Hi-Noon Meeting Role Details and Tips
Speaker
Hi-Noon has three speakers per meeting. Speeches are based on the member's project in their Pathways Education Path.
Key Tips:
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Outline your speech first. Speeches, like essays, follow a standard pattern that is proven effective but still allow your speech to be yours.
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Prepare in advance - just because your next speech is in several weeks, go ahead and take a little time each week in preparation.
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Practice - when you are working on speech confidence, it is suggested to practice an hour per minute.
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Once completing your speech "Hook", it is encouraged to say "Fellow Toastmasters and Guests..." and then flow into your speech introduction.
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After closing your speech, it is not necessary to thank the audience - it is the audience's pleasure to listen to the speech. Return control to the Toastmaster of the Day: "Madam Toastmaster" or "Mister Toastmaster"
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Anxiety: Hi-Noon Toastmasters is a safe place to learn and practice speeches. Your fellow members are interested in your success. Focus not on yourself ("am I going to mess up", "am I going to forget what to say", etc.). Know that if that happens, it is okay. The best advice is to not focus on yourself and rather focus on the audience - if you have left us with a message (information, story, humor, motivation, etc.) you have succeeded whether the speech is perfect or not.
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Time yourself while practicing to stay within the time you ask for.
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Speeches should be no less than 5 minutes.
The first speech in the club is the "Icebreaker", telling the club members about yourself.
Presiding Officer
The Presiding Officer is typically the Club President. The Presiding Officer calls the meeting to order, introduces the guests, greeter, wordmaster, and the Toastmaster of the Day. If the President is not available for a meeting, they will assign a club member as Presiding Officer for the meeting.
Greeter
The Greeter provides the club meeting invocation and leads the meeting in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Wordmaster
The Wordmaster provides the Word of the Day. The Word of the Day is chosen by the Wordmaster and can be any word appropriate to a club meeting. The Wordmaster will provide the word, spell it out, give the definition, different usages of the word, and use it in a sentence.
During the meeting, members are encouraged to use the Word of the Day to practice this extemporaneous speaking technique.
Toastmaster of the Day
Toastmaster of the Day can be an intimidating role for new members. The Toastmaster of the Day runs the meeting.
Topics Master
Topics Master can be one of the most enjoyable roles during the meeting. The Topics Master role is responsible for helping members improve their extemporaneous speaking skills. This role is to present a topic and call on a present member to talk about the topic.
Tips:
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Present your topic prior to calling on a member. This technique heightens the excitement and fun.
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This role is designed to involve members at the meeting that don't already have a role in the meeting. Evaluate the agenda to the members on the meeting and give topics to members without roles before moving to members with roles as time allows.
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Have fun and be creative
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Keep topics clean of sexuality and profanity
General Evaluator
The General Evaluator leads the evaluation portion of the meeting. They introduce the Evaluators, the Grammarian, and the Timer. If time allows after the Timer report, they can provide a general evaluation of the meeting.
Evaluator
Each of the three speeches is evaluated by an Evaluator. The Evaluator's role is to provide positive feedback and possible improvement opportunities.
Tips:
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An evaluation should be treated as a mini-speech. The "Sandwich Method" is recommended: Thank the speaker | Introduction | Positive feedback | Improvement opportunities or challenges | Closing.
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Be honest but not "brutally" honest. The Evaluator's role is to help the speaker improve but not to denigrate them. Evaluators are evaluating the speech, not the speaker. They should always remove themselves from any personal bias.
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Don't use phrases like "you need..." or "do this...do that...". Use phases such as "I recommend...", "I suggest...", "I challenge you to work on..."
Grammarian
The Grammarian's role is to listen throughout the meeting for improvement opportunities in the use of grammar.
Tips:
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Listen for and count the usage of the Word of the Day. Present how many times the Word of the Day was used and how well it was used.
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Don't criticize the Word of the Day if it was difficult or unusual.
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Listen for and report out on great uses of phrases, words, figurative language - basically any usage of phrases or words that resonated.
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Listen for an report on uses of grammar: our ultimate goal is to speak professionally and avoid colloquialism or slang unless being used as a tool for the speech, such as during a story.
Timer
The Timer role tracks the speaking time for everyone who participates in Table Topics, all of the speeches, all of the evaluations, the grammarian report, and finally the time taken during their timer report. At the end of their report, they will compare the current time to the agenda time when the Timer report ends (when the guest portion begins).