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Functionaries are the people performing the specific responsibilities necessary for a successful Toastmasters Meeting. The functionaries depend on the meeting agenda.
The Agenda is set by the Vice President for Education (VPE) and may change from week to week. The agenda for our club (47-3695) may be quite different from that used in other clubs.
The following functionaries are commonly found at Toastmasters meetings:
Sergeant at Arms: Brings the materials to the meeting, opens and sets up the room. After the meeting, closes the room and returns the materials to their place of storage.
Club President: Presides at the business portion of the meeting. Other officers (e.g. Secretary, Treasurer and various Vice Presidents) support the business meeting as required.
Toastmaster: Presides over the educational portion of the meeting.
Manual Speakers: Present speeches from Toastmasters Basic or Advanced Manuals.
Evaluators: Present formal evaluations of the Manual Speakers.
Table Topics Master: Conducts the Table Topics Session. Selects the topics and speakers.
Timer: Times speeches, evaluations and table topics talks. May also time other functionaries.
Grammarian: Makes notes of opportunities to improve our speech habits and grammar. May also perform the function of "Ah Watcher" in some clubs.
Ah Watcher: Counts the number of "Ah"s, "Um"s and double-clutches (inadvertently repeated words or phrases) for each speaker or functionary.
General Evaluator: Provides an overall evaluation of the meeting with praise and suggestions for improvement as appropriate. Some clubs have the General Evaluator preside over the evaluations of the speakers and the reports of the Timer and Grammarian.
Laughmaster: Tells a joke to set a relaxed tone for the meeting.
Quote of the Day: Reads a short quotation from a published source, typically either humorous or inspirational, for edification of the club.
Word of the Day: Presents a word with its various definitions. Each functionary is encouraged to find a way to use the word during their presentation.
Educational Speaker: In addition to "manual speeches", Toastmasters may make speeches for training purposes. These may be from TM training materials like the "Successful Club Series" or unguided (like this one!). These speeches are generally not formally evaluated, but they are timed. | 