Toastmaster Meeting Roles -
Start Off On The Right Foot

The various Toastmaster meeting roles needed during a meeting ranges from the Sergeant-At-Arms' call for order through table topics, toast, toastmaster, evaluator and a host of other potential roles. The roles needed in a specific meeting will depend on the theme and extent of the meeting. Meeting roles is also to a large extent dictated by the standard that your club adheres to.

Before we proceed to discuss the individual Toastmasters meeting roles, I'd like to highlight one caveat. Different clubs likely do things differently. The way we do things at our club, roles and order of events, likely differ from yours. So take what we say, add what your local Vice President Education (VPE) say, and use it as a guideline on how to proceed.

The Meeting Roles

• Delivering a Toast (Loyal Toast/Toast to TMI). Here you'll learn more about the 'how-to' of delivering a toast effectively at your Toastmasters meeting.
• Time keeper for the meeting. Don't you just hate it when meetings run over time? The time keeper watches the clock and makes sure that no one talks too long.
• Toastmaster of the Meeting. A key meeting role for the Toastmasters club meeting.
• Grammarian (incl. word of the day and ah counter). The Toastmasters Grammarian role gives you the opportunity to practice and fine tune your listening skills.
• Giving an Evaluation. Learn the art of constructive feedback by listening to evaluations of speeches.
• General Evaluator. The person with the responsibility of giving feedback on an entire Toastmasters meeting.
• Sergeant at Arms. One of the Toastmaster meeting roles that organizes and brings order to club - and other Toastmasters meetings. It's a committee role but also part of the meeting.

In some clubs, some of these roles are combined (e.g. Word-of-the-Day and Grammarian, or Grammarian and Ah Counter). Speak to your VPE to ascertain how your club does it.

Where next?

Back to Toastmaster Public Speaking from Toastmaster Meeting Roles