The Art of Start

No folks this is not a book review. However in this post we will discuss what we learned in our last Toastmasters event about conducting meetings in front of a big audience.

We learned that for the meetings to be productive, and engaging they should have clear beginning and a clear end.  At Toastmasters event, Sergeant at Arms and the Club president are the two key people responsible for that. Sergeant at arms is one of the most important when it comes to conducting meetings. He\she starts the meetings, and introduces members. The club president on the other hand closes the meeting when the control is handed to the him\her by sergeant at arms.

Sergeant at arms starts by striking the gavel. It’s important to start each meeting event with the toastmasters motto : “For better listening, for better speaking, and for better thinking, we learn by doing”

It’s advised never to talk about sex politics and religion because these are some of the topics which divide people.In order to involve people more into the speeches and events must look and feel enthusiastic. Try to clap and bring people on with enthusiasm.

After the seargent at arms has done with his part, he introduces the club president.

In regular meeting, never ask the guest to introduce themselves because the guests might feel shy introducing themselves. So it’s better for people who bring the guests to introduce these people. In that way they can be made comfortable on their first time visits.

Ideally at any given meeting the Toastmasters should have the agendas of all the next 4 meetings to come. In this manner, everyone is fully aware of the roles and responsibilities which he wishes to take up, and can plan in advance. Primarily it is the responsibility of the VP education to take up this role.

In some of the cases a speaker may have the inclination to lean over the lectrun. Toastmasters recommends against it. A speaker should avoid from placing his elbows on the lectrun and try not to lean on the lectrun too much.

People who are being evaluated also need to be mentored. The mentor ship should not be just limited to speakers. A word master and vote counters are the only evaluators who need to stand in front of the audience to describe their roles and responsibilities, as opposed to just standing up at their place and explaining their responsibilities. The voting process is carried by the vote counter who counts all the votes, as people vote for best speakers.