TABLE TOPICS MASTER ROLE:

When introduced, you walk up smartly to the lectern at the front, smile and shake right hands with the Chair person. When he/she is seated, you address "Chair, Toastmasters and Guests" and say your brief introductory piece.

If the Chair has not said these things already, tell us (making necessary changes to fit your TableTopic plan):
"You have less than a minute to prepare.The goal is to have an "opening", a thought or two, and an "ending" within one minute. When finished, we vote for the best presentation. The winner gets a Trophy -- to keep for the rest of the meeting. You will receive an envelope with topics in it...
Guests should feel free to take a topic, look for a good one, or just pass it on if they would rather not speak. Speakers and Evaluators have the privilege of passing.

No-one should pick a topic until the person next to them has stood up to speak -- so everyone will have the same time to prepare.

The Timer will turn on the "green" light at 30 seconds, the "amber" light at 45 seconds and the "red" stop light at 60 seconds -- when we will applaud.

Use the word of the week a few times and you may earn two trophies!"
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There are many variations in how to do Table Topics.

One way is to write the topics on small pieces of paper and put them all in an open box or envelope for easy access. If the topics are not folded it is easier for people to "peek" at several before they take one. This is a mixed blessing.

Another way is to have a big bag of objects (or envelope of picture clippings) which apply to the meeting Theme and ask people to pull one out to talk about.

Hand around a book or dictionary. Have us open it at random, announce the first significant word on the top left page, and speak on it.

HARVEST

"Maybe "Communicating on Television" is one of the Advanced Manuals that you would find interesting. They are listed in the Communications Manual and on the Toastmasters International website at //www.toastmasters.org"

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its true that i thought i was attending as a spectator for the humour contest and ended up accidentally re-joining the cult -- taking on a role for next week no less... ha!