What goes on in a Toastmasters meeting?

Expect to find the following at a typical Toastmaster meeting. One of the club members will chair the meeting, acting as “Toastmaster for the evening”. A different club member acts as Toastmaster for each meeting. The core of the meeting consists of prepared speeches. An average of  three to  five speeches are delivered each night. All our speeches are based on manuals from Toastmasters International. The manuals comprise different projects which set criteria, such as organizing one’s speech, and so on. However, speeches can be on any subject once the manual objectives are adhered to.

Impromptu speaking skills are developed in the topics session. A club member, again a different person for each meeting, acts as Topicsmaster. The Topicsmaster asks other club members to speak on an unexpected topic for up to two minutes. Needless to say, non-members will not be asked to speak in the topics session, but are welcome to contribute.

The final part of the meeting consists of the evalaution session. A club member will act as General Evaluator, making observations on how the meeting was organized. The prepared speeches will be evaluated by other club members, who will comment on the features on the speech, and make recommendations on how the speaker can improve. Recommendations are given in a friendly and constructive manner. Finally, all contributions are timed by a Timekeeper.