Meeting roles
It takes a lot of people to make a meeting run smoothly. These are the main roles, and what each one is responsible for.
Toastmaster
The meeting’s director and host. Introduces the theme, keeps the evening moving and hands off between segments.
Timer
Monitors the time of each meeting segment and each speaker, and reports back so everyone learns to work to a limit.
Grammarian
Helps members improve their grammar and vocabulary. In our club the Grammarian also takes on the Ah Counter duties.
Wordmaster
Introduces a word of the day and encourages everyone to work it into their speaking.
Harkmaster
Keeps everyone paying close attention to the speeches by quizzing the room at the end of the meeting.
Meeting Speaker
Delivers a prepared speech. Every speaker is a role model, and the club learns from one another’s speeches.
Evaluator
Gives verbal and written feedback to a speaker — specific, encouraging and genuinely useful.
Table Topicsmaster
Runs the Table Topics portion of the meeting and comes up with the questions.
Table Topics Speaker
Answers a question on the spot in about two minutes. The fastest route to confident impromptu speaking.
General Evaluator
Evaluates everything that happens during the meeting, including the other evaluators.
Useful links
- Toastmasters International — Pathways, resources and the official role descriptions.
- Pathways overview — the eleven learning paths members can choose from.
Want to try a role?
Members pick up roles every week, and we always start newer members with the lighter ones.