Sarasota Toastmasters Club Meeting Roles
Meets weekly on Wednesdays in Sarasota, Florida. For current location information and any questions, contact John Helms at (941) 480-0418, or e-mail.

Sergeant at Arms: sets up room; calls meeting to order promptly at 7:30a.m.; introduces member delivering the invocation/pledge and then the Club President
Invocation/Pledge: the member with this duty presents a brief (1 minute) inspirational speech and leads the pledge of allegiance
President: the club president welcomes members and guests and conducts the (usually about 5 minute) business meeting, then introduces the Toastmaster of the day
Toastmaster: plays the role of "emcee" for the meeting, introducing speakers and other roles. This provides outstanding practice in introducing speakers and using humorous "links".
JokeMaster: we like to get our creative juices going in the morning with 2-3 minutes of clean humor!
Wordmaster/Grammarian: presents a "Word of the Day" to help us practice extemporaneously weaving topical references into our speeches, as well as expanding our vocabulary. S/he also provides feedback on our use of grammar.
Prepared Speeches: 3 speakers each deliver speeches (commonly 5-10 minutes long), prepared according to objectives set in the Toastmasters educational manuals, focusing on specific communication skills such as speaker's use of vocal variety, speech organization, use of gestures.
Table Topics: the Table Topics Master helps us practice impromptu speaking skills by challenging us to speak for 1-2 minutes on the topic s/he poses. This also ensures that all members are involved in speech activities at every meeting.
General Evaluator: introduces the evaluation team, and provides a short constructive critique of the meeting as a whole
Evaluators: each prepared speech receives a 2-3 minute oral - as well as written - evaluation from an evaluator, providing encouraging and helpful feedback on the attainment of the speaking objectives. Combined with informal written feedback from the rest of the members, this provides invaluable learning and increases speaker confidence.
Ah Counter: members receive feedback on their use of Ah's, Um's, Er's, and other undesirable crutch words, to help us eliminate such speech distractions.
Timer: reporting on all speech activities helps us improve time-keeping and pacing of our speeches. Meetings end at 8:45a.m.

For current location information and any questions, contact John Helms at (941) 480-0418, or e-mail..
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