Congratulations on joining Gilbert Toastmasters Club #499! You are now a member of the well-oiled machine that is the Gilbert Club. The most important thing you can remember about the Toastmasters program is that you get out of it what you put into it. If it is part of your plan to progress slowly, that is perfectly fine; likewise if you wish to progress quickly, go for it! You might even want to join other clubs in the area to speed up that progression, and if that is your plan, we encourage you to do so. Assuming you have already signed the membership application if you are reading this, please take this opportunity to review the Toastmaster's Promise you have made. Following the points in the Promise will not only help you maximize your benefits of the program, but will also help promote the quality and effectiveness of the club you have joined and therefore will help contribute to the benefits received by your fellow members.

Note: We know Toastmasters use acronyms for everything. If you need help deciphering all the acronyms, click here.

If you are an experienced Toastmaster transferring from another club or returning after a long absence, please click here for a resource just for you. Submit any additions or comments to Emi.

If you haven't already begun doing so, please go ahead and start filling out evaluation forms for speeches presented at the meetings. Do not be intimidated by a speaker's level of experience. Even as a new member, you have eyes and ears and your own opinions that are of value to the speaker. Try very hard to come up with at least one or two challenges for improvement.

Label your Competent Leadership (CL) Manual and bring it to each meeting. As you attend on a regular basis and begin serving in various functionary positions, you will earn credit toward completing your manual projects. If you remember your manual each week, you will complete your projects and earn your Competent Leader award in no time at all as you fulfill your assigned roles or serve as a last-minute substitute.

If the club is functioning properly, there should be an evening very soon following your submission of your membership application where you are escorted out of the room by the Sergeant at Arms and officially voted into the club. There are several reasons why we do this. The simplest reason is that it is required by our Gilbert Toastmasters Club Constitution and by Toastmasters International. We find it an excellent opportunity to make you feel special by realizing that we actually want you to be a part of our club, badly enough to vote you in, and it is an opportunity to give you as the new member a warm welcome to the club in the form of a standing ovation when you are brought back into the room.

Unless you volunteer to fill in for an upcoming open functionary position, your first formal role will likely be as speaker approximately four weeks from the night you turned in your membership application. [If you have volunteered to fill a function prior to your first speech, please click here for tips on filling the various club roles or click the hotlinks in the lefthand column of the schedule for cheat sheets.] You may begin preparing for that speech by obtaining a loaner Competent Communicator Manual from the Sergeant at Arms. In a few weeks when your own manual arrives in the mail from Toastmasters International, bring it in to the club to replace then one loaned to you. Read through the first "Icebreaker" project and begin working on and rehearsing your speech.

If you haven't already obtained a loaner manual from the Club or your own manual from Toastmasters International, click here to download the Icebreaker Project.

First: during the week prior to your scheduled speaking slot, confirm your intentions to fulfill your speaking role with the evening's Toastmaster.
Second: you will need to prepare an introduction for your speech for the Toastmaster to read prior to welcoming you up to the lectern (the stand for your notes; get familiar with the term "lectern" -- Toastmasters tend to frown upon the use of the term "podium," which is a speaker's platform). You may contact your mentor or any other club member for help composing your introduction. It can be as simple as "Our next speaker will be presenting his Icebreaker speech. Please help me welcome John Doe!" or as complex as having the Toastmaster ask the audience to assume a particular role.
Third: you will need to tell the Toastmaster whether or not you want the lectern, or if you want it repositioned.
Fourth: let the Timer for the evening know what your speech time will be (for the Icebreaker speech it should be 4-6 minutes).
Fifth: No matter which function you are performing, never leave the lectern unattended; always wait until the next speaker/functionary assumes control of the meeting before walking away from the lectern.
Finally: keep this in mind - everyone wants you to succeed!
Follow these steps for every speech you present.

Check out the functionary descriptions here and click on the hotlinks in the lefthand column of the online schedule for cheat sheets. If you do not already have your Competent Leader Manual (which will arrive with your new member's packet), obtain a loaner manual from the Sergeant At Arms and begin working through the manual as you fulfill each functionary position. In no time, you will have completed the manual and will be ready to receive the distinction of "Competent Leader." Additionally, you will have earned our club a point in the Distinguished Club Program.

Confirm with your speakers, Tabletopics master, and General Evaluator during the week (the General Evaluator should be confirming with the remaining functionaries). When you send out an email requesting confirmations, you may want to use the wording "please confirm that you will be present to fulfill your assigned role, or let me know who you find to substitute for you" to remind your fellow members that the responsibility for replacing themselves is theirs. In the event your are handed that particular ball, a general email request usually takes care of it. If substitute speakers are needed, send out that email to the individuals on the "On the Spot" speakers list as early in the week as possible to allow potential replacements the maximum preparation time. You may want to research the theme of the evening to find material for your opening comments, but be sure to keep any such comments short in order to keep the meeting running on time and avoid stepping into the Topicmaster's realm. For the evening of the meeting, print out the Toastmaster's agenda and fill in (using a pencil) the names of the functionaries. If you follow the agenda, you will not get lost or confused or skip any steps along the way. If you need to fill any open positions at the last minute, try to find someone not already on the schedule to do so. "Do you have a role tonight? Will you be evaluator #1?" is usually enough to take care of any open positions. Obtain the speakers' introductions and ask each one of them if they would like the lectern where it is or moved. Many Toastmasters forget this step and the speaker sometimes ends up moving it himself when he gets up to speak, rather than diving right into the speech. Remembering this will help the speaker present a more effective speech. Also, don't forget to never leave the lectern unattended. It will also contribute to the quality of the meeting if you as the Toastmaster would lead with an enthusiastic applause. And finally, remember to communicate well with your general evaluator. You want to avoid calling upon an individual on the schedule for the introduction of their function only to realize that person is not there. Have fun! Click here for more Toastmaster helps.

Confirm with the Toastmaster and General Evaluator for the evening during the week prior to your assignemnt as Topicmaster. Be sure to take note of the theme of the evening so that you can conduct any necessary research on the theme and base your questions upon this theme. After doing your research and/or brainstorming on the theme, prepare some opening remarks describing the purpose for Tabletopics (i.e. to practice impromptu speaking, thinking on our feet, formulating thoughts quickly, etc), settings where these skills would be applicable (i.e. job interviews, social settings, conversational skills, etc), the theme of the evening, and setting the tone for your questions. You will want to select questions that will easily enable people to speak for 1-2 minutes. Formulate open-ended questions (avoid yes-no questions unless you have a follow up question to go with it, such as "and why or why not?"). Be creative! Have fun with the role. Yours is the first major role of the evening and the Tabletopics portion sets the tone for the rest of the meeting.
That evening, take a look at the schedule and pick out Tabletopics speakers in this order of priority: Members who do not have a function or speaking role for the evening, Toastmasters visiting from other clubs (they should know they are fair game), members with minor functionary roles (make your way up the schedule starting with Jokemaster, Word of Wisdom, etc), and visitors. However, when considering visitors, keep this in mind: Save them toward the end of the Tabletopics session so that they have had the opportunity to see how the process works and mentally prepare themselves to participate or not, then invite them to volunteer to participate ("Would any of our guests like to try a Tabletopics question?"). Have a couple of easy questions prepared for these brave visitors, lead in thunderous applause, and thank them for their participation. Take note of the time. Your goal will be to conclude at approximately 7:30, a few minutes earlier if the prepared speeches are all longer, or a few minutes later if there are shorter speeches or less than 3 speakers. Communicate with the Toastmaster and/or Timer to find this information out. Finally, you will be responsible for tallying the votes for the Best Speaker, Best Tabletopics, and Best Evaluator awards for the evening. Be discreet. You will also fill out the award certificates (which you need to obtain from the Sergeant At Arms prior to the meeting) to turn in to the General Evaluator toward the end of the meeting. Try to write the winners' first and last names neatly (you may need to ask a friend what an individual's last name is). It is up to you as the Topicmaster whether to award multiple certificates for ties or not. Some Topicmasters choose to do so, others choose to include their own votes only to break a tie. The discretion is yours.
To view cheat sheet on the Topicmaster function, click here.