  • Introduce the meeting’s outline: speeches, evaluations, tea break, and Table Topics.

Introduce Club Meeting Roles

  • Invite the Timer, Ah-counter, Grammarian (if any), and General Evaluator to the stage to introduce their roles.

Warm-up

  • Ask a (simple) open question related to the Theme of the Meeting.
  • Invite a few members and guests to the stage to give a speech to answer the question.

Prepared speeches and Evaluations

  • At the start of each speech
    • Introduce the speaker including this information
      • Speaker name
      • Objectives of the speech
      • Title of the speech
      • Pathway and level (optional)
      • Evaluator (optional)
      • Time allocated for the speech (to be confirmed with the speaker) (optional)
        • Short report: 2–3 minutes
        • Regular speech: 5–7 minutes
        • Longer speech: up to 20 minutes
    • Lead the applause until they reach the lectern, shake their hand, and return to your seat.
  • At the end of the speech
    • Shake the speaker’s hand and congratulate them.
    • Give 1 min after each speech to fill out the Evaluation Sheet. Ask the Timer to notify you when the time is up.
  • Vote for Best Speaker
    • Ask the audience to vote for the Best Speaker.
    • Collect the ballots, or ask a member to help collect the ballots.
  • Introduce the Evaluators
    • Introduce the Evaluator for each speech.
    • Time allocated: 2–3 minutes.
  • Vote for Best Evaluator

Break

  • The break is at around 19:00.
  • Explain that there will be a short tea break, confirming the time to come back.

Table Topics®

  • Introduce the Table Topics® session, which is a great tool for learning impromptu speaking.
  • Invite the Topicsmaster (if any) to explain the role and run the Table Topics section.
  • Vote for the best Table Topics Speaker
    • Ask the audience to vote for the Best Evaluator.
    • Collect the ballots, or ask a member to help collect the ballots.

Reports

  • This should happen by the latest 19:45 to finish by 20:00.
  • While the ballots are being counted,
    • Report from Ah-counter Report from Timer Report from Grammarian (if any)
    • Report from General Evaluator.
  • Leading the applause before and after the reports. Thank for their reports.

After the reports

  • Announce the awards
    • Best Speaker
    • Best Evaluator
    • Best Table Topics Speaker
  • Additional ribbons (if needed)
    • Welcome to Toastmasters ribbon.
    • Ice Breaker ribbon.
  • Ask the guests (preferably someone who has not come to the stage at the meeting) to stand up and say a few words about their experience of the evening, again leading the applause and thanking them when they finish.
  • Ask the Club Board if there is any club business.
  • Give closing remarks of the meeting. Invite guests to come back.
  • The meeting ends at 20.00.
    Bang the gavel to indicate The End (optional).

Additional notes

  1. If you are new to the role, ask a more experienced member or your mentor to give you advice/assistance.
  2. Handing over the floor
    • Whenever a speaker takes the floor to speak, shake their hand to hand over the floor to them.
    • Stand at the side until they begin to speak then sit down.
    • When they finish, stand up, shake hands again, thank them, and take back the floor.
  3. As the Host, you must always lead the applause.
  4. Reinforce using WOD in the meeting and Table Topics speeches.
  5. Ice Breaker speech gets a standing ovation after the speech (do announce it to the audience).

Further reading

  1. https://www.toastmasters.org/magazine/magazine-issues/2022/july/creative-meetings
  2. https://www.toastmasters.org/magazine/magazine-issues/2019/sep/infuse-your-club-with-vitamin-c
  3. https://www.toastmastersd69.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Creative-Club-Meetings.pdf
  4. https://www.geocities.ws/tmd80b/Creative_Club_Meetings.pdf

About the writer

Dr. Van Thai Nguyen, Toastmasters Tallinn President 2023/2024. He is a dentist by profession, a lecturer by enthusiasm, a researcher by interest, a public speaker by passion, and a home cook by hobby.


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